EZcad software and rotary.

[Arthur Stillwell]

I know this is an old thread but I'm having the same problem. Slowing the split to 0.05 is simply too slow. If I bump this up to 2-10 i get nice hatching but I have the splits in the graphic. My tech support in China suggested I try to change the Acc. Time in the external axis settings. That got me nowhere. They then said they contacted the software manufacturer and were advised to make incremental adjustments upward in the Step Per Rotation.

I did that slowing going up by 50 at a time. I'm able to reduce the size of the split/seam but can't remove it entirely.

Here is my setup.
Chinese 30w fiber with rotary
EZCAD 2.12.1
Using either splitmark2 or rotarymark produces the same results
All of my main settings are the same as John's

It's quite frustrating watching dozens of videos on youtube and being unable to replicate the results.

[Kev Williams]

Here's what I've learned about the rotary on these things:

Whether or not you can see the seam line(s) is 100% dependent on your rotating axis being perfectly aligned to the lens throughout the full 360° turn, AND the diameter of the part being perfectly round, AND the diameter being correctly entered in the program. If any of these ain't so, you're going to get visible seams if your split sizes are more than .1 or so...

As for changing the pulses per round: Going to higher pulses per round accomplishes exactly 1 thing: It slows down the speed of the rotary. From what I can tell, the rotary moves exactly X steps in exactly Y amount of time... The default pulse setting (on mine anyway) is 6400 pulses per round-- 4x that is 25,600 pulses per round... change the driver to 25,600- which I've done- and what happens is the rotary will now take exactly 4x the time to make a full 360° rotation as it did before. And while the extra steps may or may not increase the 'resolution' (in my tests I've found NO difference in seam quality or lack thereof), it still doesn't help the discrepancy issues with perfect alignment etc. The only benefit I've found- a good one- from increasing the steps is that the slower movement means the rotary turns very smoothly without a lot of jerking. The chucks on these things are quite heavy, and starting & stopping them @ 6400 pulses per round is quite a shock, and I've found if the rotary isn't clamped down, the shock can move the whole thing. The slower movement eliminates all the shock, and that does help the engraving quality.

The only way I've found to make the seams minimal is the same as everyone else, run the splits very tight, .08mm or less. Also, run the hatches either straight up or straight sideways, I've found they line up better than angled hatches..

[Arthur Stillwell]

Thanks for the input Kev. I've found that 0 or 90 degree hatch work best and I'm at 0.05. The step count on mine is 12800. I believe I tested it before by doubling this number and wound up with a very elongated image. When you changed this, did you modify any other settings? If i double mine, do I then need to double the gear ratio to match?

One idea I had was to run the split at 4 and then run it again at 6 to overlap. Haven't tested this but in theory it would work but may result in new splits at the 6mm mark.

[Kev Williams]

I had a elongated issue once, IIRC it had to do with matching numbers, I think my dip switches and parameters settings didn't match-

[Arthur Stillwell]

Does anyone have a diagram for the dip switches? I've seen this mentioned previously but how would one know what to change? I suspect one is incorrect as I have to revert the image before i engrave and others do not.

[Kev Williams]

The dip switch positions are on the module near the pulse numbers--

[Arthur Stillwell]

You lost me. Since they aren't labeled dip switch I don't know what i'm looking at or for.

[Kev Williams]

ah- that's why your engraving elongated, you doubled the number in the program, and the computer doubled the number of pulses it moved the rotary-- the problem is, the rotary stepper driver settings must match your program's settings, and I'm assuming you didn't change them?

--inside the machine somewhere (mine is right under the laser snout) is the rotary stepper driver, it's a little black box, it'll look something like this:
dips.jpg
note on this one the lower-left set of numbers, the far right column lists the possible pulse settings, and to their left are the positions the dip switches need to be set. Choose your setting, change the switches, THEN change the pulses per round setting in EZcad to match

[Scott Shepherd]

One thing to note about the rotary, when you go to very small split sizes, you are eliminating a lot of the value of the galvo head. It's meant to be really fast, and it is, when you using something like a 1/4" split size, but zap that down to .001" or something so it looks like it's rotating each line, and you might as well put it on the CO2 in many cases.

The value, and trick, is to maximize the split size and not have lines, which gets tricky because by engraving a round surface, the chord length of the engraving area isn't the same as the actual distance, which means if your rotational numbers are perfect, you can still get a line from that error.

[Arthur Stillwell]

One thing to note about the rotary, when you go to very small split sizes, you are eliminating a lot of the value of the galvo head. It's meant to be really fast, and it is, when you using something like a 1/4" split size, but zap that down to .001" or something so it looks like it's rotating each line, and you might as well put it on the CO2 in many cases.

The value, and trick, is to maximize the split size and not have lines, which gets tricky because by engraving a round surface, the chord length of the engraving area isn't the same as the actual distance, which means if your rotational numbers are perfect, you can still get a line from that error.

That is exactly why I'm here trying to figure it out. Setting it to such a small number completely defeats the purpose.

I see the diagram for the switch settings. However, what do I need to change so that it rotates the correct way and I don't have to select "Invert" every time?

[Kev Williams]

oh THAT--

While engraving, the rotary only moves in one direction, CCW as you look at the front of the chuck, so the engraving surface moves from left to right.
But the program is defaulted to run each engraving within the splits from right to left... <<<< OOPS

after re-reading this, I find the above isn't accurate-
actually, what the laser is doing laying down the engraving in the exact order, from left to right-
problem is, the rotary moves CCW, so the machine's procedure is:
eng. H
~move
eng. E
~move
eng. L
~move
eng. L
~move
eng. O
~stop-

-and this is the result, because of the CCW movement. Since you can't change the rotary rotation, you change the order of engraving via "Invert"
<< edit over >> (sorry!)
invert.jpg
(imagine this is a chuck )

-the engraving itself isn't mirrored, only the order of the engraving is. And the only way I've found to fix this problem is to always check "invert". However, when I DO check it, it STAYS checked even after shutting down and restarting the program..

I'm thinking if you rotate the whole rotary 180 so the chuck faces left, then it should engrave correctly, but I haven't tested that theory...

There's also an X and Y choice, in case you choose the have the rotary rotate in the X axis (rotated 90°). But I've always used the rotary as if I was using a lathe, chuck-left-work-right, as I drew it. I DO engrave rings, and I have to remember to un-check Invert...

[Arthur Stillwell]

Thanks guys, you've been a big help. I'm going to open up the laser this weekend to change the rotation step to 25600 and see how that goes. I'll also try moving the rotary, chuck right work left, and see how that works.

[Floyd Siegal]

Hi Arthur, the step count is the amount of steps your rotary will perform to complete a 360deg turn. The stepper motor has a controller inside the unit. You can check the dip switch configuration to see if it's set for 12800.
http://www.ewholesalecenter.com/inde...egory&path=559

[Gary Hair]

Hi Arthur, the step count is the amount of steps your rotary will perform to complete a 360deg turn. The stepper motor has a controller inside the unit. You can check the dip switch configuration to see if it's set for 12800.

Steppers don't have controllers built in, but hey, anything to be able to post a link to your website...

P.S. which is against the TOS for the site - but it will be deleted/modified by an admin

P.P.S. which is why I deleted it when I quoted you