doing preview above work surface

[HPPI]

I'm wanting to ck. toolpath above the part blank prior to plowing unto the material. I've viewed a tutorial about doing this, but I can't remember where. Can/will, someone point me in the correct direction. Thanks
Leroy

[srwtlc]

Possibly "Offsetting and Zeroing" or "Temporary Zeros" here....https://www.shopbottools.com/training/tutorials

What you want to do is use "3D Offset" from the fill-in sheet when you load your file. 3D offset means movements in all the axes will be offset from the starting point. So you want to raise the Z axis to a point that will be far enough above your material to account for depth of cut and then choose 3D Offset in the fill-in sheet and run it from there.

[HPPI]

Scott, thanks for your reply. I wound up setting the cut depth to a larger amount that was going to be used. This worked out well. I accomplished what I needed and didn't break or make funny cuts in the material.

Leroy

[Rob Gunn]

I just simply zero out all 3 axis (x,y,z) and then manually command the z up 2" and then re-zero. Run the toolpath. If its all good then manual command the z back down the 2" and rezero. Now you are back to the actual x,y,z zero point. I also keep a good supply of the cheap blue or pink foam on hand and use this to "test" run big toolpaths. If there is a error in the toolpath is way cheaper to find it in a $5 sheet of pink foam rather than a $800 sheet of PVC.

[srwtlc]

So much simpler to just raise the Z, run the file in 3D offset, done. No need to jump through hoops with other commands and resetting zero's numerous times, since 3D offset does it all for you. It's a one shot deal, the next run of the file is as normal.

Whatever works for the user, but it's interesting how many users don't understand or find 2D and 3d offset confusing. It might partly be because it's not a simple command that can be issued (such as G52 XY or Z), but is instead buried in a fill-in sheet that generally gets ignored and skipped over.