Kev Williams
12-22-2013, 12:21 PM
I've had my new Triumph for a month now. My business has been thru the roof for months, keeping me working 18-19 hour days, pretty much 7 days a week since September. Leaves me little time to learn how to use my new toy!
My issue in a nutshell is, I seem to have zero control over what I want the machine to do, as far as speed and power settings. Or most other settings for that matter. The software instructions are reasonably detailed but for the most part the instructions assume I actually know what what a broken delay or a flow delay is, or why I need to change acceleration parameters...? (for starters!) Instructions explains them, but not their cause and effect...
Here's a rundown of my 'work' so far...
Running a 'test box', I have no idea if or when the laser will fire when doing so..
I sent a text job to the machine-- using standard 1/16" engraving material the engraving went nearly thru. Changing speed and power settings on the computer changed nothing on the job output..
Another time, same issue, then on the machine keypad I found "auto" chosen in the lasercut part of the menu. I changed that to "manual", and suddenly I had control over the power. But not the speed, it never changed no matter what settings I tried. During this test I ran some anodized aluminum, with text about 3/8" high. First thing I noticed was the "gap" (aka lines per inch) was way too wide, found it set at .5. Also, the backlash was WAAAYY off. After making some changes, I hit on -.025 cleaned up the backlash (even tho the suggested settings are well into the "+" figures). Also, there were already backlash settings in the box, which I didn't do, I just changed them. Anyway, then I changed the gap to .2 (or so) to tighten up the detail. I ran several tests, changing letter size and power. Changing speed changed nothing. I was pleased with the results, especially using the full-power setting. The lettering came out just bright as could be- which was because the laser had completely vaporized the anodizing and had actually etched the aluminum...
My other two lasers have never even be capable of marking aluminum whatsoever...
Couple of days later, I fire up the machine, found some western text and a piece of maple to see what she'd do on wood. On the first pass, about 1" high letters, it cut fine, with the exception of the fact the backlash was off over 1/4"! I really didn't do anything different from the previous time except I entered 80% power and 30% speed. I checked the backlash dialog, and again the speed and numerical value were pre-entered, with a ridiculous value in the backlash, something like 512.5-- I changed it to the -.2 as before, which lined it up much better but it was still off by about 1/2 mm (forcing me to learn metrics is another issue, but I'm learning!)... The other issue I had during this test, was no control over speed OR POWER again. Machine keypad still said "manual"... ?
My last test was a couple days ago, where I sent the words "this is text" to the machine. But this time I used the PHcad program rather than the PHsoft program. What IS the difference, anyway? For what it's worth, I will be using my old programs for ALL graphics and text manipulation. All I need is a 'vehicle' to make the machine do what I want it to do!
Back to the text-- I ran it on a piece of rowmark. And it lasered quite nicely, with nearly perfect backlash. However, this time I assume the laser was at or near full power because it cut clear thru the material. And again, I had complete zero control over speed and power. Machine keypad changes did nothing (power1/power2 changes, auto/manual changes)... For another test, I grabbed a piece of stainless and tested it. See the pic- one was done at 1%/1%, the other at 95%/95%, as entered from the computer. Note they're identical. Also note, the laser actually etched the stainless! And like with aluminum, my other 2 lasers have never made any visible mark on stainless ever, minus Cermark..
That's where I'm at so far! With the holiday, I have a few hours to spend today trying to make my new toy sing and dance for me! And I'm really not wanting to deal with China to do it...
Many thanks in advance!
http://www.engraver1.com/erase1/laserss.jpg
My issue in a nutshell is, I seem to have zero control over what I want the machine to do, as far as speed and power settings. Or most other settings for that matter. The software instructions are reasonably detailed but for the most part the instructions assume I actually know what what a broken delay or a flow delay is, or why I need to change acceleration parameters...? (for starters!) Instructions explains them, but not their cause and effect...
Here's a rundown of my 'work' so far...
Running a 'test box', I have no idea if or when the laser will fire when doing so..
I sent a text job to the machine-- using standard 1/16" engraving material the engraving went nearly thru. Changing speed and power settings on the computer changed nothing on the job output..
Another time, same issue, then on the machine keypad I found "auto" chosen in the lasercut part of the menu. I changed that to "manual", and suddenly I had control over the power. But not the speed, it never changed no matter what settings I tried. During this test I ran some anodized aluminum, with text about 3/8" high. First thing I noticed was the "gap" (aka lines per inch) was way too wide, found it set at .5. Also, the backlash was WAAAYY off. After making some changes, I hit on -.025 cleaned up the backlash (even tho the suggested settings are well into the "+" figures). Also, there were already backlash settings in the box, which I didn't do, I just changed them. Anyway, then I changed the gap to .2 (or so) to tighten up the detail. I ran several tests, changing letter size and power. Changing speed changed nothing. I was pleased with the results, especially using the full-power setting. The lettering came out just bright as could be- which was because the laser had completely vaporized the anodizing and had actually etched the aluminum...
My other two lasers have never even be capable of marking aluminum whatsoever...
Couple of days later, I fire up the machine, found some western text and a piece of maple to see what she'd do on wood. On the first pass, about 1" high letters, it cut fine, with the exception of the fact the backlash was off over 1/4"! I really didn't do anything different from the previous time except I entered 80% power and 30% speed. I checked the backlash dialog, and again the speed and numerical value were pre-entered, with a ridiculous value in the backlash, something like 512.5-- I changed it to the -.2 as before, which lined it up much better but it was still off by about 1/2 mm (forcing me to learn metrics is another issue, but I'm learning!)... The other issue I had during this test, was no control over speed OR POWER again. Machine keypad still said "manual"... ?
My last test was a couple days ago, where I sent the words "this is text" to the machine. But this time I used the PHcad program rather than the PHsoft program. What IS the difference, anyway? For what it's worth, I will be using my old programs for ALL graphics and text manipulation. All I need is a 'vehicle' to make the machine do what I want it to do!
Back to the text-- I ran it on a piece of rowmark. And it lasered quite nicely, with nearly perfect backlash. However, this time I assume the laser was at or near full power because it cut clear thru the material. And again, I had complete zero control over speed and power. Machine keypad changes did nothing (power1/power2 changes, auto/manual changes)... For another test, I grabbed a piece of stainless and tested it. See the pic- one was done at 1%/1%, the other at 95%/95%, as entered from the computer. Note they're identical. Also note, the laser actually etched the stainless! And like with aluminum, my other 2 lasers have never made any visible mark on stainless ever, minus Cermark..
That's where I'm at so far! With the holiday, I have a few hours to spend today trying to make my new toy sing and dance for me! And I'm really not wanting to deal with China to do it...
Many thanks in advance!
http://www.engraver1.com/erase1/laserss.jpg