Origin on a ULS Machine

[Bill George]

I have things pretty much figured out on the new to me, ULS V460-50. Origin now is the next thing on the list.

This is a 24x18 size machine and the factory Origin appears to be about 1 inch or 25 mm off the rulers in the upper left. However when I put in a test piece it appears to move over a distance and starts the project. So is there a way to have the Origin set and not have that "move over" distance?

I have customer supplied pre-cut to size material pieces that have be centered.

I tried resetting the Origin and again it moves from that pre-set spot, wherever it is set.

Is there a way to have the red dot trace the bounding box before I start the actual project?

[Ross Moshinsky]

On the aluminum table, throw some painters tape down along the X and Y axis about 1" from the ruler. In Corel/Illustrator/Whatever draw a line along the X and Y 1" down and 1" in. Vector engrave these lines into the painters tape. Then adjust the ruler using the set screws so that everything lines up.

As for the red dot, I wouldn't trust it 100% unless you prove it to be 100% accurate. For example, move the table in the UCP software to a known location and then see if the red dot is actually bang on.

[Bill George]

Ross the Start point using the ruler Origin is about 1 inch stand off from each corner ruler. Reminder this is a Legacy laser built in 2006.

Now I am wondering if the actual Origin instead of being off the rulers 1 inch in each direction should be at the actual 0,0 and the offset is the one inch required to give the carriage room to process a file. FYI I did the Factory setting Origin and it still ended up with the inch offset from the 0,0.

[Bill George]

Ok Ross I took your suggestion and put some tape down, right on the edge of the Rulers. Made a Rectangle and moved it in the print preview right against the rulers. Used the Y-X and moved the red dot over to the Exact intersection upper left of the Rulers and re-set the Origin. Hit Start and the Rectangle was up tight in the corner as I expected it to be with the factory ? default setting.
Only issue is when the machine is powered down it loses my origin and goes back to whatever is in the machine, factory or otherwise. I can live with it that way. Thanks again for your help!!

[Tony Lenkic]

Bill,

Here is the way I was setting 0,0 on ULS.

Loosen the screws on rulers an push the ruler away as much as you can. Tape piece of plastic or cardboard on the table.
In working software draw a horizontal 24" and vertical 18" lines and place them at the edge of working page. Select color for cutting and send it over to machine to cut.
Remove excess top and left plastic/cardboard and but rulers against top and left material on table. Secure rulers screws and you should have 0,0 origin on table matching Corel page layout.

Hope this helps.

[Bill George]

Bill,

Here is the way I was setting 0,0 on ULS.

Loosen the screws on rulers an push the ruler away as much as you can. Tape piece of plastic or cardboard on the table.
In working software draw a horizontal 24" and vertical 18" lines and place them at the edge of working page. Select color for cutting and send it over to machine to cut.
Remove excess top and left plastic/cardboard and but rulers against top and left material on table. Secure rulers screws and you should have 0,0 origin on table matching Corel page layout.

Hope this helps.

Well the factory or pre-set machine Origin is 1 inch off each of the rulers. Is there 1 inch of movement in the rulers? If I reset the Orgin in the machine and move the file in the Print Preview screen to 0,0 it works as it should. I will check again in the morning and see how much I can move the Rulers.

[Tony Lenkic]

Bill, my machine (V400) is one generation before V460 so there may have been changes done in set origin. Best is to confirm with factory.
On my machine 0,0 origin is where rulers meet at to left.

If origin is 1" inwards from the rulers you will loose specified work area 24" x 18" by that amount and that would be wrong IMO.

[Bill George]

OK here is the final solution I found this morning and thanks to John Volkmar.

Ok, I was making two mistakes in resetting to Factory defaults.

# 1. Using the up/down Arrow keys pressed at the same time, rather than the correct method using the Triangle Z up/down keys.

#2 After setting New Origin I did not Escape and go to the Configuration menu and Escape again. After I did that it, all was fine.

Now after Powering off and back on it holds the Factory Zero and a File placed in the upper left 0.0 in Corel Draw cuts in the same place.
.

[Kev Williams]

To address running a bounding box-- draw your own bounding box around what you're engraving, send it to the machine as a vector cut, then, assuming your door interlocks work, just open the door and run the box- it will run it with the red light on--

[Bill George]

To address running a bounding box-- draw your own bounding box around what you're engraving, send it to the machine as a vector cut, then, assuming your door interlocks work, just open the door and run the box- it will run it with the red light on--

Another good Idea, thanks Ken. My big problem now is finding the correct color pallet as supplied by ULS for Corel X6. The way it is now the only color I can assign for vector cutting is Black. The other RGB colors don't seem to vector cut with the correct power settings. Even the same settings used in Black will not work right. I sent an email to ULS asked for the correct file. I have already downloaded the PDF file with Corel X6, how to install and configure instructions.

[Bill George]

Well thanks to the awesome customer service at ULS I have a link to all the downloads including the new color pallet and its now installed and working fine. It now works as it should. More and more impressed by ULS.

[Scott Shepherd]

Bill, glad to see you up and running. I think you'll be quite impressed with ULS. They are a top notch company. There machines just run and run and run. They aren't the fastest on the market, but their machines are solid, and their drivers are rock solid. Their tech support is wide and deep, which isn't always the case. They've got people there in tech support that were around when that machine was new, so their knowledge on them is up there.

I think you'll really enjoy that machine. I look forward to seeing what you'll do with it.

[Brian Leavitt]

Well shoot - I should have read this before I sent you the color palette! Glad you got it sorted out.