Hello Chaps
I am using my lathe for the first time for about a year and i have forgotten some of the
things.

I seem to think that when i homed the x and z axis- i could them enter a value into the dro
for each . i think that  mach3 would remember that the home positions were as per the value that was set
so next time i pressed all home it would automatically set the dro's to those cooordintes. Am I correct ?
if not is there a way of setting the axis positions of the home switches so the machine knows where it is
when i switch on and say "home All" ?
regards

Not quite sure what you are meaning but when you home the machine the machine coords DRO will be set to zero or the value you have in Home Off (config, homing and limits)
Your work offset DRO can be set to anything you wish and if you shut down and restart Mach then rehome the values in the offset DRO should be the same as previously set.
If they are different then it is likely one of the options lower right on General config page are wrong.
Hood

thanks for input
What i am hoping to achieve is that when i home to machine
 the x axis dro will read a preset diameter ( say maybe 80mm)
and the z axis dro will read z=8mm. ( this should stay in force until i move
the position of the limit switch at which stage it will have to be recalibrated)

( "work offset dro" - is that the axis dro ??)

In config. homing and limits  the values of the axix are all 0,0,0,0,0,0

at the bottom right of the general config page the buttons offset save , persistent offsets and persistent dro's are all
ticked the other two are unticked

thanks hood

fred

Ok Fred,
 there are two types of readings in the DROs, machine coords that you do not normally see and work offsets that you normally do see.
The Machine coords are set when you reference the machine, often they will be zero at the home position but you can offset them if it is more appropriate for your machine. For example is your home switches are 100mm away from the end of travel you can set a Home Off (offset)  value on the homing and limits page and so when you home, instead of the machine coords DRO getting set to zero it will be set to 100. This tells Mach that the extent of the axis is 100mm away from your home position.

Now the work offset, they are, as I said, the readings you normally see and can be anything as it depends on what you set them to. For example if you have a Home Off value of 100 set and home the machine you could set the Work Offset to 100 also by clicking the DRO, typing 100 and pressing the enter key. That will mean that each time you home the machine the work offset DRO will show 100.

If you leave the Home Off value at zero you can still do the same as above, when you home the machine the machine coords will be set zero but you can still enter any value into the DRO and that will be your work offset value, so you home, the machine coords get set to zero (you dont see unless you are viewing Machine Coords) you can then enter the value you wish in the DRO. Each time you home the DRO will show the value you entered.

Hood

Thanks Hood - Its clear now
fred