- First make sure the Home Switch Offset is set to zero in the Configurator.
- Start CommandCNC, make sure motor power is on and click the “E-STOP ACTIVE” button to bring it out of E-Stop.
- Make sure the torch is over a solid piece of metal which will not move down when the torch presses down on it.
- Click the “Home Z” button. The Z should move down until the switch trips, and then move back up slightly until the switch opens again.
- Make sure the DRO reads 0.0000 – if it does not then click the button labeled “Zero Z”
- Then set the “Jog Speed” slider down very slow – probably 1%
- Using the Page Up and Page Down keys, move the Z up until it just barely clears the metal. One way to tell is by moving up so you can slide a piece of paper under the torch, and then carefully move down until you cannot pull the paper out. If you have a FeatherTouch Ohmic sensor, you can see the contact light go out when it no longer is touching the metal.
- Once you are sure the torch is just clear of the metal, write down the value that is in the Z DRO. This will be a positive value, but needs to be entered as a negative value in the Configurator.
- Now close CommandCNC, open the Configurator, go to the Axes page, Z Axis page, and enter as a negative number. This means you put a minus sign in front of it. So if the value was 0.080, you will enter -0.080
- Save and exit the Configurator, and you should be done!
How to determine your Z home switch offset
Here is a method for determining the switch offset on your Z home switch. If your torch is mounted on a floating head with a switch, then it will have to move some distance after the torch touches the metal before the switch will trip.
One simple method to find this distance is as follows: