Rotary Attachment for Mercury

[Alan Young]

<!--StartFragment -->What are some thoughts on the rotary attachment for the mercury laser or I guess any lasers in general. I do not have one or a specific need at the time but sometimes having the tool will provide opportunities in the future. Are they worth the money? Can you ever find a used one?

Alan

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Alan;
I have one-use it infrequently. Works fine but needs a little practice to figure out , and then you kind of forget until the next time and kinda have to figure it out again. You also need to be able to adapt the holding jig to various objects- I have a metal lathe so was able to make some different "tailstock" adapters for bottle, mugs, glasses, etc. Not a big deal really but helps to be handy.
Sign Warehouse has tried to write a step-by - step procedure for the device but it's pretty complicated too.

I would only buy one if you plan to do a lot of repetitive cylindrical work to justify the set up time and overall expense .
George

[J Porter]

I second each and every one of George's comments.

I done some really nice bottles and glasses, and it's a small learning curve each time I use it since that demand is so infrequent. And, as George said, sometimes you have to improvise on the holder a wee bit for odd shaped items.

I got a fair price for mine by buying my entire laser system as a package deal, so it's probably paid for itself.

[Alan Young]

Thanks for the comments. I will keep my eyes and ears open for a used one to play with. And if that can't be found then, well I guess I am not out anything. I don't have the need at this time to justify buying a new one to play with.

Alan

[Rodne Gold]

If you are gouing to do branding of any sort for the prom industry its pretty useful. I 3rd all the stuff others have said , its not the easiest unit to use and needs some modification to find the centres easily (like a lathe type jaws)

I beleive GCC are developing a new one or a better one - I also heard hey are developing an optical recognition system for the lasers - now that will be a big boon!!!

[Barbara Sample]

Hello Alan,
I have a LaserPro Mercury engraver, and I have the rotary attachment.
I use it all them time. I love it. I have done beer mugs for bars and weddings, wine bottles, and glass mugs, and wine caraffe's.

I do cater to the wedding crowd, so I have used it a lot for champagne flutes, and wine glasses, etc.
I honestly, do not know how to do it the other ways, because of the curves.

I just measure the diamenter of the piece, then put the piece into the rotary and clip it in so it's tight, take the y measurement, put that number into the print setup, change the page setup to match it, and then off I go.
I always start it with the table down too far, because the first run of the job always goes back to the home position on the rotary(and sometimes it can hit if the focus probe is not put up) and then after that it starts at the same place for each piece. that's when I focus and just run them.
It's all individual, but once you know how to use it, it's pretty easy. LaserPro has directions on their website, for how to do it. I had to use that a lot when I first started, but now have it down pretty good.

Good Luck with your decision, but I thinks it's worth it.
I also got mine at the same time as the laser, so I learned from scratch. Never knowing how else to do it, might have helped me.
Barbara

[Joe Pelonio]

I have had my laser 18 months and did not get the rotary attachment.
So far I have had one person ask for glasses to be etched, and was able
to do it without the attachment since it was a small 1"x1" logo. I just did
the focus manually and split between the center and edges, and it looked
great. Also can do two lines on pens, and did a job with 4 lines on some
1" diameter acrylic tubing, again looked fine without the attachment. If
you want to get into wine bottles and a lot of glasses it would be worth
it, but you'd want to market those items to cover the cost.

[Hilton Lister]

Having used sandcarving for my glass work over the last 7-8 years, I find the work I get from the Mercury most disappointing. It's impossible to get consistent
color results as it depends on how much of the crystalization from the laser flakes off. seems to vary from glass to glass. It's much faster and easier than sandcarving, and also better in regards to the text/graphics following the curve of the glass, but I've tried wet paper etc, different power settings and still cannot get a finish anywhere near as good as I'd like. Now using 1000dpi, but takes forever (comparatively) Will try the laser mask as soon as it becomes available locally as logically, that will give me a much superior finish.

[Peter Vasic]

Having used sandcarving for my glass work over the last 7-8 years, I find the work I get from the Mercury most disappointing. It's impossible to get consistent
color results as it depends on how much of the crystalization from the laser flakes off. seems to vary from glass to glass. It's much faster and easier than sandcarving, and also better in regards to the text/graphics following the curve of the glass, but I've tried wet paper etc, different power settings and still cannot get a finish anywhere near as good as I'd like. Now using 1000dpi, but takes forever (comparatively) Will try the laser mask as soon as it becomes available locally as logically, that will give me a much superior finish.

A laser isnt designed to engrave glass like sand blasting....Think of it this way...It was a by product of the device discovered as a result of someones experimentation.
Now for those that dont have a sand blaster it is an absolute boon, being able to offer a service on top of everything else their machine can do.

Yes, the result side by side to sand blasting is like chalk and cheese...

regards

Peter

[Alan Young]

<!--StartFragment --><!--StartFragment -->
I guess from what I am reading it is a market driven decision only to be complicated by the fact it is sometimes hard to develop new products without the right tools. Something like I would have never started selling laser cut items unless I bought a laser:rolleyes: . I don't have a need now but would I generate a need if I had one to develop products? I will watch for the new rotary that Rodne mentioned or keep my eyes open for a used one.

Did any of you develop a product line because you had a rotary attachment to experiment with or did you have a product that needed a rotary attachment. What came first the chicken or the egg?;)

[Hilton Lister]

Glass lasering was one of the reasons I used to justify the cost of the Mercury purchase to my Financial Manager (Wife) We were losing so much glass work to a laser equipped competitor.
The quality of glass lasering leaves much to be desired, but the speed is impossible to match vs blasting. Besides, bulk orders for sandblasting glasses are truly daunting in respect to labour times.
I would welcome any advice in regards to achieving a finish more comparable to blasting. An ideas anyone? Please?:confused:

[Jerry Allen]

Hilton, check this thread:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19615

Alan, I also use the rotary to engrave other things like turned bowls, but for a moderately clean laser engraving on glass with no flaky residue see above thread.

[Hilton Lister]

Thanks for that. I have tried those settings and still got inconsistent results from one glass to another.

[Alan Young]

<!--StartFragment --> Jerry very nice bowl. Just out of curiosity how long did that take to laser?

Does a rotary move at one speed or is it adjustable like the pen settings.

Alan

[Laurent Bodnar]

hello,
A small photo of engraving with rotary on glass.

[Jerry Allen]

Hilton, it's the laser mask that does it, not so much the settings.

Alan, I don't recall how long, maybe 4 minutes max. The rotary moves at the same speed as the Y axis would on the table.

Laurent, Nice work. Did you use a mask?

[Laurent Bodnar]

Hello Jerry,

yes i use a mask (wet paper) for the job.
engraving times for the bottom 14 Minutes.
Gravograph 40 W , Speed 30 , Power 70, 300 dpi

Laurent

[Barbara Sample]

Hi,
That bottle and the glasses a beautiful. Did you color fill them? and what settings did you use.
I have a 35 W LaserPro and I engrave with a rotary, but never got it quite that white. I also noticed that it is a black or dark bottle. I am sure that helped but your glasses also look very nice.
I use 60 speed and 100 power on glass.
Barb:confused:

[Barbara Sample]

Hello again Laurant,
I am sorry that I didn't read any further before I responded.
Thanks for a place to start with the settings.
I love your work.
Barbara