Where should the Origin be?

[Craig_Johnson]

I've read the posts on setting the origin, but not sure where it should be in my box.

I'll be using Autocad images and the origin on those drawings is in the lower left

My limit switches are in the upper left.

Any suggestions?

[brian257]

At first my machine was set up with the origin at the upper right with the X axis moving backwards and I had to mirror everything so it would not be backwards. Now I have it at the upper left. I do most of my work in Autocad also and even though the origin on AutoCad is lower left when I import the DXFs they do come in correctly and not upside down as you might expect.

[Craig_Johnson]

Now that is confusing!

Upper left will probably work best for me with the limit switches in that corner. So I'll try the Machine Zero in that corner.
I guess the Autocad file is imported to the LaserCAD and the origin gets translated to upper left.
Would the laser begin cutting at the origin then? or if my autocad image was offset a half inch each direction from the autocad 0,0 origin would it then move the laser head from the origin to the offset line?

Does LaserCAD move the LaserCAD origin from 0,0 to 0,limit ? extent? Thoughts?

[brian257]

When you import DXFs it is kind of irrelevant where the origin is because it drops your image right in the middle of the screen then you need to move it where you want it. That is something that I don't like because I am working on several things that will have fixtures to hold them in a set position on the table and it would be nice to align my holding fixture and object and then draw my files with a set origin offset so I don't have to manually adjust the image location every time I put a new file in Lasercad.

[baccus61]

I used a bit of a work around when I wanted a particular file to be offset from the corner and I scratched my head for a while and came up with a solution that was pretty simple.

Just place a small dot or circle in the corner (or where ever you need the offset to be) of the job so that the laser won't process due to it being too small.
Essentially it pads out the placement of the picture to where you need it.

I don't think the origin points are used by laser cad when importing so you can set the origin anywhere you want. I found the limits and the origin set up to be the hardest thing to get right when I set my machine up because it is totally configurable.

I hope this helps you guys.
Rich.