Jig Conundrum

[Steve Clarkson]

OK, I want to set up a jig for engraving the bottoms of 9" tall wine glasses.

Now, if they were five inches tall, I would simply lay down some painters tape and vector 18 circles and then simply place the glasses on the circles so that my artwork would be perfectly centered.

However, they're not 5" tall.....they're 9" tall. In order to do them, on my Epilog Mini I have to remove the cutting grid so I can place them on the very bottom of the table.

But if I make that jig like normal and then try to put it on the bottom of the table.....it won't line up perfectly.....since the inside corner of the bottom of the table is in approximately 1/2" in from where my rulers are. Also, the bottom of the laser bed is approximately 2 3/4" below my rulers, so I don't think that I can get the laser to auto focus on the bottom (or atleast I'm not willing to try. There are also plugs and vent pipe holes along the edges, so I can't get the glasses snug up against the wall.

Although I haven't tried it......if I get as close to the bottom as I can (say 3") and start a circle at 1"x1" will the beam even hit the bottom accurately?

So my question is.......how do I engrave circles on the very bottom of my laser bed so that they line up perfectly in Corel?

[Rudy Ress]

Steve for an initial one-off method to see how the engraving works why not use the "center-engraving" feature in the Epilog print screen. Then for others you only need to do the off-sets for the glasses based on the center of the first glass. Hope that makes sense. Can't say if it will work, I haven't tried it.

[Doug Griffith]

How about something like this. The jig would align the stems. You could screw together all 3 layers and then cut the notches with the jig in place.

[Tim Bateson]

Rudy has a good idea.
Another idea is to laser a jig out of 1/8 ply that is just a bit smaller then the table. Place this on the bottom with one glass - eye ball it. Place a round cutout from making the jig on the glass bottom. Adjusted an X until it hits dead center. The rest of the glasses will then match the jig.

[Mike Null]

I would be very surprised if a jig will work as I believe the glasses and stems are not uniform.

[Steve Clarkson]

I can't believe that no one else has had this problem before!

I think Rudy and Tim are suggesting what I may end up doing.

Mike, I think the glasses are all pretty uniform.....but I'll be pissed if I'm wrong!

Doug, I'm not sure I understand your suggestion.....I'm trying to picture it, but can't.....it's late though.....maybe when I re-read it in the morning, it'll hit me.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[Shaddy Dedmore]

I still don't see your problem with using tape or ply or whatever on the table.... put a sheet of ply on the table, if no edges to push up against, no worries, use tape (or dbl sided tape) to hold the ply down on table, doesn't even have to be straight really. Then etch your alignment circles and place your glasses on it.

Shaddy

[Rodne Gold]

You might find doing them on a one by one basis is quicker overall than futzing with jigs , especially if you have an engraving from the centre option in your driver.
On my Gcc , I woukld just drag the red beam to the centre of the glass bottom which is easy to find and use engrave from centre and then press go.

[Gary Hair]

Doug, I'm not sure I understand your suggestion.....I'm trying to picture it, but can't.....it's late though.....maybe when I re-read it in the morning, it'll hit me.

I think what Doug suggested was to hang the glasses from a fixture. The slots are where the stem slides in to the fixture. This would be a great way to eliminate any variances in the base/stem/glass. As long as the stem is in the center of the base this would work perfectly!

Gary

[Bjorn storoien]

If i get a small order of glasses i usually take a piece of cardboard and tape it to the table (to hold it in place) then i vector (on low power )
circles where i want to place the glasses and then do the job

This works very well even on larger orders ,maybe i missed the point here but makin a jig isnt always the easiest/fastest way to go:)

Bjorn

[Steve Clarkson]

Ok, maybe I shouldn't have said "jig". All I am trying to do is to vector those circles......so that I can place the glasses on the bottom of the table. What I need to do is to try to vector the circles from three inches above the table and see if the laser will actually mark the tape accurately from that far away.

I'll let you know if it works later today.

Thanks.

[Scott Shepherd]

Steve, from your original request, it should be fairly easy. You can measure the inside of the "well" that's created when you take the table off. Cut your piece to fit that and then cut the circles anywhere you want.

Drop it down into the well, put a glass in with blue tape on it, get the first glass right, position wise, by moving it around in corel. Once you've got that, you know the relationship of all the other circles so you should be good. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to get it oriented as you first requested.

[Steve Clarkson]

get the first glass right, position wise, by moving it around in corel.

Yea......that's the HARD part!

Thanks!

[Jack Harper]

Yea......that's the HARD part!

Thanks!

OK, Steve, I will chime in as well. I agree that the effort is probably not worth hassle. However, here is yet another possibility.

You will need some plywood, cardboard, a dowel stick and given it is early Sunday morning, maybe some Irish coffee.

First cut a piece of .25 or .5 plywood to the size of your machine bottom, along with a matching piece of rigid cardboard. Then vector cut a small hole in all four corners of both materials. The hole size should match the size of your dowel. Next cut four equal lengths (about the depth of your grid to the bottom of your machine) of the dowel and place each piece equally into the holes on the plywood. Place the cardboard over the protruding dowels leaving then flush with the top of the dowels. Place the hole thing into the bottom of the laser, taping if necessary to make sure it won't move. Then laser you pattern for the glasses, slide the cardboard down the dowels to rest on top of the plywood and then set the glasses accordingly and begin lasering.

The one good part of this design that might make it worth the effort is, you will be able to replace the cardboard for different jobs over time. A bit overkill I admit, but there you go anyway. Good luck.

[Dee Gallo]

I like this idea, Jack! Good solution to Steve's issue, but also might come in handy for lots of other things we want to place on the "floor". I'll bet a welder could make this out of metal for you too so you could use magnets to hold paper template or items in place.

Good one, dee

[Dave Johnson29]

I'll bet a welder could make this out of metal for you too so you could use magnets to hold paper template or items in place. Dee, Give me the maximum dimensions (width x length) for the plate at the bottom and the height of the "dowels" and I will see what I can come up with. With the plate, if it is bigger than the swept area of the normal table, make sure you can get it down to the bottom between the X-Y rails. Or if putting it in from the front, make sure the height will clear under the X-Y rails.

[Doug Griffith]

I agree. Unless were talking about cheap-o glass ones, no 2 wine glasses are exactly alike. The variation would be compounded if trying to register the rim to the base. That's why I would use a jig that aligns the glass as close to the engraved surface as possible.

[russell dietrich]

Steve

Jig table, app cost $40 for large & small table. Can be configured for a wide range of shapes. Glass jig per Doug Griffith, self centering. If interested I can give details on construction, (these tables are specifically sized for a VL200.) But principles are the same for any device. All parts can be purchased in local hardware stores. (1st attempt at a post, pls forgive errors)

[Mike Null]

Russell

Glad to have you aboard.

That's a pretty spiffy lathe you have.

[Dee Gallo]

Dee, Give me the maximum dimensions (width x length) for the plate at the bottom and the height of the "dowels" and I will see what I can come up with. With the plate, if it is bigger than the swept area of the normal table, make sure you can get it down to the bottom between the X-Y rails. Or if putting it in from the front, make sure the height will clear under the X-Y rails.

Thanks for the offer, Dave, but my mini is really mini - I only have 3 3/4" from the bottom to the focus point. Hardly worth the effort!

cheers, dee