I am just about finished building my Lead 1010 machine, I am new to CNC but have extensive experience with 3D printers. About the only electronics work I have to complete is fitting a final end stop. But then I had a thought Nearly all the tutorials i have seen involve setting 0,0,0 to the near left corner of the work. This being the case i am starting to question if the end stops even need to be present on a CNC machine. Does anyone actually start their work from a end stop homed 0,0,0 setting, or as I have said above do you just set 0,0,0 at the front left corner of the work area
Homing sets Machine Coordinates SetZero sets Work Coordinates Work coordinates are offsets from Machine Coordinates. Thus you home first to establish the Machine coordinates. Then jog/setzero or probe to setzero to generate the Work Coordinate space to know where the stock is. Some moves need to be relative to the Machine (Z safe moves in CAMs like Fusion etc used Machine Coordinates) and some moves (toolpath moves) are relative to the Stock.
To add to what Peter said, if you home, and know the position your XY zero is from home, and a job fails part way through, there is a chance it can be salvaged by re-homing and then starting at your know XY zero position. It may not be perfect, but it may only require a little sanding (if wood) to hide any minor imperfection due to the limits of the limit switches accuracy.
