A axis drivers in the big boys machines?

[Greg Holt]

Those of you with Trotecs, Epilogs etc. that use an A axis (rotary), do you have an A axis driver?

Or do even the big boys do the cheap workaround of unplugging the Y axis and plugging the A axis into the Y driver?

I would sort of expect this from a Chinese machine but presume the US made machines are better equipped.

Greg

[Mark Sipes]

Those of you with Trotecs, Epilogs etc. that use an A axis (rotary), do you have an A axis driver?

Or do even the big boys do the cheap workaround of unplugging the Y axis and plugging the A axis into the Y driver?

I would sort of expect this from a Chinese machine but presume the US made machines are better equipped.

Greg

For the Trotec Speedy 25 series 8003 the software driver is integral to the job set-up page. The Rotary Attachment device hook up is the same one used as the Y-axis motor. (So yes you unplug one and plug in the other). The software orients the direction of the plate and calculates rotation speed. ( WYSIWYG )

Why the frustration on a simple design?

[Glen Monaghan]

I don't understand where the question about non-removeable rotary devices comes from... But, to answer the OP's question, I know my Epilog has servo motors for the X and Y axes and uses a stepper for the rotary and so has what the OP called an A axis driver. You simply plug the rotary's cable into a connector with the engraver powered down. The rotary's connector has a wire shorting two of the pins, which the engraver controller looks for when it is powered up and initializing, and interprets the presence of this short as meaning a rotary device is attached. The Y axis is still functional when the rotary is being used because it is used to position and hold the gantry over the rotary axis.

How would the gantry be positioned and held in place if you disconnect the Y axis to run the rotary?

-Glen

[Mark Sipes]

Glen to answer your question "How would the gantry be positioned and held in place if you disconnect the Y axis to run the rotary?"


On my trotec when the rotray is in use, the Y - gantry is positioned manually and centered over the item using a lens gauge.

This position becomes the "Zero" for Y axis...... and shows that way on the monitor. you can rotate the job and watch the red dot and view the job for any positioning problems. The gantry does not move during the job run......... I guess the linear forces are in direct line with the gantry position.

[Rich Harman]

On my machine the Y axis is unplugged and the rotary plugged into it. It is generally a bad idea to unplug or plug in a stepper motor while powered so this creates the small problem of having to manually home the y axis when powering up. I think the mainboard does support an additional axis but that would require installing another driver. I might do just that after I upgrade the motion components.

[Glen Monaghan]

Mark, when you say you position the gantry manually, do you mean the Y axis is unpowered so you physically grab the gantry and push it into position, or do you mean the Y axis remains active and you use the control panel to manually specify where it should position itself?

I could see doing the first method if you have to disconnect the Y axis to run the rotary, but given what I've heard of Trotec I wouldn't have thought they would have cut that cost corner. With the second method (which is what my Epilog uses), the Y driver ensures that the gantry remains positioned in line with the rotary during operation (not that there's any reason it should be moving, unless you are using the control panel to reposition it during loading/unloading).

-Glen

[Mark Sipes]

you position the gantry manually, and the Y axis is now the rotary device. Have not seen a draw back to this method in 10 years.....

[Greg Holt]

Thanks for the replies.

It looks from this very small sample (three owners) that Epilog has the extra driver and that Trotec and Shenhui do not.

I must confess to being mildly surprised the Trotec omitted it.

Greg

[Mark Sipes]

You might hold off on your suprise until you hear from a more current buyer of Trotec with a rotary......if it is important at all...since my machine is over 10 years old.....and still ticking with no tube, card or wiring problems......like many others..

[Greg Holt]

Yeah as I said, it is a petty small sample. :D

[Dan Hintz]

ULS does not use a separate driver, either...

[Gary Hair]

My GCC uses a separate driver for the rotary. When I restart the machine after plugging it in, the table lowers and the Y axis centers on the rotary then it's disabled.

Oh, and you should ALWAYS shut the machine off when plugging/unplugging your rotary. If not, you will most likely destroy the driver and maybe the entire mainboard. For the 1 minute it takes to shut down and restart it's not worth tempting fate.

Gary

[Chuck Stone]

^^^^^^ everything he said.
GCC warns you not to plug or unplug while the machine is on.

[Richard Rumancik]

I'm not a rotary user but it would seem odd to me to design it so that you have to manually lock the y axis in place over the part to be marked. Does that not interfere with convenient access to the item mounted in the rotary? It just seems more logical to have the y axis under power so the carriage can home out of the way for part changes.

[Kevin Groenke]

Our ULS's (X2-660's) do "wrap" the Y axis around the A for rotary function. The print driver has a "rotary installed" checkbox in which the diameter of the wrap establishes the Y dimension (automagically!). The rotary fixture itself indexes a mounting rail that's attached to the table and the TDC of the rotary is fixed at that position. These are prior generation ULS machines, not sure if new machines are the same.

-kg