another one i didn't realise.
if you have the soft limit set to 1cm
then you zero.
you have to have the offset at 1.1cm otherwise you get a soft-limit warning
i thought I was in the soft limit zone for the z axis all the time.
simply set my g54 to 1.1 and away!!

getting the hang of it now.

damn, they are mm's and not cm's in mach
I had everything times 10 on the motor tuning.
and times 10 in mach.

its correct now! 10 steps on the drives
400 steps per
2000 mm per
100 accel.

great, all I need do now is replace my x axis ball screw.