bad quality of engraving

[Martin Safranek]

Hi all.

please do you have any experience with this problem ? I have GCC spirit LS 60w. When i engravimg i dont have smooth object edges but many scratches. Im replaced X axis 8 months ago but last weeks is situation worst and worst. Im tried clean and lublicate X axis, Y axis and no good result.
Any idea ?

Thank you for any idea.

Martin


material: Rowmark sheet
settings: speed 70, power 60, DPI 500, PPI: 1000

engraving..jpg

[Bill George]

Make sure all your mirrors are tight in the mounts. I would also check lens because if loose will cause problem.

[Martin Safranek]

Bill thank you for hint. Im already checked mirrors and they are ok (

[Bill George]

Bill thank you for hint. Im already checked mirrors and they are ok (

Did you check the Lens also?? Otherwise I have no other suggestions

[Martin Safranek]

Unfortunately lens too.

[Jerome Stanek]

How are the belts to tight or to loose

[Kev Williams]

GCC's use servo motors, the encoder strip or disk may need cleaning-- not sure which yours has, but my Explorer has a disk, mounted to the motor...
encoder.jpg

pull the black cap off, this is the disk- and it's filthy!
be2.jpg

couple of closeups
be3.jpgbe4.jpg

once cleaned, held to the light-
be6.jpg
===========
mine was engraving erratically, and losing/gaining steps resulting in the engraving 'moving'.

If yours uses an encoder strip, and it may, you'll need to locate some instructions on how to get to it and clean it. And a note about cleaning either: I've seen guys online wiping an encoder strip from end to end, which is just plain wrong- note my disk, along the edge is a jillion straight lines in the surface, this is what the reader reads. If you wipe ACROSS the lines, you will get it clean, but it would be like cleaning a file, the edges of the lines can shave off and trap tiny pieces of whatever towel you're using! It's slower, but wipe WITH the lines, not against them!

Ok, that all said:

You said you checked the lens for tightness- BE SURE! Make sure the barrel is tight, AND that the lens is tightened into the barrel securely. Most times I see engraving like yours, I've found a loose mirror or lens-- And check all mirrors again, not just for being clamped snugly, but to make sure the adhesive is still holding the mirror to its backing plate securely.

And echo what Jerome mentioned about belts, check the tightness, and also check for crud in the belt teeth, and cog wheels teeth... make sure the drive wheel on the stepper isn't loose too.

And, get into your machine's print driver and make sure your 'image tuning' numbers are where they should be, if they're way out of whack it'll affect the left to right/right to left raster alignment. And if you've changed or adjusted a belt recently, the image tuning should be adjusted... When I changed my rail bearing recently, my old tuning number of -2 had to changed to -12 to get the edges smooth...

Good luck!

[Martin Safranek]

Hi Kev,

thank you for your hints. Im already replace servo in x axis. Now its better but not ok still is edges have teeth (

M