I'm looking to index square/rectangle tube on my 4x4. I realize that I will need a reliable home location, so I'm piecing together a simple buzzer connected to 2x limit switches to allow for quick/easy homing on one of the corners. So, after homing the torch to a known location and matching that corner up with the bottom corner of a piece of square tube, how would I go about having shapes cut from it? As a quick thought (assuming I'm cutting 4x4 tube square tube) I was thinking of drawing a rectangle and centering my cuts inside this rectangle. Then after I drag the rectangle with cutouts to the bottom left corner of the TM CAD and finally delete the rectangle outline before outputting for cutting. Will this work? Will the registration be lost between the CAD and VMD software? If all the above is too complicated how to best accomplish cutting square/rectangle tube? Just to be clear, I am NOT wanting to attach a chuck and have the machine rotate the square tube, I am only looking to accurately locate and cut holes to allow round tube to pass through square/rectangle tube. Thanks!
I just made a mailbox post with the address and business name cutout of 4x4 1/4". I set my material size to the actual dimensions of my material. In this case 4" x 42". When I did my design, I centered my Text in a vertical configuration, and when I set my program zero, to the lower left of the post, the touch stayed within the material that I had defined. I did a couple " dry run" passes to make sure it was going to cut where I expected
The way you described it is exactly how you would creat your part, deleting the rectangle after you drop your part in the lower left corner, then create a female tool path on your objects. Everything will then be indexed properly and will carry over to the VMD software, be sure the tube is square to the gantry by jogging the torch down the length of tube to ensure it stays on the edge.
Here is a fixture I just made to locate something on the table to cut. Hope it help. Video.... https://www.motobilt.com/blog/cnc-plasma/cymbal.html
