Need Engravelab Help - New Hermes 3000 LT

[John Jackson]

I am trying to get a New Hermes 3000LT with EP Module running from Engravelab 9. I own Engravelab but have not used it much.

My goal is to get this running with diamond drag. I have another New Hermes Engraver with electronics I rebuilt and run from different software, and I want to compare the diamond drag quality with the New Hermes 3000.

I created a small plate and wrote ABC on it, and sent it to the EP module. At this point I have no cutter installed - just air cutting.

The X and Y go through the motions of the letters correctly, but the spindle does not move up and down at all. As I recall this is a software setting someplace, but for the life of me I cannot find. it.

If anyone can think of some things to try I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

John

[Kev Williams]

I'm not familiar with the 3000LT, but from your description I'll assume you have a stepper-motor driven spindle and NOT an air spindle (like the 3200's), correct?

I'll also assume you've gotten the machine setup correctly in the EP module, or it likely wouldn't "air cut"...

That all said-- you zero out the spindle on the EP module, not in the software. The software only tells the spindle how deep to engrave, and how far to lift between letters...

If you haven't done this-- Press the Z button, then press the DOWN ARROW. This should lower the spindle. Adjust so the tool tip so it just touches the work, then press the CHECK button, and you're ready!

To test the Z operation, just set the zero point higher up.

Hope this helps!

[John Jackson]

Kev,

Thanks for the that - will give it a try. I know it is something simple like that.

It is a stepper driven system with a 1/4" spindle. I bought it from a neighbor who had been using it for making cut out acrylic letters for his sign business, but he has gone all print and cut. I bought the package primarily because it came with among other things 60 2' x 2' engraving plastic. It came with an old Signlab with lots of options (like braille) that I was able to upgrade to the current version of EngraveLab Pro.

I already had a NH1219 which I bought and upgraded the electronics with a cheap cnc controller and run gcode using Mach 3 software. On that machine when I look at diamond drag engraving under a microscope the lines are all short segments that look like a dotted line. It is good enough for school plaques which are tine letters viewed in display case several feet away, but now I have a plaque to update that the original engraving is very well done and my stuff looks like -- beside it. My thought was to get the NH 3000LT up and do a short test on it. At the moment I expect my problem is the controller I used is not pulsing the steppers smoothly.

Thanks,

John

[John Jackson]

That worked by the way. I knew it was something simple! Will test it with a tool installed this evening.

[John Jackson]

Thanks again Kev for the help. I did testing on the NH3000 and found the diamond drag engraving was much better quality using the same diamond drag stylus.

Now I just need to find the single line engraving fonts amongst the 1500 fonts that were installed! I am looking for a 3-line roman font.

John