Best laser for Rotary?

[Sean Coyne]

Heyo. I'm currently in the market for a laser machine that will primarily focus on rotary engraving watch bands. I currently use a Trotec speedy 300 with a rotary attachment and it works just fine.

I know specialty machines exist and are used in the bottling industry among many others. These specialty machines don't have tables or some of the other frills and necessities that most of our machines have. Im wondering if anyone has heard of something like this but for rotary engraving.

Again our Trotec works fine but I'm always curious if something better out there...

[Scott Shepherd]

Trotec SpeedMarker with a rotary? That would be a Galvo style laser. I haven't seen a galvo with a rotary attachment work, but my guess is it would be a fair amount faster than the Speedy 300.

[matthew knott]

We have rotarys on all our galvo lasers, they work in the same way as on a normal plotter style laser but as Scott says faster, also you can program how much rotation you want to split any mark up into, the bigger the sections the faster it goes. Out of interest what do you laser onto watch straps?

[Sean Coyne]

We etch the companies custom designs into the bands. Is a galvo capable of etching multiple bands at once?

[Scott Shepherd]

We etch the companies custom designs into the bands. Is a galvo capable of etching multiple bands at once?

I wouldn't see why not.

[matthew knott]

Possibly but how many would depend on quite a few factors, another question, what the reason for doing them on a rotary? can they not be put flat? Also what are they made from rubber,metal,silicon ? The more information you can give us the better the advice will be, I have a picture in my mind of what your doing but im probably miles away, any photos ?

[Sean Coyne]

Im currently under a non disclosure agreement so I cant post pictures or say too much but...

The bands cannot be laid flat and are made from a rubberish material. I currently etch them by cramming as many that will fit onto a rod and then into the rotary. This method works fine for 20-30 bands, but we may be contracted to etch hundreds on a weekly basis. This may be a case of fixing something thats not broken. What do you think?

[matthew knott]

Sounds like you have a good solution, cant see a galvo laser helping much in this case, cheaper to stick with what you have.
Now if you were engraving cattle ear tags (like i am) a galvo machine is the business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaDLgkT9ha0

[Sean Coyne]

Matthew, wow that galvo speed is impressive! Thanks for the feedback everyone!