Z setup up

[Randy]

Welcome to the forum, vadude. My license doesn't include MeshCAM Art, but I do machine bitmaps with regular MeshCAM.

If you load "fuzzydots.bmp" for instance with "Black is Z+", the machining origin is at the bottom of the geometry, which is what MeshCAM considers the geometry zero. If you go into CAM | Set Program Zero you can set the vertical offset to the top of the geometry. That will make all the machining Z coordinates negative.

If it is something other than this, we'll still sort it out together.

Randy

[DaemonPix]

I am having a bit of trouble getting the Z axis to invert and stay inverted. I tried the instructions below and exported my toolpath to NC file but its raising the Z axis in the positive direction instead. We are cutting aluminum that is 1/16 thick. I opened the NC file in a text editor and the Z axis commands are not set as a negative number. Can you please help me get through this?

Currently evaluating MeshCam to see if it will fit our needs. Using a Macbook Pro (recent OS) with Meshcam 6 build 22. So far I like the software as its easy to pick up and use with no experience.

Damion

[Randy]

Hi Damion, and welcome to the forum. If you set the Program Zero to the top of the stock, all machining Z moves will be negative. You are not seeing this?

Randy