Rotary Attachment Help

[Debbie Sweet]

Hello,

I just got a rotary attachment for my Mercury laser with no instructions accept for a few pages I printed out and then goes into setup with EngravLab which I don't have :mad: because I use Corel like most of the world. I have already put the following to Kevin Huffman but I would like any other advise from any of you out there. . .

- The biggest mystery is what is this irrational way it rotates?:confused: I have 150 mugs to engrave - when you have a handle you need to place the logo in a specific location, how the heck does it know where you want the logo to be placed? I kept testing it and every time I got a different rotation - sometimes it went one direction and then sometimes the other. And then sometimes it didn't rotate at all! When I thought I had it, the logo engraved right into the handle and hit the laser head! Not good!
- The other problem - the logo stretched - what is the technical way to correct this? I kind of played around with it and got a good one after 3 trys. It seemed to be about 75% condensed.
Please help - I need to get going on this ASAP!! :eek: Thank you

Debbie Sweet

[Hilton Lister]

I wouldn't use EngraveLab on my Laser. I have it for my rotary engravers and after more than 5 years of nearly everday use, I still thinks it's a dog compared to Coreldraw (Any version).
I use the Mercury rotary attachment with Corel 9 and the Mercury driver. It's a bit tricky, but once you get the first one right , it's OK. You must set your page size up to the size of the tankard to be engraved and that means measuring round the WHOLE outside of it for the portrait height (i use a tape measure), then the width.
Then set up the driver to the rotary option including the width by the diameter this time (don't forget the offset and your laser settings, then send the job to the engraver. Press start and the rotary will move to the start of the layout. I measure the tankard from the centre of where I want the work to the start of the layout. (Half the width). Then set the tankard up where the red dot pointer is indicating. After a dummy run or two with the top of the laser up so the beam doesn't fire, you will get the idea where it's going to engrave. It should move back to the start everytime you start it, so you can repeat the layout in roughly the same place. You will have to measure every one though. As I said, a bit tricky and not exactly dead accurate, but It's how I go about it. Any better suggestions most welcome

[Jim A. Walters]

When you push the "Y" axis button (up arrow) the fixture should rotate to "the top of the page". I loosened the set screw on the rubber rotary end, and aligned it straight up so I know when I am at the top of the page.

Picture taking a piece of paper and wrapping it around the mug. When you would lay the paper flat, you would have a page top and bottom. When you wrap it around the mug, the top of the page and bottom of the page almost touch. The page height is the circumference of the mug, and the width is the height of the mug. The offset is the distance from the edge of the rubber rotary end to the edge of the mug. Make sure you don't start engraving too near the top, where someone's lips would be if they were drinking from the mug.

Use blue painters masking tape and set the power low to test where the engraving will come out. You might want to draw a grid in Corel, and make sure you locate the handle in the same position each time.

I whacked the snot out of my laser head the first time also!

[Jerry Allen]

Debbie,
When you have your rotary installed it will automatically initialize to the top (and bottom too) of your page. (Because on a cylinder they touch)
The set screw on the rubber cone is 0.00 Y and the bottom of the page, Y+page height. Therefore, your would probably align your handle with that screw, assuming you wanted the center of the design exactly opposite.

The problem you had is that you did not set up the page per the size of the mug. I use a caliper to measure the diameter at the center of the area where I want the design to be. In lieu of that you can use a string or tailor's tape and divide the circumference by PI (3.14159).

You enter the diameter into the driver tab (see attached).
At that point, if you do a print preview, your page should reflect the diameter of the mug. Move the design as necessary. I.e., if the handle is at zero, move the design to the center, or if there are two designs, on the sides, move them to straddle the center of the page. Click Apply in the driver dialog. Do not print yet. Click Cancel and go to the Layout Menu, Page Setup, and clickthe button that says Set from Printer. The page border should change to the page size you saw in the Print Preview.

You can generally ignore the length, X, in the driver tab. It will default to 17.323. Just place a guide line where the bottom of the mug is to adjust the design. Also, I ignore the offset which is the added distance to zero, or the left edge of the rubber rotary cone drive wheel. I just measure from the left edge of the cone and place a guide line where the top of the mug is relative to the left edge of the cone.

If you have a recent driver, like 3.55 or 3.57, you will notice that the Center setting is not grayed out on the Advanced tab in the driver. This makes life easy because you can just use the arrow keys on the laser to find the center of the design on the mug using the laser pointer. Much easier than using Without Home which requires aligning the mug accurately to the screw on the drive wheel. You still need to make sure that the design will not touch screw, 0.00 Y or the design might get plotted in two parts.

When I use my rotary I retract the auto probe and use manual Z focus adjustment. After having to replace my probe I got the hint.
Carefully test any shape you put into the fixture to make sure it will not hit the head when rotating, like the mug handle. Items with small diameters make it posible to catch the head on the rotary housing, possibly causing damage. Make sure the head is out to the right of the housing before focusing or moving the head.
Make sure th item will not slip before engraving by doing a test run with the cover up.

[James Rambo]

No one mentioned this. But with the Epilog you must start with the laser off before you plug in the rotary attachment. Or puff it will fry.

[Debbie Sweet]

Thank you everyone one for your advise - I'm successfully engraving my mugs today!!:p