Well press the Tab key on your keyboard, a screen will pop out and you will see that there is a button you can click to set it to either continuous or step mode. If set to step mode each touch of a jog key will move the amount in the DRO above, you can set that amount by pressing the Cycle Jog Step button or you click on the DRO, type the size you want then press the enter on your keyboard.

Also as RC has said you can type G Code lines into the MDI line so if you were at X 2 and wanted to go to X4 you would type G0X4 in the MDI line and press enter.

Hood

Go to the MDI screen/page,
Click on the MDI line  (or hit enter)
Type in G0 X.5 and hit enter to move at rapid rate.
Or G1 X.5 F5 for the move to go at a feed rate of 5 UPM.

Go to the MDI screen/page,
Click on the MDI line  (or hit enter)
Type in G0 X.5 and hit enter to move at rapid rate.
Or G1 X.5 F5 for the move to go at a feed rate of 5 UPM.

Thanks! Got it.

ok i put a dial indicator on the x axis and I keep moving in the same direction. I seem to be off about .0005  I dont think it is backlash because I am moving in the same direction all the time. Any ideas?

Is it adding up each move?
Its probably due to the inaccuracies of your lead screw, 0.0005 inch is quite a small amount and unless they are precision ground that is very good for them.
Hood

wow this is weird. Say if I go (g1 x-.200 f1) the dial indicator actually says I went .206 ! now that's .006 off.  now if I zero out my indicator right there and move another x-.200 then it reads almost .006 off again. This is not that good to me. Is there a place in the software that I can confiscate for this?

ahh big difference between 0.0005 and 0.006
It is again likely to be the screws but yes you can compensate by altering the steps per unit to suit. There is an easy way to do it without the calcs, let Mach do it for you, however it will only ever be as accurate as you can measure.
 To let Mach do it go to settings page and just above the reset there is a button, press that and follow the instructions.

Hood

its a taig 2019 cnc mill. If memory serves me right you can adjust the nut for backlash. maybe I should take a look at that first.

however it will only ever be as accurate as you can measure.


Hood

what do you mean by that?

Well if you are moving in one direction then backlash is not in the equation, certainly wont hurt to tweak it though as long as you dont go too tight.

Hood