As per my post in "general discussions", I am posting this here for a feature request:
"Offline mode" should not change the machine coordinates (it does not actually move the machine).
Below are two use cases, but in short: It is quite useful to put the machine in offline mode while aligning the gcode file with the actual material on the machine bed. But since offline mode changes the internal coordinate system during the process (even thought the machine didn't move), the
* soft limits are broken
* your z-probe could malfunction (because the default macro for that observes soft limits)
* maintaining concurrent coordinate system (G54 to G59) is difficult and error prone (so much so that I am thinking to remove the button from the screen so I am not tempted to use it
It would be nice to have a setting that the machine coordinates are not touched in offline mode.
As a possible workaround: Could UCCNC capture the machine coordinates when entering offline mode, and restore them when exiting offline mode ?
Thanks.
Use case 1: You are cutting a part from a much larger base material, and you try fitting the part optimally in this (maybe expensive) material to reduce waste. The (0,0) in you gcode is in the part's center, but you want to fit the part neatly into a corner of the expensive material.
* move spindle to a recognizable spot on the base material, eg where you want the top-tight corner of the part to be
* go offline
* move the virtual spindle, using the toolpath preview as a guide, to the top-right corner in the preview (this ruined you machine coordinates)
* go online and cut
Use case 2: Your parts require many toolpaths and requires more time changing tools than cutting. Therefore you want to cut two parts "simultaneously" but from separate sheets. Or you are cutting from the same sheet but want to avoid, for example, knots in the wood. At any rate, you can't "simply" create a gcode file two instances of the design. You want to locate each of the designs on the machine bed and switch between G54 and G55 coordinate systems.
If you use offline mode while setting up the machine for coordinate system G54, you actually changed the position of G55 on the machine bed. That could be a costly mistake.