So i just recently got into the cnc game and i am totally stoked to start milling, engraving and all that fun stuff. Though i am running into some rookie problems that i am sure some of the pros on this site can help me out with. I am currently using 9.8 cambam as my creator for cad and also to produce gcodes. i have watched a few tutorials about how to use cambam and create the gcodes when i create it it all looks perfect in cambam then i go to mach 3 upload the gcode it all comes up in the gcode scroll area. But the tool view window doesnt show the design its about to carve out. It just shows the router cut so i cant see my design unfold like you should be able to. What am i doing wrong?
Secondly my jogging for x and y are awesome but how do i jog the z axis do i always have to do it manually? And how do i set the depth of the cut is that in the cambam program while creating the file or a mach3 adjustment?

Thankyou its good to be part of the cnc community

Hope this is of some help...

The Mach3 Toolpath window shows the actual Toolpath rather than the design.
The Z axis can be jogged with the Page Up / Page Down keys.
The depth of cut is set within CamBam.

Tweakie.

is there a window that shows the design while cutting it in case i want to slow the jog down for fine cuts? and my page up and down keys only make the other two axis move i cant make the z move though it does while cutting
thankyou TWEAKIE

As far as I know there is not a window (within the standard Mach screens) that shows the design. Although, someone may have produced a special screen set which incorporates a compiled GCode simulation of the design but I am not aware of anything.

Within Mach3, Config / System Hotkeys Setup - click on Z++ then press the page up key, click on Z-- then press the page down key (these come up as scan codes 33 & 34 on my machine). If that does not solve the problem then I will have to put in some more thought  

Tweakie.

Addition...

I may be misunderstanding exactly what you mean by 'design' the Mach display window will show the intended toolpath as well as the current tool position so in the case of a profile then the full outline should be shown in the screen.

You can do a simulation of how the deisgn is cut from stock using Cutviewer while in Cambam. Cutviewer is separate software
and must be purchased and requires a license.
RICH

excellent attempting the z axis jog tonight and hopefully carving some designs out...wish me luck

excellent attempting the z axis jog tonight and hopefully carving some designs out...wish me luck

Good fortune my friend. 

Please post some pictures of your work.

Tweakie.