How to Find the Perfect 0,0,0 With our Premium XYZ Touch Probe

Finding the perfect work zero is always crucial, especially if you got the outer dimensions already set, for example, on a sign where you want to carve some text in the center of the workpiece.

Some CNC control software already got the tools to find the work zero with our XYZ Touch Probe; others don't have any specific feature for this type of application. But nearly every control software got a G-code console, where you can enter your G-code commands.

G-code is a language in which people tell computerized machine tools how to make something. The "how" is defined by G-code instructions provided to a machine controller (industrial computer) that tells the motors where to move, how fast to move, and what path to follow. - Wikipedia

Coming up with the appropriate commands might be a bit tricky. Therefore, I created a Probing G-code Generator for our XYZ Touch Probe, which makes it incredibly easy to find the perfect 0,0,0:

1. Place the end mill roughly within and not more than 15mm above the alignment circle.
   
   
2. Go to https://360cnc.shop/pages/probing-g-code-generator
3. Select the axis you want to probe via the probing type
4. Specify the bit diameter
5. Hit "Generate"
6. Copy & Paste the generated code into your CNC control software and make it run
7. (WARNING) For XY and XYZ probing, you need to ensure that the end mill's cutting edge, so the bit's outermost point always touches the probe first. This means you need to rotate the end mill during probing so that the cutting edge points to the probe again. The end mill will pause just before probing the Y-axis (left picture) position for 5 sec so that you can rotate it to the appropriate position (right image). Otherwise, the work zero might not be calculated correctly, or you could damage the end mill and/or touch probe.
   

Once you remove the touch probe and let the machine move to work zero, you will end up with the perfect work zero position.

Suppose your machine has a reliable homing routine. In that case, you can also use the machine zero to reference your workpiece to it. To name some more approaches ;-)