My machine's X and Y seem swapped - how do I make my design match the material on the bed?

Why this happens

Job Setup assumes a width (X) and height (Y), and most tutorials draw wide-format designs. But machines differ in which physical direction is their long axis. On many, the gantry travels along X while on others X is the left-right axis, and your material may sit on the bed with its long dimension running "the other way." Nothing is broken. The design's orientation just does not match how the stock physically sits. The documentation notes that some machines are oriented so that X and Y are swapped, so jog each axis to check.

The fix

1. Identify your machine's axes empirically: jog X+ and watch what moves and which way. That direction IS X. (Standing at the front of most hobby machines: X = left/right, Y = toward/away, Z = up/down, but verify, do not assume.)
2. Set Job Setup dimensions to match the stock as it will actually sit on the bed. If the board lies with its 30" dimension along the machine's Y, the job is 12 wide x 30 tall, not 30 x 12.
3. Rotate the design, not the material: select everything and rotate 90 degrees (press R to open the Rotate form), then change the Width and Height in Edit > Job Size and Position so the layout fits the job orientation.
4. Re-check the XY datum corner after rotating. The "lower left" of the design is now a different edge of the artwork.

Pro tips

• Cut a small L-shaped test or an arrow pointing to X+ into your spoilboard corner as a permanent orientation reference.
• Mixed conventions bite hardest on long signs. Decide once how boards load on YOUR machine (long axis along X or Y) and build every file that way.