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View Full Version : Decreasing the laser head transit time between actual cuts



Doug Fisher
09-08-2016, 12:48 PM
I am using RDWorks 8.01.18 (current version). For my example file, I have two layers in my drawing. The first layer cuts four small holes designated to cut at a speed of 5 mm per second located about 1.5 inches away from each other . The second layer then cuts a squarish shape around the whole group of the holes to form a single drop out containing the holes that I cut at 15 mm per second (thick acrylic).

I did do some testing and determined that the transit speed traveling between cuts is based on the speed that the next cut has been designated to use, at least in my current user configuration (which until now was all default settings). In other words, if my next cut will be 5 mm a second, the head will travel to that location at 5 mm a second, if it is designated to cut at 25 mm a second then it will travel at 25 mm a second, etc. How can I increase the speed of the head when it moves from the end point of cutting one circle to the start point for cutting the next circle (and then to the start of the cutting of the square)? Right now, it just moves at 5 mm per second so that adds a lot of slow speed non-cutting time. I tried changing a number of the speed settings in the User panel on the right of the software screen but when I ran the cut in simulation mode none of the changes had the desired affect.

Thanks!

Gary Hair
09-08-2016, 1:19 PM
Unless there is a setting for "rapids" then you are probably out of luck.

Kev Williams
09-08-2016, 1:38 PM
What speed settings did you change, and FROM what TO what?
"space" and "space acc" speeds are what you're looking for, however, what RDwords calls "space" and "acc" is anyone's guess!

Can you post a screenshot of the settings menu(s)? (My LaserSoft has 2 or 3 different places/ways to change speeds)

Keith Winter
09-08-2016, 1:52 PM
Look at the acceleration settings. Depending on what software you have that will vary what they call it.

Glen Monaghan
09-08-2016, 5:11 PM
If you don't have any settings that let you quick traverse when not firing the laser, you could try adding some extra cuts before each of the current cuts. For example, put a very short (e.g., 0.05" long) line segment to be vectored at high speed (whatever speed you want to use for quick traverse) positioned inside the first circle you want to cut, near the starting point of the circle. Then put another similar line just inside and near the starting point of the 2nd circle, and so on, ending with a similar line outside of and near the starting point of the rectangular shape. This may require extra layers to make it work (if it will actually work in your setup), but may not be worth the hassle unless you are going to be running this job a lot. No sense fiddling around for 15 minutes to save 30 seconds of machine time unless you are going to run that job at least 31 times...

Dave Sheldrake
09-08-2016, 5:49 PM
http://en.rd-acs.com/Private/Files/6357006695869087501718650695.pdf

settings manual

Doug Fisher
09-08-2016, 11:20 PM
Thanks for the replies. I will try to insert the three screen grabs of the options at the bottom of this reply. I tried a bunch of combinations before I made my initial post about the problem but unfortunately was not able to find a useful combination of changes that sped up the transit time so I set things back to the way I found them in an attempt to avoid creating other issues.

Glen, I was thinking about doing something similar but it hadn't yet clicked in my mind how to do it and your idea to put the cut inside the next cut area got the cogs of my rusty mind going. Thanks.

Thanks for posting that, Dave. I had previously tried to hack my way through that often jumble of random words ;)

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Dave Sheldrake
09-09-2016, 9:59 AM
I'll go look at one of mine and check...

Keith Winter
09-09-2016, 10:21 AM
Try changing home speed to 150 mm/s what happens?


Thanks for the replies. I will try to insert the three screen grabs of the options at the bottom of this reply. I tried a bunch of combinations before I made my initial post about the problem but unfortunately was not able to find a useful combination of changes that sped up the transit time so I set things back to the way I found them in an attempt to avoid creating other issues.

Glen, I was thinking about doing something similar but it hadn't yet clicked in my mind how to do it and your idea to put the cut inside the next cut area got the cogs of my rusty mind going. Thanks.

Thanks for posting that, Dave. I had previously tried to hack my way through that often jumble of random words ;)

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Doug Fisher
09-09-2016, 4:51 PM
Ok, I believe I already tried changing that but I will try again with that setting later tonight.

Thanks,
Doug

Kev Williams
09-09-2016, 5:15 PM
I believe Home Speed is simply the speed it moves home on machine start-up. Don't want that too fast or it could over-run the limit switches...

Most of the speeds are very similar to mine. I would try adding 20 points to all of the "factor" settings and see what happens. Also, just below those are the x-y 'sweep' settings at 15, maybe make those 25...

To test, lay out several shapes, like stars, a couple of sizes of circles, ovals, triangles and squares, different sizes. Test BEFORE making changes as a baseline run, then test after to see if anything you changed helps, or makes things worse, like moving too fast around tight turns or corners, etc...

You may find something that works to speed up the spot-to-spot movement, if so, just make sure that extra speed doesn't cause a second problem...

Keith Winter
09-09-2016, 5:26 PM
It's definitely machine startup but I wonder if it also affects piece to piece. I have 150 set on mine for home speed...

Doug Fisher
09-09-2016, 10:01 PM
Changing the home speed by itself didn't affect things. I will try others.