I installed the computer tonight and tuned the motors all went well.
I ran g-code for the roadrunner just to see what it would do and everything went well except the X axis was flipped left to right compared to what was on the screen.

Also, and this may be a dumb question but where should home be? Should it always be in the same spot for every project? It seems like most of the work is setting up. Is there any videos that show how to get started from clamping down your work piece to the finished part? I have watched all the tutorials but they leave out the very basics and assume you know a bit about setting up already. I have a small manual lathe but this is my first encounter with CNC and milling.

Hello Astro Guy,

Nice looking setup.  I've been getting up and running with a CNC Taig also, but I've spent some time on a manual mill which has helped me.

I'd say "home" would be a location where the spindle axis is near the left front corner of the table (assuming you are facing the table), with the Z axis several inches (For a Taig, 6 to 7) above the table.  However unless you have homing or limit switches installed, you cannot really home the machine anyway.  You could set "machine zero" at these locations though. 

The other, and very important,  zero point is the workpiece zero and this depends on the part you are making.  If your part blank is rectangular, you might set workpiece zero at the left front corner of the workpiece.  Workpiece zero in the Z direction will probably be the top surface of your workpiece.  If the part was circular,   X and Y zero would probably be on the centerline. 

Have you read Section 7, Coordinate Systems, Tool Tables, and Fixtures in the "Using Mach3 Mill" manual?   There is also some information on touching off to determine your workpiece zeros in Section 7.

Another good resource is the Yahoo Taig group and also Peter Smid's CNC Programming Handbook has some good information.

I hope this helps a little.  Keep reading and asking questions. 

What sort of parts or objects will you be making on the Taig?

Good luck.

Regards,

Chuck

Thank you so much for the response. Yes you did help me. I wil read the manual. I just got the machine and computer setup and running now it is time to learn to use it. I do have limit switches and an E-stop button I plan to install. I want to make optical mounts for my laser scanner hobbie, as well as engraving.

Hello Astro Guy,

Nice looking setup.  I've been getting up and running with a CNC Taig also, but I've spent some time on a manual mill which has helped me.

I'd say "home" would be a location where the spindle axis is near the left front corner of the table (assuming you are facing the table), with the Z axis several inches (For a Taig, 6 to 7) above the table.  However unless you have homing or limit switches installed, you cannot really home the machine anyway.  You could set "machine zero" at these locations though. 

The other, and very important,  zero point is the workpiece zero and this depends on the part you are making.  If your part blank is rectangular, you might set workpiece zero at the left front corner of the workpiece.  Workpiece zero in the Z direction will probably be the top surface of your workpiece.  If the part was circular,   X and Y zero would probably be on the centerline. 

Have you read Section 7, Coordinate Systems, Tool Tables, and Fixtures in the "Using Mach3 Mill" manual?   There is also some information on touching off to determine your workpiece zeros in Section 7.

Another good resource is the Yahoo Taig group and also Peter Smid's CNC Programming Handbook has some good information.

I hope this helps a little.  Keep reading and asking questions. 

What sort of parts or objects will you be making on the Taig?

Good luck.

Regards,

Chuck

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention are the "soft limits".  Set them up and they will keep you from running against the ends of travel.  Perhaps not as fail safe as actual switches, but certainly worth setting up.

Regards,

Chuck

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention are the "soft limits".  Set them up and they will keep you from running against the ends of travel.  Perhaps not as fail safe as actual switches, but certainly worth setting up.

Regards,

Chuck

Thanks, I do have switches to install, just have not goten that far yet.

Also, and this may be a dumb question but where should home be? Should it always be in the same spot for every project?

I set the home points to the rightmost point of x (table fully left), the outermost point of y (table fully out), and the uppermost point of z (head fully up). This gives you the table in it's most accessable position for setting the job up, but you could just as easily have the x axis home the other way round. Homing should be in the same place every time, to give the machine a reference point to start with. You would then setup your work offsets to a point where your work is.