Epilog Focus Problem

[Robert Hoeft]

I have an Epilog 24TT and when engraving an item in wood I use vector mode to cut some letters into the surface and this works fine but the lines are very thin and I would like to change my focus point for just the red lines in Corel Draw. By changing the focal point this will broaden out the beam and it will stand out more in the wood, but then it needs to return to normal focal deapth for the rest of the line to cut all the way thru the wood. Is there a way to do this??

[Larry Bratton]

I am not familiar with the 24tt. I have a 36EXT. The Epilog driver I have has a color mapping feature (on the Advanced tab). It allows you to apply various speed and power settings per RGB colors in the graphic. If you have this, you may be able to accomplish the mission. You may be able to add a couple of vector lines close to the one your wanting to broaden, vary your power settings, so as to not cut all the way though and if you have the color mapping feature change color of the line you want to cut all the way through the material and map accordingly. I'm a newbie at this, so whatever that is worth. Good luck

[Keith Outten]

Robert,

I would run the raster file first then manually focus and run the vector lines. Using the Epilog manual focus guage is a snap and you can use a piece of laser lights or other thin material under the guage to adjust your "out of focus" setting perfectly every time.

.

[Joe Pelonio]

I have the 24tt also and it does do the vector mapping, but I don't know of any way to adjust the focus mid-job, just speed/power as Larry said. Keith has a good suggestion for you. You could also copy and paste the letters onto themselves to get it to make two passes. If the 2nd pass is a different color, set up with color mapping to run at a slower speed and less power, it
could result in thicker lines.

[Peck Sidara]

Robert,

The TT's focus point can not be changed mid-stream for raster/vector or for color mapping. Both Larry & Keith's ideas are great ones and will do the trick. In addition to Keiths' suggestion, you could set your auto-focus to be different than your manual focus so that when vector cutting, use auto-focus, set the focus out something like .030". Then when raster engraving use only the manual focus gauge which is set to the correct distance. Tech support should have a note on adjusting/matching the auto-focus parameter to be dead on or off slightly from the manual focus point. Please contact them at 303.215.9171 or tech at epiloglaser dot com.

Regards,