Have a 3018 with GRBL, installed homing switches. Back, Right, Up is 0,0,0.
When I put in a material height the Z never changes. I have used a macro to set Z, and does work, (yes Z is enabled. Tried turning it off/on; no joy) but leads me to another prob.
I’m using some thermal paper on low power to do a test run. This is a layer I’ll turn off/on as needed. I can’t set material height per layer. If I change layer 2’s height all others change along with it.
Would be really nice to tell the software my cutting height and the machine actually goes to it.
Hi, Enable Z axis in Device settings, then after establishing the travel of Z axis, reference that in machine settings, as you would with max travel for x & y.
I assume your limit switch for Z axis is to retract ( z +) then use zet x, y x position to 0
G92 X0Y0Z0 move the laser to a position where you can focus. Using distance in the Move setting as z Axis does not Jog, it moves to the predetermined distance in the move tab using a slow Z speed move the z Axis down so that it is focused on the base board look at Z position make a note. (Using get position Button)
After homing set a macro as for example G92 X0 Y0 Z60.21 Z being what ever the reading is for the Z to focus on baseboard. Curranty if you have the z axis position on fully up z+ set to 0.0 in effect the machine thinks the the Z axis is at its lowest point and that is the height of the base board. so use the macro after homing.
Obviously you will need to make sure the Movement of Z corresponds to the jog arrow on the Move tab. (Z will not move with the Jog slider on!)
and also remember to set the speed and acceleration of the Axis in machine settings. on homing pre-sets.
The Controller will then see the max material height is what the Z value is as been determined by the Macro. so to engrave your base board material thickness would be 0.0 and that then will allow to put in any thickness of material to demine the height to the surface, with the same focus.
Once you change the material height in any layer it defaults to any layer in that collection, you should easily be able to use the Z offset to compensate for movement of the Z axis IN /OUT and per pass for each layer.
I have found that when using a trace and setting the offset , the z axis does retract between laser on/off and then applies the offset on each movement , that can really slow down the whole process, but its fine on line fill Images for some reason, (Still looking into that)
As an addition in device settings Gcode In End GCode I have used it to retract the Z axis and return the laser head to safe position when job is complete.
Very useful when burning into a Tray with raided edges so the head does not collide, maybe not if you have plenty of clearance between the lens and the work surface, but if you have a air assist fixed to your z axis close to the work piece , its enables you to stop any collisions
G1 Z60.21 F3000 (1st line)
I use this code below on new line , as to clear the head before moving in x & y to clear the head away from the origin as well. when setting a work piece against the edge of 0.0 that has a 2 mm raised lip for fast positioning, on repeat jobs.
G01 X365.0 Y0.0 F18000 (2nd line) that being far top right corner on my machine where homing position is far top left. (F being the speed/feed rate of movement as long as it is inside the maximum speed of the machine without the motors loosing position and missing steps. this will be different for each machine set up)
Hope this helps.
Maybe more detail than needed but might help others setting up a Z axis.
Cheers Paul