Help on basic configuration with stepconf

hello everyone, I'm new at using LinuxCNC, i'd like to ask for some help on basic configuration, I've been reading the documentation but still need help.
When using Stepconf there are some items I don't know how to set.

Table travel: Is this range measured from hard stop to hard stop? does This value set the soft limits? How do i set soft limits?


Home switch location:Would someone give me an example on how to set this? (there are 3 reference switches in my machine)

What/where is the machine origin for a 3 axis cnc?
thanks in advance for your reply, your help is very appreciated

Your soft limits are set in your ini file.
What is the machine origin? It is the point in space that Linuxcnc calls X0 Y0 Z0, and everything is referenced from there.
Where is it? It is where ever you want it to be. The usual convention is either where your home switch is or the upper left corner of the machine travel. But it really doesn't matter where it is as long as you can consistently and precisely locate it when you home the machine, either with a home switch or some other means.

since you wanted answers relative to stepconf:

Yes TABLE TRAVEL sets the soft limits. linuxcnc doesn't know where hard limts are.
These numbers are based from the origin of the axis. The origin can be anywhere and usually doesn't matter, the only one i can think might would be the Z axis. Zero is usually at the top - There are a couple Gcode commands that cause the Z axis to rapid to machine zero in Z - if that is down instead of up that could be disappointing.

My opinion on home switches is that they might as well be one of the limit switches. On a very long axis machine of course it would be nice not to have to move so far to home by having the home switch closer to the middle but there is a reason I would avoid it. There is no way the operator to tell linuxcnc which way to travel while homing - it always home in the same direction that the configuration files tell it. So if you stop the machine on the wrong side of the home switch and home it will never finish homing because it would move away from the home switch.

Chris M