PRIME MOTIONOperation settings
Every operation — a pocket, a contour, a 3D finish — opens a drawer with the same layout. Its title is the operation's name. A list on the left holds sections, and each section holds pages; the open page's name is shown above its fields. Badges on the pages say what still needs you:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| a number | How many items are picked |
| red ! | Something required is missing |
| – | Optional and empty |
The commit button at the bottom reads Create ‹operation›, or Modify ‹operation› when you reopen one. If it refuses, the reason shows in red just above it and clears as soon as you change something.
Geometry › Drive body
The geometry the operation follows. Opening this page arms picking in the view: tap edges, faces, sketch loops or curves, as the page's prompt asks, and each becomes a chip. Tap a chip's ✕ to remove it. Each strategy's prompt and what it accepts are in 2D strategies, 3D strategies and Drilling.
Picking always follows the open page: open another page that picks, such as a boundary, and taps go there.
Tool Library › Selection
- Open Selection. The header reads Select a tool: a new operation never has one chosen.
- Tap the header to open the list. Search by number, name or diameter, or use the All, Favorites and vendor tabs. Tap ☆ to make a tool a favourite in every design.
- Tap a tool. Its diameter, flutes, tip angle and feeds and speeds fill the operation.
A tool with more than one cutting preset shows preset chips; a preset changes feeds and speeds only. Create with no tool refuses: Pick a tool for ‹operation› first.
Notes under the tool say when the operation's copy no longer matches the library — Not in the current library, Library tool changed since this was picked — the op keeps its own numbers, or Edited — no longer matches this tool. The operation keeps its own numbers either way.
Overrides › Enable tool overrides lets you change the diameter and flutes (and a V-bit's angle and tip) for this operation only. Turning it off restores the tool's numbers.
See The tool library for where the tools come from.
Heights
Every height is a reference plus an offset:
| Height | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Clearance | Retract height + 10 mm | Where the tool travels between areas |
| Retract | Stock top + 5 mm | Where it lifts to between passes |
| Feed | Top height + 1 mm | Where it slows from rapid to the plunge feed |
| Top | Stock top + 0 | The top of the cut |
| Bottom | Selected contour (2D) or Model bottom (3D) | The bottom of the cut |
References include Stock top, Stock bottom, Model top, Model bottom, Selected contour, Origin (absolute) and the other heights; 3D operations add Fixture top, Fixture bottom, Highest of and Lowest of.
If Bottom is not below Top, Create refuses: ‹operation› depth is zero — set Bottom below Top (Heights tab).
Passes
What the passes are and how much they take. Most operations have:
- Multiple depths and Max stepdown — how deep each layer cuts;
- Stepover — how far each pass moves sideways;
- Stock to leave — Radial (walls) and Axial (floor) material left for a finishing pass;
- Direction — Climb, Conventional or both.
Defaults scale with the tool: a 6 mm tool's pocket stepover is 60 % of its diameter, 3.6 mm. Each strategy's own rows are in its page.
Leads, ramps and linking
How the tool enters and leaves the material. 2D contours have Lead-in and Lead-out arcs and a Ramp (Profile, Helix, Zigzag, Smooth or Plunge) with its Angle; pockets ramp in with a helix by default. 3D operations have a Linking section for how passes connect — Retraction, Transition, Max stay-down — and the high-feed and collision-check settings.
Feed & Speed
Spindle speed and the feeds: Cut feed, Plunge feed, Lead feed and the rapid feed. On 2D mills the rapid feed is the row labelled Retract feed; the cut and plunge feeds cannot be set faster than it. 3D operations add Coolant and the per-move feeds, and show Feed per tooth, Feed per rev and Surface speed.
Preview, Create and Modify
The toolpath previews in the view as you change fields. A large operation previews coarsely first (· draft preview (coarse) — commit uses the real stepover); Create computes the real one. 3D operations show progress while generating.
Many number fields accept a parameter: tap the field and use ƒx in the keypad. See Parameters.