Bracket Location Probing Routines

Material Location Probing Routines

If you’re working with non-conductive materials like engineering plastics or wood, you can still quickly and easily locate your stock on the T-slot bed. But instead of probing the material, you’ll probe the location of the right-angle alignment bracket (or L-bracket). Remember that the bracket probing routine is a substitute for the material location routine. Since they both return the location of your material, they aren’t meant to be run together.

To locate the L-bracket, follow these steps:

1. Install your L-bracket so that the corner aligns with the front left corner of the T-slot bed. For more info about how to install your bracket, see our Fixturing support guide.

2. Install a 1/4” or 1/8” probe and perform a tool touch-off. 

3. Navigate to the Material Setup tab and enter the size of the material you’re using in the Material Type and Size dropdown menu. 

4. Click the Material Offset Probing Routines button, click the Probe Bracket dropdown menu, and select Locate under L-bracket. You’ll need to jog the probe to the inner left corner of the bracket below the top surface of the bracket. Click Start and the machine will then probe the inner corner of the L-bracket. 

5. When you fixture your nonconductive stock to the T-slot bed, make sure it’s squared and flushed against this inside corner. 

Note: Notice that you have the option to locate a PCB bracket as well as the L-bracket. The PCB bracket is a low-profile bracket that comes with our spoilboard accessory for the Desktop CNC Milling Machine. It’s ideal for machining double-sided circuit boards that require a flip operation. To locate this bracket, follow the same steps as above, but in Step 4 click the PCB Bracket button instead.