How to zero a diamond drag bit

[Jay K]

Hey folks,

Relatively new user of a Desktop Max. Just purchased a diamond drag bit for engraving on nickel-plated stainless steel and set up the operation in V-carve.

I'm at a loss how to zero it though since it won't work with my Z-plate. Does anyone have experience with this? Sorry if this is something that's been discussed a million times. I'm new to this forum.

Jay

[curtiss]

You can simply bump the bit down/ MZ ... a few 1000ths at a time ... until you can "feel" it touching the top of your Z-plate.

Once you are there, use the VA command to set the Z axis as the thickness of your plate ... say .127

[Jay K]

Thank you for your quick response. Let me make sure I'm going to do this correctly. I just manually move the bit until it touches the Z-plate. Then, I just set the Z to .127 using the VA command? That seems simple enough.

[srwtlc]

Make it a bit simpler yet, use a piece of paper, bring it down close with the keypad and then switch the keypad from continuous to incremental (fixed distance) and set a small amount for the movement distance. Nudge it down until the paper drags with some resistance or just to the point that you can't slip it without tearing. At that point, hit ZZ. Done, turn off fixed distance and jog up.

[Jay K]

Both methods seem straightforward. Thanks to both of you for your advice!

[curtiss]

If your plate is .127 inches thick... set it to that when it touches... not sure what your plate thickness is