As February is quickly coming to a close, we are ramping up into beginning a busy Quarter 2! Of course, before then, our team wanted to sit down and take a little bit of time to help you, our faithful CNC community, by diving into the process of using a G54 Offset. You can also follow along with us in Autodesk’s Fundamentals of CNC Machining textbook on our website. Click here to view it.

Coordinate Systems and Offsets 

Coordinate systems are used in every CNC machine; but be advised that not all machines operate the same, so please consult your manual for proper instructions.

The Cartesian Coordinate System can be thought of as three number lines (or axes), labeled as X, Y, and Z, that are orientated in planes at 90-degrees to one another. The common location where all three axes intersect is called the origin or datum. A pair of any two axes, XY, YZ, and XZ, form a plane. These planes are named by the axes that define them, and each plane can be further divided into quadrants – which are primarily used for defining movement within CNC machines.

Coordinate Systems are used to aid in understanding and defining how machines interpret programmed movement. Both of these topics are discussed in the following sections below.

Figure 1: Cartesian Coordinate System

Figure 2: Quadrants in the XY Plane. Note how coordinates within the quadrants are defined (+/-).

What is a G54 Work Offset?

Work offsets are data registers in the CNC control that hold the distance from the machine home X, Y, Z position to the part datum. These offsets can be thought of like a table on the control:

Figure 3: Work Offsets

The X and Y values represent the distance from the machine home to part datum XY. The Z value is the distance from the tool reference point (for example, the top of a 1-2-3 block) and the part Z-datum. The process for finding tool length offset (TLO) and fixture offset Z is detailed in Lesson 6, CNC Operation.

An example in code:

G54 X0. Y0.

G54 holds the datum’s distance in relations with the tip of the tool. These work offsets are registered into the machine to hold the distance from the X, Y, Z position to part of the datum.

The machine operator locates the fixture offset XY by moving the machine from its home position to the datum of the part being machined. This process typically utilizes an edge finder, mechanical or digital. Once located, the G54 command moves the CNC machine from the machine coordinate system (MCS) into the work coordinate system (WCS). The WCS features the datum located at the part instead of the machine’s home location. Any programmed movement now references this coordinate system. Most machines usually are able to support six work offsets that are labeled G54 to G59. Leading Edge Industrial’s HX Series CNC machines support G54 – G59 work offsets.

Fixture Offset Z 

We hope you found our guide on G54 Offsets to be helpful. If you like more information, please head over to our site and read our CNC textbook and visit our YouTube Channel where we go over setting the Work Coordinate System. Thank you for reading, and we will be back with more information for our wonderful CNC community next week!