Need Help!- mach 2 program scale

[vicsrc]

Hi Guys

Im brand new to CNC and I am using Mach 2 software and have a question on the program screen under the listing of scale.

What are they meaning by X Y Z scale at 1.000?
Is it one inch? one unit? one what?
How is the scale calibrated to produce the same size that the part should be?
I read the manual several times and there is nothing that says what this scale is referenced to.
I need a lot of help so dont get too upset if I come across as a dummy cause this is my first time at this.
Also is there a web site that has a tutorial on cnc?

[ger21]

Originally Posted by vicsrc What are they meaning by X Y Z scale at 1.000? Is it one inch? one unit? one what?

Typically, people set up their machines to use either inches or mm. You can also switch between them by using G20(inches) or G21(mm).

The scale DRO is not what you're thinking it is. It's not used to set up your machine, it's for cutting your parts at different sizes, or "scaling" them. Setting the scale to 2 will double the size of your parts. Setting it to .5 will give you half sized parts.

To set up your machine to cut the correct size, you set the steps per unit in the motor tuning screens. This tells Mach how many steps it takes to travel 1 unit.

[9lrac9]

ger21 did you buy a K2CNC ? And do you use Mach3 ?

9lrac9

[vicsrc]

Thank you for your quick responce.

Here is another question... I have a program that creates wing ribs for rc airplanes.
It save the files as dxf files and when I import them into Mach 2 it creates a G-code for them and all works fine.
My problem is that when I load the G-code and it part is displayed in the tool path screen part of the ribs are out of the cutting area how do I set the cutting area or coordinates to place the part in the right area?
The wing rib program is called Profili.
I am still a little weak on the setup of mach 2.
Also is there a way to jog the Z axis?
It would be nice to be able to jog the Z so I can plug in the G-code to make the Z come down to where I want the depth of cut to be with out going through trial and error.
Is there any advantage to going to Mach-3 for me being new or should I try to master Mach-2 first?
I know this is a lot of questions but I have no one aroud here that runs cnc

[ger21]

Jog Z is Page up - Page Down

If your ribs are out of the cutting area, it's because that's where they are drawn in the .dxf. You can't change it in Mach.