PRIME MOTIONProbing
Probing moves the tool slowly toward a surface until it touches, and records exactly where that happened. It is the most accurate and repeatable way to set work zero, and the only practical way to find an edge precisely.
What you need
A touch plate or probe wired to the controller's probe input. Most complete an electrical circuit when the tool touches them, so they need a clip on the tool as well. An optical probe triggers on a beam instead, and a spring-loaded plate absorbs a little overshoot.
Tell Prime Motion which plate you have, in Settings → Connection → Touch Plate. The plate decides what can be found and how: a flat disc finds Z only, a corner block finds X, Y and Z. Until the plate's dimensions are known, the cycles that need them refuse rather than guess. See Settings → Connection.
The plates Prime Motion knows
| Plate style | Finds |
|---|---|
| Standard Block, AutoZero, BitZero V2, BitZero V1, Auto Z & Corner Finding, Generic corner block | X, Y and Z, from a corner |
| Photoelectric Z probe, X-Carve Z disc, Generic Z disc | Z only |
| Touch probe (no plate) | X and Y, by touching the sides of the stock itself; it needs the Probe tip diameter |
| Custom | What you set: its shape family, and whether it finds X and Y |
The plate's Sequence, Sensor, Probe input polarity and Conductive stock rule are shown under it in Settings. Where a vendor never published a dimension, the field is blank and the cycle refuses until you measure your own plate.
The Probe drawer
Tap Probe in the command rail on Control. It needs a machine that can jog: connected, homed (or without homing switches), not in alarm, and no job running.
Choose, from the top:
- Axes — XYZ (a corner), Z, X or Y.
- Features — Inside (an inside corner), Outside (an outside corner), or Boss (the centre of a round or square boss, with Boss size in mm across).
- Stock corner — Front-left, Back-left, Back-right or Front-right: which corner of the stock the plate sits on, when the plate uses a corner. It is asked every time.
- Datum — the work system the result is written to: Active (the active system, such as G54) or another system your controller reported. It returns to Active each time the drawer opens.
Choices your plate cannot do stay visible but unavailable, with the reason under them, for example that a flat disc finds Z and nothing else. Set those axes by hand; see Setting work zero.
Running a cycle
- Fit the clip to the tool, if your plate needs one, and set the plate on the stock.
- Jog the tool over the plate, a few millimetres above it.
- Tap Probe. The drawer asks you to Touch the probe to the plate — the cycle starts when the circuit proves itself.
- Touch the plate to the tool. When the circuit is seen, the drawer says Circuit proven — take the probe off and the cycle starts. Put the plate back in place.
- The cycle runs, step by step. Probe has become Abort, which stops it at any time.
- When it finishes, the drawer shows Complete and the new zero, and Close closes it.
The circuit check is the most important step. If the circuit cannot complete, nothing would stop the tool when it arrives: it would keep travelling the full probe distance into the plate. Prime Motion will not start a cycle until it has seen the circuit work.
When a probe fails
- Probe Failed with an alarm, such as ALARM:4 or ALARM:5, means the controller did not see contact within the probe distance, or saw contact before the move began. Check the clip and the plate's position, then run the cycle again.
- Aborted by the operator — you tapped Abort.
- Refused — nothing was sent — the setup was not complete, for example a missing plate dimension; the drawer says which.
Changing any choice after a finished cycle sets the drawer up for the next cycle.
The numbers that shape every cycle
Settings → Probing holds the approach speeds and distances every cycle uses: Fast Find, Slow Find, Z Probe Distance, Retract Distance and Final Z Retract. See Settings → Probing.
Plate thickness
A plate has thickness, and the tool stops on its top. The plate's Z stand-off is subtracted so zero lands on the stock. Most corner plates have two: hooked on the corner, the plate's body rests on the stock; laid flat for a Z-only probe, its lip rests on the stock and its top face is higher. Prime Motion keeps both and uses the one that matches the cycle.
Probing macros
The Macros tab includes raw probing macros (Probe Z Down, Probe X+ and so on) that send a single G38.2 probing move. They find a surface but do not set work zero and know nothing about your plate. The Probe drawer is the way to set zero. See Macros.