Manual

7-6 Advanced Programming
Skip Marks
When you create a pattern in FmNT, there is an option called Skip Marks that can be activated and used
for the new pattern. Refer to Figure 7-3. Skip marks are specialized fiducials and can greatly increase
throughput in applications that require the same pattern to be placed in multiple locations on one board.
Skip marks are taught exactly like fiducials.
While fiducials are used to determine workpiece alignment and to locate individual patterns on the
workpiece, skip marks are used to identify portions of the workpiece or individual patterns that need to be
skipped during dispensing. Your board or workpiece may have a skip mark to tell FmNT if the entire
workpiece is good or not. Each pattern on the workpiece can also have a skip mark to tell FmNT which
patterns to skip during the dispensing process.
When you activate the “Use Pattern Skip Mark “feature, a dialog box opens with the following options:
• Teach Skip Mark - Opens a Teach Window for teaching the location of your skip mark. Skip
marks are taught just like a fiducial.
• Disabled - The skip mark will not be used. However, the skip marks for "Children" will still
be checked.
• Check Children If Mark Not Found - If the workpiece skip mark is not found, FmNT will
check the skip marks for each pattern on the workpiece.
• Check Children If Mark Found - If the workpiece skip mark is found, FmNT will check the
skip marks for each pattern on the workpiece.
• Skip Pattern If Mark Not Found - If the pattern skip mark is not found, FmNT will skip the
pattern during the dispensing process.
• Skip Pattern If Mark Found - If the pattern skip mark is found, FmNT will skip the pattern
during the dispensing process.
For example, if your board or workpiece has a skip mark, FmNT checks it to see if the entire workpiece is
good or not. If FmNT does not find the skip mark on the workpiece (or does find it, depending on how
you set up the feature), FmNT then checks the “children,” the skip marks attached to the patterns on the
workpiece. If FmNT does not find the skip mark for an individual pattern, that pattern will be skipped.