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Thread: Setting up Rotary on Fiber Laser

  1. #1

    Setting up Rotary on Fiber Laser

    My laser didn't come with a rotary, but I have this rotary. It is a four jaw 100mm with a gapless harmonic reducer gearbox 50:1 ratio. It sports a NEMA 23, 2 phase stepper. I also have a driver it's a 2M542.

    Now comes the fun part. Microsteping. I have a bunch of microstep setting options from 400 to 25600. Another laser I have access to has its stepper driver set to 12800.

    Any thoughts?
    -----------------------------------------------
    CO2: Thunder Laser Nova 35 (80-Watt)
    Fiber: Ebay Special (30-Watt)
    CNC: Viper 24
    3D: MakerGear M3-ID, Wanhoo i3
    Main Software: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, V-Carve Pro, RD-Works, Simplify 3D, Lightburn, EZCAD 2.14.11

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Suwanee, GA
    Posts
    3,686
    The higher the micro stepping the smoother the rotary will turn but it will go much more slowly on rapids vs lower micro stepping. Where higher numbers really pay off is if you have a large diameter object or a heavy object that is too jerky at lower step settings. I had a large diameter stainless steel bowl to mark and it jerked so bad it would mis-engrave about 1/8" between slices, with 25,600 steps it was smooth as can be. There really is no benefit to low steps but there is a huge benefit to 25,600.

  3. #3
    The only reason to up the microstepping on a galvo fiber rotary is to slow it down, which is a GOOD reason

    Fiber rotary's move in large spaced steps, EzCad calls 'em "splits", size of the space/split is a function of diameter, smaller diameters need less split spacing. Example, a 1" diameter rod can accommodate about a 3/16"/5-ish mm area around the radius and remain in focus, so you enter a 5mm split, and everything within a 5mm radial distance engraves, rotary moves 5mm, engrave another 5mm, etc... you can also place split lines in the job and the laser will engrave everything between them. Should you be engraving text, you use 'rotate text mode', and the laser will engrave 1 letter at a time...fully automatic and works great!

    Not sure if you're familiar with the 'seams' issues with fiber rotaries, but they do not join separate sections of a large engraved area well, the seams are anything but invisible. You CAN emulate raster engraving by making your split distance extremely small, in the .0XXmm range. I've never tried it yet, but it's supposed to work. If you're going to do that then high MS options would be good, and using a little math to calculate split size in relation to degrees of rotation in relation to your steps per rotation, (that almost sounded like I know what I'm talking about ) -you can figure the best split size to enter to match the actual rotation step distance, which should make for smooth engraving...

    The rotary's that come with these machines, their step drivers are usually set for 6400 steps... the rotary seems to take a 'set' amount of time to move each step- no matter how many steps. At 6400, it cruises along pretty fast, and the initial accel and sudden stop can cause rebound vibration that shows up in the engraving. I set my driver for 20,000 steps, and it slowed it down big time, doesn't creepy-crawl but it starts and stops without shock.

    Hope this helps--
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  4. #4
    Folks, thanks for your excellent advice. I got it up and going!

    It wasn't too bad.
    I installed the stepper driver inside the case changed out the 5 pin connector in the back to a 4 pin and rewired it all.


    I went with the 12,800 micro step setting on the driver. I did this because my rotary has a 50:1 gear setup and I thought 25,600 was overkill. I could go back and change it in the future.


    With a few tests, I ended up using a "pulses per round" setting of 12802.
    I also put in 50 for the Gear Ratio. I'm delighted with the results.
    Forgive my rough looking fingernails, please :-)


    -----------------------------------------------
    CO2: Thunder Laser Nova 35 (80-Watt)
    Fiber: Ebay Special (30-Watt)
    CNC: Viper 24
    3D: MakerGear M3-ID, Wanhoo i3
    Main Software: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, V-Carve Pro, RD-Works, Simplify 3D, Lightburn, EZCAD 2.14.11

  5. #5
    -----------------------------------------------
    CO2: Thunder Laser Nova 35 (80-Watt)
    Fiber: Ebay Special (30-Watt)
    CNC: Viper 24
    3D: MakerGear M3-ID, Wanhoo i3
    Main Software: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, V-Carve Pro, RD-Works, Simplify 3D, Lightburn, EZCAD 2.14.11

  6. #6
    That 50:1 ratio really slows that thing down! I counted approx. 2-3 seconds to move between letters on average... Mine, set at 20,000, covers that space in a bit less than 1 second. Multiply my current speed by about 3x and you have an idea of what 6400 is like, too fast!
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  7. #7
    It is slow! :-) If I bump up the "Max speed:" to 52,000 pules it feels fast enough. Anyone see any harm in that?
    -----------------------------------------------
    CO2: Thunder Laser Nova 35 (80-Watt)
    Fiber: Ebay Special (30-Watt)
    CNC: Viper 24
    3D: MakerGear M3-ID, Wanhoo i3
    Main Software: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, V-Carve Pro, RD-Works, Simplify 3D, Lightburn, EZCAD 2.14.11

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Yorktown, VA
    Posts
    422
    Quote Originally Posted by Anthony S Martin View Post
    I installed the stepper driver inside the case changed out the 5 pin connector in the back to a 4 pin and rewired it all.
    Where inside did you mount the stepper driver, on the top next to the main controller board? I was also wondering why these came with 5 pin connectors in the back of the case when only 4 wires go out to the motor from the driver board. I assume it maybe if you the external driver box type. Rotary is next on list just trying to determine which size gives the best flexibility. (50mm or 80mm?)

  9. #9
    So sorry for the late reply. I'm not sure how I didn't catch it.

    I am 90% sure it was because they expected it to have an external driver. The wires went back to the controller board so it would have to hook up up to a driver. I replaced mine with a 4 pin and rewired it up with the driver on the inside. Here is a photo of where I put my driver.

    My father got a 50mm chuck that was designed for jewelry. He seems to like the chuck a lot. I had a 100MM just sitting around. It's fine for my needs. I think it kind of depends on what you want to use it for.

    Last edited by Anthony S Martin; 08-04-2019 at 11:28 AM. Reason: Forgot to answer a question.
    -----------------------------------------------
    CO2: Thunder Laser Nova 35 (80-Watt)
    Fiber: Ebay Special (30-Watt)
    CNC: Viper 24
    3D: MakerGear M3-ID, Wanhoo i3
    Main Software: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, V-Carve Pro, RD-Works, Simplify 3D, Lightburn, EZCAD 2.14.11

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