Hi there

I just started with LibreCAD yesterday and joined today (May 18,21) Looking to use this for CNC wood carving.  

And, of course, I already have a problem I don't understand.  

I grabbed a DXF and edited it to suit me, then saved it, and opened it with some CAM tools.  The simplest view is with a tool called CAMotics which opens the DXF, but I have used other tools showing the same problem.  

My design is 1.5 to 5.5 aspect ratio (I'm using inches).  But the saved results wants to start the CNC about 2"/51mm lower on my y axis ( off the wood I want to carve).  How do I move the Y axis starting point.   I'm not really sure what to look for in the settings and manual to see how to change this.

Welcome Wandering!

You have 3 components involved in your issue and I assume there are also at least 3 places to solve it.

For LibreCAD I can tell you to use the Modify -> Move tool and move the whole drawing to achieve a correct processing (Y up I think).
See https://librecad.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ref/tools.html?highlight=move#modify

With a little experience in CNC machining I would say, that this is the worst solution.
Usually it's the job of the CAM tool to place the object correct into the machine space.
Or CAD and CAM work with their absolute origins and the machine has capabilities to relocate the processing origin to the mounted object.

Anyhow, it depends on the used tools and machines and their possibilities to find the best place to solve it.
At least, when it works by moving the drawing, everything is fine.

In the Camotics manual: https://camotics.org/manual.html#workpiece 

Thanks for the 'move' idea.  I actually copied the item and pasted into a new window and the results were the same.  Guess that's not the solution, but thanks anyway.

I think the issue is that my source data has a description all in the 3"x6" range.  So the first coordinate would be at point 3"x3".  I tried copy to new document and I tried moving the item around but it still seems to maintain those relative points.

Well, when changes in LibreCAD don't change the result, the cause must be in CAMotics.
Then I recommend to reach out to some CAMotics specialists, preferably in their community.

I don't have any experience with CAM. But could it be the path from the starting point displayed in the simulation just shows the journey of the tool from the parking position to above the workpiece with lifted tool, before been lowered and really cutting into the material?