Machine profiles and the setup wizard

Before Prime Motion moves a machine, it needs to know which machine. A machine profile is that description: travel on each axis, the homing corner, the firmware, the spindle, the accessories and the machine's known quirks. Wizards → Machine Setup makes one.

What a profile does for you

Choosing a listed model fills in, for the variant you own:

• Travel on each axis. It sizes the bed you see on Control and is what Prime Motion checks programs and jogs against.
• The homing corner, which places the machine's origin on the bed.
• Spindle control: whether the controller commands the speed or you set it on a dial.
• Accessories such as a toolsetter, so the app offers only routines the machine can perform.
• Known quirks of that controller.

The pre-configured machines

Custom / Generic GRBL, at the bottom of the list, covers everything else: another manufacturer, a self-built frame, a retrofit or a controller swap. Not being listed is not a compatibility problem; it only means the wizard asks for the travel instead of filling it in.

The steps

The wizard's progress strip names its steps: Machine, Adjust, then Configure for a Carbide 3D machine, Toolsetter when the machine has automatic tool measurement, Name, and Done. Back returns a step. Cancel Setup asks you to confirm, with Discard Setup or Keep Setting Up; settings already written to the controller stay as they are.

Machine — choose what you own

‹ All manufacturers and ‹ maker models step back up the list. If the controller is already connected, the wizard may recognise it: Looks like a model variant — confirm? offers Yes, that's my machine or No, I'll select another.

Adjust — check what it worked out, and add accessories

The step shows the Firmware, the Work envelope in millimetres and the Homing corner. Check the envelope against your machine: this is the easiest moment to catch a wrong variant. Where a machine has a limitation worth knowing before you cut, such as a router whose speed is set on its own dial, the wizard says so here.

Then choose accessories:

• Spindle — the router or spindle fitted. It is stored with the machine and editable later in Settings → Spindle.
• BitSetter (Carbide 3D) or Automatic Tool Measurement (other machines) — turn it on only if a toolsetter is fixed to the table. With it on, every tool change and every Z zero measures the tool.
• BitRunner (Carbide 3D) — records that a BitRunner is fitted.

For Custom / Generic GRBL, Machine Dimensions asks for X travel (mm), Y travel (mm) and Z travel (mm), and the Firmware family. With the controller connected, Use detected values from controller fills the travel from the controller's own settings. Next waits until all three travels are valid numbers above zero.

Configure — Carbide 3D machines only

Send Machine Configuration writes the factory Grbl settings ($$) for this machine to the controller and checks each one by reading it back. Use it on a new or reset controller.

Toolsetter — machines with automatic tool measurement

Position Over the Toolsetter teaches Prime Motion where the toolsetter is. Jog the tool over its centre with the panel's jog controls, tap Save Position, then Validate (probe test) to run one measurement. A machine that is not connected can skip this step and set the position later in Settings → Connection → Tool Change.

Name — what you will see on the bed

The name starts as the model and variant. Change it to whatever you call the machine. It is shown on the Control screen's bed and in the machine selector.

Done — the machine is active

Finish — Activate Machine saves the profile and makes it the active machine. The Done page reads Machine Active and lists the machine, its firmware and its tool measurement. Finish Setup takes you to Control, because homing is what a new machine needs next.

Switching between machines

Every profile you make is kept. Settings → Connection → Active Profile switches between them, and New Machine... at the bottom of that list starts the wizard again. The Machines list below it renames or deletes a profile; see Settings → Connection.

Job Recovery

The wizard's other tab, Job Recovery, picks up a job that was interrupted. See Recovering an interrupted job.

Related

• Connecting to a machine
• Supported controllers
• The homing gate