Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Over the past couple of years, I have received input regarding wasted time and wear and tear on my CNC as a result of the lengthy Z Axis Travel Time when moving to the next cutting location. The Tool Cutting Path is optimized in the G Code and for the most part all seems automatic. The cutter removes the copper and then to the next location which often includes lifting of the Z Axis off of the cutting plane.
If there is appreciable travel in the upward Z direction this adds significantly to the cutting time as well as adding miles on the Z direction stepper motor. In fact, several years ago a ham in Germany called me a 3rd rate amateur because of the Z travel time. Just yesterday a friend made the same comment about the Z Axis travel time.
A minute about the process. I use G Simple to design my island squares which results in a .dxf file. This file is uploaded to KCam which produces a G-Code listing. This listing in turn is pasted into Microsoft Notepad and saved as a text file. The CNC Software reads the text file to do the task. This is all pretty automatic and Z axis travel time just rides along.
In thinking about how to fix this I looked at the text file and spotted the Z axis command that lifted the spindle off the work area. The command was Z1 and I changed that to Z.15 and I invoked the "replace all" functionality in Notepad. This video was a successful test of that change and I think it could be changed to Z.1 for even better efficiency.
So, this likely is one of those "well everyone knows that issues "-- but I didn't. The guy in Germany should now be happy.
Pete N6QW
Over the past couple of years, I have received input regarding wasted time and wear and tear on my CNC as a result of the lengthy Z Axis Travel Time when moving to the next cutting location. The Tool Cutting Path is optimized in the G Code and for the most part all seems automatic. The cutter removes the copper and then to the next location which often includes lifting of the Z Axis off of the cutting plane.
If there is appreciable travel in the upward Z direction this adds significantly to the cutting time as well as adding miles on the Z direction stepper motor. In fact, several years ago a ham in Germany called me a 3rd rate amateur because of the Z travel time. Just yesterday a friend made the same comment about the Z Axis travel time.
A minute about the process. I use G Simple to design my island squares which results in a .dxf file. This file is uploaded to KCam which produces a G-Code listing. This listing in turn is pasted into Microsoft Notepad and saved as a text file. The CNC Software reads the text file to do the task. This is all pretty automatic and Z axis travel time just rides along.
In thinking about how to fix this I looked at the text file and spotted the Z axis command that lifted the spindle off the work area. The command was Z1 and I changed that to Z.15 and I invoked the "replace all" functionality in Notepad. This video was a successful test of that change and I think it could be changed to Z.1 for even better efficiency.
So, this likely is one of those "well everyone knows that issues "-- but I didn't. The guy in Germany should now be happy.
Pete N6QW
