Avid 60x60 pro, Mach 4, Vectric Cut2D Pro: After tool change, using touch plate to set Z on machine bed, spindle rises 2”, then “Start” and first move is X, crashing into 5” tall work piece. First line of G-code is X move, second line is Z move. Seems Z should be the default first move.
To remedy I cut the X-move G-code and pasted it under the first Z move G-code, but it seems that Cut2D should be doing this automatically. What am I doing wrong?
When I was using Mach4/VCarve Pro the default was a z move to the safe height for the work piece - that was fine if I hadn’t forgotten about taller work holding. What you can do a manual Z up move before hitting cycle/start. That’s what I did every time just to be safe.
I have since upgraded to the EX Controller/CNC12. The system goes to max Z before doing anything else when starting a run, which is nice.
I’m guessing you are using Mach 4. The post processor for it does this stupid thing. You can fix it by writing an M6 macro that saves/restores the position, and does so by moving to z-max. If you are using the Ex controller, use my ATC addin (even without an ATC), and it will work a lot better and avoid this issue.
Thanks for the responses. It sounds like what I’m doing wrong is trusting that the system would work logically. I will try to be less trusting in the future.