Epilog coordinate system question

[Karl Lautman]

I have an Epilog Helix I'm still learning to use. I've created a large letter E in Illustrator which I've printed out on a laser printer and want to cut out on the engraver. The stroke width is .001" and the page is 8.5" x 11" portrait. I import this file into Corel and all relevant settings are preserved (stroke is set to hairline). I set the origin to the upper-left corner of the E, not the page. In the Epilog driver, I select vector cutting, 8.5"W x 11"H material, and deselect center artwork. On the engraver I place the page with the narrow edge against the x-axis and the long edge several inches away from the y-axis. I reset home to the upper-left corner of the E on the printout. When I print the job on the engraver, it cuts nowhere near the printed E; the cut is offset beneath and to the right of where it should be. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for you help.

[Doug Griffith]

I have an Epilog Helix I'm still learning to use. I've created a large letter E in Illustrator which I've printed out on a laser printer and want to cut out on the engraver. The stroke width is .001" and the page is 8.5" x 11" portrait. I import this file into Corel and all relevant settings are preserved (stroke is set to hairline). I set the origin to the upper-left corner of the E, not the page. In the Epilog driver, I select vector cutting, 8.5"W x 11"H material, and deselect center artwork. On the engraver I place the page with the narrow edge against the x-axis and the long edge several inches away from the y-axis. I reset home to the upper-left corner of the E on the printout. When I print the job on the engraver, it cuts nowhere near the printed E; the cut is offset beneath and to the right of where it should be. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for you help.

I would just edit the graphic by moving the E to the up left corner of the page. Do other files cut with correct offsets?

It could be that the laser printer is set to "fit to page" or something like that where the origin is being automatically shifted. The print margins of the laser printer could be shifting the art as well. You are going to have quite a fun time trying to index the output from one device with the output from another.

[Karl Lautman]

Thanks, Doug. If I set the origin to the top-left corner of the page, and home the engraver to the top-left corner of the paper, the output prints where it's supposed to. Of course, that approach isn't precise enough for this task, since this is all about indexing. I hoped it would be as simple as homing the engraver to the same point on the paper that's set as the origin in the document. Apparently not.

[Tim Bateson]

... In the Epilog driver, I select vector cutting, 8.5"W x 11"H material, and deselect center artwork. On the engraver I place the page with the narrow edge against the x-axis and the long edge several inches away from the y-axis. I reset home to the upper-left corner of the E on the printout...

The solution "should" be to set the E in the Upper Left corner of the Corel page, then set the Home on the Laser to the location you wanting it lasered.

[Michael Hunter]

I too was bewildered by Epilog's positioning system - it seemed to do something different every time - so I gave up on that completely.
I also found that changing page sizes all the time led to mistakes.

I now keep the machine page size to that of the whole bed. I have a matching master page in Corel (not surprisingly called "Epilog").
Everything I do is referenced to the top left-hand corner of the drawing and the machine bed.

For critical placement I either -

Make a jig from MDF or cheap ply. The jig is drawn on the same page as the actual engraving for accuracy and then moved to a new sheet for cutting out.
or
Three layers of masking tape protecting the job and low power to check that the engraving is coming out in the right pace.

[Bill George]

On my ULS in Corel print preview I just tell it Upper Left corner, put my work piece where I want on the table and use the X-Y keys to select the Upper Left corner of the work and Select, and Select again. It locates the temporary Origin at that point, I am sure the Epilog is pretty much the same. I have also made templates as Michael has suggested for a production set up.

[Karl Lautman]

I guess I'll give Epilog a call. ;-)

[Tim Bateson]

Karl, My suggestion should have resolved your issue. If not then yes, you'll need to call Epilog.

[Karl Lautman]

Per my original post, it seems like I've already tried that. Plus, I feel like I'm fundamentally misunderstanding how the coordinate system works since it seems like you should be able to put the artwork anywhere on the page in the file, put the physical page anywhere on the table, identically oriented, and get the proper result as long as the table's home corresponds to the file's. It's not working out that way.

[Bruce Clumpner]

One of the most important things I use in printing through the epilog print driver is its imposition capabilities. Once you confirm that you match the print page size with the document page size, it's easy to shove any page into the top left corner using the imposition controls. There are margin controls too, to let you move the output around the print page too. Go to print preview instead of print and look around.

[Matt McCoy]

Per my original post, it seems like I've already tried that. Plus, I feel like I'm fundamentally misunderstanding how the coordinate system works since it seems like you should be able to put the artwork anywhere on the page in the file, put the physical page anywhere on the table, identically oriented, and get the proper result as long as the table's home corresponds to the file's. It's not working out that way.

Can you make a box the exact dimensions of the substrate and then turn off that layer to prevent engraving/cutting?