Any advice for marking YETI style tumblers with a fiber rotary?

[Scott Challoner]

It's actually a powder coated RTIC but I can't seem to get rid of the split lines. It's tapered so it has a changing diameter so I'm not sure which rotary parameter to use. I've tried RotaryMark and SplitMark2. I've tried changing the diameter and it's gotten a little better but it's still not good enough. I would have posted a picture, but I just painted the cup to try again. I've gone down to a 2mm split and that doesn't seem to make any difference either. Been following this post http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?245386-fiber-rotary-cruel-joke-erwhut&highlight=cruel+joke but I can't find anything else.

[John Kleiber]

Scott,

Here is a link to a thread I started a while back.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?239978-EZcad-software-and-rotary/page2

-John

[Gary Hair]

Split size won't help in this situation, it's to adjust the width of the portion of the image that the laser marks at one time. You may see some improvement in the alignment of the splits if you make the split width very small, but otherwise you should keep it as large as possible to maximize the speed.

Check the thread you linked for how to optimize pulses per round - that will get rid of the lines. You might also want to change the steps per revolution (SPR) but you have to change a couple of switches on the driver as well. The SPR will smooth out the rotation considerably, I have mine set to the max value and it is smooth as silk now!

[Kev Williams]

One bandaid I've been going to try to fix the lines is to run a straight 0° hatch that's parallel to the split lines. Just haven't had time to mess--

Think I read somewhere here someone entered a .01mm split, which would essentially rotate it every sweep of the beam. Don't know if it would work or not--

And Gar, where the hell are these drivers and switches?? :D (I found nary a switch inside my machine when I had it apart)

[Gary Hair]

One bandaid I've been going to try to fix the lines is to run a straight 0° hatch that's parallel to the split lines. Just haven't had time to mess--

Think I read somewhere here someone entered a .01mm split, which would essentially rotate it every sweep of the beam. Don't know if it would work or not--

And Gar, where the hell are these drivers and switches?? :D (I found nary a switch inside my machine when I had it apart)

Post the pics of the insides again, or email them to me.

[Scott Challoner]

Ok, finally figured out where pulses per round is entered. Didn't see the param tab. Mine is set to 12800.
Here's what the manual says about pulses per round. I'll keep digging to find the switches.

Pulses per round: The pulse numbers each round that the expansion axis rotating. We cancalculate it through following formula:
X=（360/N）* n
Thereinto:


X denotes Pulses per round.
N denotes step angle of step motor.
n denotes micro-step set by step motor driver.

[Gary Hair]

Don't bother trying calculate it, you just need to draw a rectangle that is exactly the length of the circumference of the object and adjust ppr until the ends meet. SPR is a setting in your software that is dictated by three dip switches on your driver, PPR is a setting that compensates for the variances in your machine so that the rotary will turn exactly 360 degrees when you tell it to.

You have one setting to tell how many segments to divide the 360 degrees into - SPR
You have another setting to adjust the segment size - PPR

[Neville Stewart]

Split size won't help in this situation, it's to adjust the width of the portion of the image that the laser marks at one time. You may see some improvement in the alignment of the splits if you make the split width very small, but otherwise you should keep it as large as possible to maximize the speed.

Check the thread you linked for how to optimize pulses per round - that will get rid of the lines. You might also want to change the steps per revolution (SPR) but you have to change a couple of switches on the driver as well. The SPR will smooth out the rotation considerably, I have mine set to the max value and it is smooth as silk now!
Smooth as silk! I'm dying to get mine in. So I can pester you G :)

[Gary Hair]

Smooth as silk! I'm dying to get mine in. So I can pester you G :)

And I'll be glad to help! Just make sure all the screws are tight first...

[Kev Williams]

349696349697349698349699

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The controller card is all I can see that MIGHT have a switch of some kind on it, I didn't see any-
On the other side of the machine is the laser source(?), looks similar to a power inverter- no pic unless I tear it down again. There was nothing else on that side that I could see--
The only other thing is the black high voltage box with the green plug, all that's on it is a ton of text describing voltage stuff-

[Bill George]

It should be the one wired to the rotary plug on the back. On mine its on the very top left and has two green plugs and its black. I will try to post a picture, its just a stepper motor drive.


349703

[Gary Hair]

It should be the black box toward the top. Bill's pic shows it, yours should look just like that.

[Kev Williams]

From the back of my box, the 2nd plug up is the rotary connection. Hard to trace the wires from my pics but I'm guessing they trail off to the other side of the bulkhead. I didn't do a lot of inspecting of that side, the black box in question is likely down low behind the laser source where I didn't see it... guess I need to undo screws again! :)

And FWIW to anyone, since the day I inspected that plug, this machine has worked flawlessly. Probably around 1500 separate items...One job was a batch of 55 qty .005" deep engraved aluminum parts with a substantial amount of engraving, nearly 8 minutes a pop, all perfect.

[Bill George]

Kev I don't think there is any high voltage on a fiber, could be wrong. Your power supplies are those two boxes with the perf metal covers. First picture, the black box on top right, below the head with the green connectors looks for all the world like a stepper motor driver. It would have lots of writing and then some small DIP switches.

As far as your plugging an un plugging, it could have been a loose or corroded connection or I have had circuit boards when they soldered those connectors on they did not get a solid connection. I remember a small milling machine like that, I removed the board, flipped over and found a cold solder joint. Some heat with my 25 watt soldering iron and all was well.