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Thread: RDworks rotary axis speed problem - Please Help

  1. #1

    RDworks rotary axis speed problem - Please Help

    I recently purchased a 100w Chinese laser off eBay. It's one of the red and black models made by Shangdong Kehui Laser Equipment Co. LTD. I also purchased a 3 jaw chuck type rotary axis. For the most part it's working quite well but I'm having a problem with the speed of the rotary axis. I'll try to explain what's going on and hopefully somebody out there knows how to fix the issue.

    I tried multiple versions of RDworks but for some reason the laser wasn't recognizing the file format on some versions. I finally settled on version 8.01.19 which seems to be working fine.

    After I hooked up the rotary axis I checked the web and found multiple places where they said to go into the vendor settings and modify the Y-axis settings. So I backed up the factory settings and then calibrated the Y-axis for the size of the glass jar I was using for my test engraving. This actually worked quite well and I was pretty pleased with the results. The problem with this method is that you have to go into vendor settings and re-calibrate the Y-axis every time the size of your object changes.

    So then I decided I would try the, "Enable rotate engrave" option under the Output tab in RDworks. There were multiple sites on the web that said you had to go into user settings and turn on the rotary axis but even after trying multiple different versions of RDworks and trying different values on the Model(M) menu item there is apparently no option for this in the user settings on my laser. This apparently is not a big issue because after checking the, "Enable rotate engrave" option on the Output tab the rotary axis seems to be mostly working. I checked the stepper controller for the Y-axis and it was set on 5,000 step option. The rotary axis has a 3:1 ratio on the belt drive so I came up with a value of 15,000 for the Circle pulse. So far so good.

    I then set up a test case where I set the Diameter value for the rotate engrave at 90, did some math (pi * 90) and came up with a circumference of 282.74mm. I drew a vertical line exactly 282.74mm long, set the feed rate to 5mm/s and ran the program (leaving the laser head away from the rotating axis). The good news is that it appears to rotate exactly 1 revolution when cutting the line. The bad news is that it only takes about 12 seconds to do this. According to my calculations, 282mm at 5mm/sec should take more like 56 seconds. Then, after the cut is finished, the Y-axis returns to the origin point VERY quickly (less than a second). At that speed I'm worried that whatever I'm engraving will fly off or break.

    Anyway, long explanation but....... Anybody know how to adjust the speed? I see a, "Speed factor" under Cut parameters under the User tab. Would adjusting this value to something like 21% slow things down? If so, what about the crazy fast return to origin speed?

    Thanks in advance to anybody who can help me with this.

  2. #2
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    did you look at the user setting on the right side where you input your speeds and feeds

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerome Stanek View Post
    did you look at the user setting on the right side where you input your speeds and feeds
    Are you talking about the user settings under the User tab? I've looked at those values but nothing looks like it would do anything except the Speed factor percentage under Cut parameters.

    If I hit the help button in the Enable rotate engrave section it says:

    Circle pulse=Subdivision*Transmission ration


    =======================================


    If the speed match is not ok,you can try to set the precision of axis Y


    Axis Y precision=(3.1415926*1000*Work Piece diameter(mm))/Circle pulse

    But I don't see an , "Axis Y precision" setting anywhere in User or Vendor settings

    Maybe a dumb question but are there different versions of RDworks for different manufacturers? The version that came with the laser was 8.01.10. Unfortunately, when I saved the .rd files to the USB stick with this version the laser couldn't read them.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    RD Works is for the model of the controller you have installed. I would get the Model and SN off your installed controller and do some research. Unless you have a knock off or old version of the controller. With cheap machines you might not get the real deal.
    The USB reader only reads the formatted file you have downloaded from the program.
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill George View Post
    RD Works is for the model of the controller you have installed. I would get the Model and SN off your installed controller and do some research. Unless you have a knock off or old version of the controller. With cheap machines you might not get the real deal.
    The USB reader only reads the formatted file you have downloaded from the program.
    Yes, I know the USB reader is just reading what RDworks wrote to it. I have tried multiple versions of RDworks and the only version I found that seems to write the file in the, "correct" format is version 19.

    The version of controller I have is RDC6442S-B (EC). It looks legit and everything is working great except the speed of the rotary axis.

    I searched the web and found that Laguna Tools laser cutter also uses the
    RDC6442S-B (EC) controller. They also have a manual for RDworks v8.01.19 which makes me think that is the version they are using, the same as I am.

    This isn't making a lot of sense to me because obviously the correct number of steps are being sent to the rotary axis as my 283mm line test shows. It's just the speed that is off. Also, the fact that the speed is correct when I go into the vendor settings and change the Y-axis step count means that the "Enable rotate engrave" option is doing something different as far as the speed of the steps.

    I have followed the instructions in the manual but there is no mention of the speed being off. The only place I've seen speed mentioned is in the popup window that shows up when you hit the help button in RDworks. This says something about Y-axis precision, whatever that means.

    I was just hoping that someone out there in Sawmill Creek land had experienced the same issue and knew what to tweak to slow this thing down.

  6. #6
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    are you inputting the correct diameter of your material

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Yes, 15,000 is the correct circle pulse value

    >>set the feed rate to 5mm/s and ran the program<<

    Where and why did you set a "feed rate"? The program should be running the speed rate you set within the layer settings on the work tab.

    I am pretty sure you just have a settings issue. You need to figure out what you have changed incorrectly. The only settings you needed to change were in the user tab's rotating submenu. If you changed something elsewhere, you need to change it back.
    700mm x 500mm Ke Hui KH-7050 Laser
    80W EFR F2
    S&A CW5000 chiller
    Chuck style of rotary attachment

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    You may want to disconnect the rotary and perform some tests cutting normally. Make sure that is working correctly before hooking the rotary back up.

    Just to make sure, you do know you have to power off your machine any time you are connecting or disconnecting the cables for the rotary and at the stepper driver, right? Otherwise, you can fry some electronics.
    700mm x 500mm Ke Hui KH-7050 Laser
    80W EFR F2
    S&A CW5000 chiller
    Chuck style of rotary attachment

  9. #9
    Wow, lots of questions.

    1. Yes, I put a value of 90 into the Diameter and drew a line 282.74mm long for the test. It rotates exactly 360 degrees

    2. Yes, I set the feed rate in the layer settings to 5mm/sec.

    3. The only settings I have changed were the Y-axis step value in vendor settings for my original test. I made a master copy of the vendor settings before doing this and reloaded the master when I was done. I then ran some test cuts on some plywood with the regular Y-axis connected and everything worked fine. Then I checked the, "Enable rotate engrave" checkbox, set diameter to 90 and circle pulse to 15000 to test the rotating axis. The "Enable rotate engrave" test was done with the default factory vendor settings and default user settings.

    4. I don't have any, "Rotating submenu" under my user settings.

    5. Yes, I always turn the machine off before swapping the Y-axis to the rotary.

    Just a thought, my version 19 of RDworks pops up a splash screen when I start it up that says, "Thunder Laser". Do you suppose the Thunder Laser folks changed or disabled something and there's a generic version 19 out there?

    BTW, thanks to all you folks who are answering this post. I'm stuck up in the hills outside Boise Idaho and there aren't many people up here who speak laser cutter.

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    2. You mean speed instead of feed, correct? There is an enable feeding option under the output tab which you do not want enabled, so that is why this is important.

    4. Yes, you do if you follow the path I wrote (because we have the same software version to compare). I think you actually may have already found this tab. Alternatively/if not, you may be trying to enable rotate via the output tab. This is problem on the older version of RDworks you are using. You do not want to be using the rotary function settings on the output tab. Ruida deleted that section of the output tab in later version updates.

    Yes, download a version of RDWorks directly from the Ruida website. They have a Chinese language website version and an English language website version. Version .26 is the latest on the English website and stable. Version .30 is available on the Chinese website and has been stable for me. .38 is also available on the Chinese website but one person has reported some compatibility problems with files created in older versions of RDWorks.

    http://en.rd-acs.com/down_complex.aspx?FId=n14:14:14

    http://www.rd-acs.com/down_complex.aspx?FId=n14:14:14
    Last edited by Doug Fisher; 02-12-2019 at 3:17 PM.
    700mm x 500mm Ke Hui KH-7050 Laser
    80W EFR F2
    S&A CW5000 chiller
    Chuck style of rotary attachment

  11. #11
    Yeah, sorry, I meant speed. I'm used to my CNC where it's called feed rate. And yes I'm changing the speed value.

    I actually downloaded version .38 and didn't see the Output tab with the rotary option so I thought it wouldn't work. Doh.

    Does version .30 have English menus?

    As a side note on the compatibility issue with different versions of RDworks not reading files.........

    I was having issues reading files because I was installing and uninstalling different versions of RDworks trying to fix this issue. I found lots of people were having the same issue but no solution. If you are somewhat computer literate and feeling brave you can try what I did....

    1. uninstall RDworks
    2. delete all the folders and files where RDworks was installed
    3. create a restore point in windows in case you mess things up
    4. run regedit
    5. search for and delete every instance of "RDworks" in the registry
    6. reboot your system
    7. install the newer version of RDworks

    This fixed the compatibility issues for me.

  12. #12
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    Again did you set the diameter of you material. mine defaults to 20 mm

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerome Stanek View Post
    Again did you set the diameter of you material. mine defaults to 20 mm
    Again, yes. I set my diameter at 90 for my test.

    I think we may have determined that my version of RDworks shows the rotary settings on the output tab which was buggy. Apparently newer versions have the rotary settings in the user settings. I will try installing a newer version of RDworks this evening and see if the rotary settings show up in the user settings.

  14. #14
    Woohoo

    I installed version .26 and the rotary axis settings are now in the User settings tab. I set the radius to 90, speed to 5mm/sec, and my 282mm line took 56 seconds to complete. Looking much better.

    Special thanks to Doug for the link to the download.

    One weird thing happened though.... When I was first trying to test I kept getting a, "Y-axis slop" error message on the Ruida controller screen. Not sure what was causing it or to be honest, how I got rid of it.

    Anyway, thanks for all the help, you guys rock!!

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    Location
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    >>When I was first trying to test I kept getting a, "Y-axis slop" error message on the Ruida controller screen.<<

    Before you place anything in the chuck, use the keypad up and down arrows to put the Y value (as seen on the controller's screen) to the middle point. On a 700x500, that would be 500 divided by 2, or 250.

    If you only had it on 50 to start and had an item with a diameter of 200, you would get that error because the controller would think it would run out of space. The controller only thinks in terms of a finite flat plane, not in terms of an unlimited rotation.
    Last edited by Doug Fisher; 02-13-2019 at 8:34 PM.
    700mm x 500mm Ke Hui KH-7050 Laser
    80W EFR F2
    S&A CW5000 chiller
    Chuck style of rotary attachment

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