Newbie here. Thanks in advance! While in the design mode, I always set my XY Datum at front left, top of material. When cutting, I always set my XY datum top left and again at the surface of the material. When would it be appropriate to cut a job and begin at the center XY datum position? I need to flatten a piece of 24” x 36” piece of stock. Would this be a situation where I began at center?
Not necessarily - the datum point is not always where the toolpath starts, its a reference point so your controller knows where the workpiece is on your machine bed. One case I can think of where it might be advantageous to set the workplace zero on your machine and the origin in your cad/cam software in the centre of the job is when the workpiece doesn't have straight edges or clearly defined corners. A round piece of material would be a lot easier to set up that way, for example. Alex.
I will set mine in the center if I am adding an engraving to an object. I place the XY 0 point in the center of the engraving.
