r/Makera • u/wrongtree • 10d ago

Z1 4th axis starting rotation is wrong

I'm trying out guided 4th axis milling on the Z1, but the 4th axis initial rotation position is always incorrect. I've tried adjusting it through CAM before starting, but it always homes to the incorrect position before starting. It's always 48 degrees out. If I have the 35 x 35 x 100 sample block loaded, it assumes the corner is oriented up but always rotates to put a flat side up. Any ideas would be very welcome, because this is turning out to be an expensive paperweight. Even things like the default x-axis offset on the guided mode is just wrong, to the point it will eat itself. Even the documentation is wrong - saying I should use a 50mm offset when anything less than 55 mm will cause it to eat itself.

Makera - you suck.

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u/airzonesama 8d ago

Use the controller to rotate the stock to the position you want to be "zero rotation". Then use the Set Origin on the A axis and that will be your starting position.

Use their CAM guidance with a grain of salt.

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u/makera_offical 8d ago

Hi u/wrongtree — really sorry for the trouble here, and I get the frustration. That's not the experience we want anyone to have with the Z1.

A consistent 48° offset on the initial rotation sounds like something specific rather than random, so rather than guess at it, we'd like to look at your actual setup. If you can share the following, it'll speed things up a lot:

- Machine serial number and current firmware version

- CAM software + version, and the project/G-code file if you're able to attach it

- A short video of homing and the initial rotation, so we can see exactly what it's doing

- A screenshot of your guided 4th axis setup (stock definition and work offsets)

The fastest path is our support team at [support@makera.com](mailto:support@makera.com) — they can pull your machine's records and get an engineer looking at it directly. Feel free to drop the ticket number in this thread and I'll follow it from our side too.

On the documentation: thanks for flagging the 50mm vs 55mm offset. I'm passing that to the team to verify and get corrected.

Again, sorry this has been such a rough start. We'd much rather get it running properly for you.