Poor man's Zero Plate

[rob_jones]

Hello all, I just wanted to share a manual zeroing plate I made. The shallow angle spreads out the vertical dimensions so you can read thousandths of inches every .030". I slide it under the bit and it tells me exactly how far off the table (or workpiece) the bit is. Then I jog down that distance and ZZ. Quicker than Z zero plate.
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5468

[beacon14]

That is beautiful in it's simplicity. How did you make it?

[rob_jones]

I used a CAD program to define the angle so that the .001" increments would be around .030" wide so you can read them with the eye. Turns out is is about a .200 rise for a 6 inch run. I used my digital calipers to measure the thickness at different spots and make marks. The grade is linear, so once I knew for sure where each mark should fall, I used my calipers as a scribe.
I used a milling machine to make the blank and bead blasted it so the scribe marks would show up better.

[mrdovey]

Hmm. Now why does that not sound like a "poor man's zero plate"?


Why not engrave the numbers with your 'Bot?

[rob_jones]

Good one! I guess you got me there! Well here are the pictures of the original one which I deemed overly complex and under accurate. You would bring the center up to touch the bit and the line bisects the height dimension. This one is more "poor man's" :-)
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5470 Still functional, but less accurate.

[cabindoors]

Great idea Robert.

I'll have to make one. but, instead of moving the bit down that amount and using ZZ. Isn't there an offset command that will tell it that it is at that height? And wouldn't that be quicker?

Just a thought.

Tom

[mrdovey]

That's what the VA command is for.