New member question

[humph]

I have just purchased my first mill (RF25), and have converted it to inverter drive, and added XYZ digital scales. Which way should the scales read? Z I take it to increase with depth of cut. X I take to be the major axis, increasing as the table moves from right to left. Y I take to increase as the table moves towards you. Or have I got it all wrong?

[ZipSnipe]

I believe X & Y are the other way around, it does get confusing as I,ve been to other web sites and they all kind give different X & Y directions

[lakeside]

Here A Quick Drawing For Refernce Location

[humph]

Yup got one wrong. Easy to rectify. Many thanks.

[lakeside]

This layout of is called the Cartesian square it based on the your x y zero point being in the center of circle or square

[humph]

I naturally want to stick with convention as I move into CNC. This of course now beggars another question. Presumably if CNC convention follows standard cartesian, then the Z axis is zero at the XY plane, and goes negative as the tool descends through it. IE at rest there is a fixed positive value, descending to zero, and serious damage to the table when negative values occur?

My next question is more involved. Having read widely, and looked at various bits of kit available, I am undecided which way to go. Stepper, or servo. Stepper is cheaper (especially so in the EU), but appears to run the risk that a stall might cause loss of position. Servo + encoder solves the problem at greater expense, and makes hand overide more dificult. What is the favourite path?

[radicooldude]

I suggest you start a new thread for it. Also include what mill you are using (RF25) in title. I am sure either way will work. I mean, if money is nothing, servos will almost always be a better choice, but if not, there are always steppers that will work (just get a powerfull one) probably around 600oz.

Usually for the micro/mini mills 200oz+ Nema 23s are safe, and for small benchmills, such as the RF25, I would assume you want 400-800oz Nema 34.

_ Zachery