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Thread: Trotec Calibration/Scaling?

  1. #1
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    Trotec Calibration/Scaling?

    Here is a challenge for the Trotec community.

    I am running a job that is 6" x 18" Both Raster and Vector on the plate. Designed in Corel X6.

    The Vector portion of the plate is spot on in all respects. The raster labels are off in alignment starting from the center to the outside lettering on both sides... other wise the center label at 9" is good, the remaining labels to the left and right creep off alignment.

    Ran a test: Vector cut (red) an 1" x 18" rectangle and measured......it was 1" x 18".....

    Ran same test: Raster engraved (black) an 1" x 18" rectangle and measured......it was 1" x 17.688".....

    Any thoughts,


    .
    Last edited by Mark Sipes; 09-12-2020 at 5:19 PM.
    Mark
    In the Great Northwest!

    Trotec Speedy C25, Newing-Hall 350 (AMC I & HPGL), NH-CG-30 (Carbide Cutter Sharpener)
    Sawgrass 400 Gel Ink Printer, CS5, 5/9/x6 CorelDraw

  2. #2
    All I got is possible dirty encoder. Steps that may be missed during fast rastering may not be missed during slow cutting.

    Tests: Raster the same 1 x 18 rectangle but do it at a much slower speed, aim for about the same left to right speed as your vector pass-
    --same 17.688 or different? Or exactly 18"? If so, probably the encoder.

    If it IS the encoder, you might get an idea of where the 'skip' is concurring by doing a 'strobe' run--
    --as in, engrave this- |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| -for the entire 18" at high speed, use a very THIN font...

    If you find some 'squashed' spots where the lines are closer together, it's almost definitely the encoder.
    If they're very close to evenly spaced, then there may be some % adjustment going on? How to figure that out, no clue...

    the strobe test will also tell you how well the left-to-right and right-to-left sweeps are in alignment with each other. If they're not matching up, but the mismatch is consistent, backlash alignment is needed. If the mismatches are more random, possible encoder issue...
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
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  3. #3
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    [QUOTE=Kev Williams;3054260]All I got is possible dirty encoder. Steps that may be missed during fast rastering may not be missed during slow cutting.

    Just to get this thought straight in my mind... You are thinking that even with a dirty encoder, while running at 1.2 in/sec the vector cut would be spot on 18 = 18

    but when engraving at Speed of 30 (30% 78in/sec) skipping would reduce ( compress ) the actual distance of a engraved area.. Having a problem at this point.

    As I mentioned in the first post. At nine inches (the exact middle) of the 18" plate the engraving is spot on..... I would expect an elongation of the text with your path, instead of the opposite.

    I will though, open up the encoder and blow the strip and reader head with compressed air.


    I have a call into Mother Trotec to find out their thoughts.


    Thanks,

    .
    Mark
    In the Great Northwest!

    Trotec Speedy C25, Newing-Hall 350 (AMC I & HPGL), NH-CG-30 (Carbide Cutter Sharpener)
    Sawgrass 400 Gel Ink Printer, CS5, 5/9/x6 CorelDraw

  4. #4
    I had encoder issues with my GCC once, it uses encoders disks on the ends of the servo motor shafts-

    Check out the guck I found--
    be2.jpgbe4.jpg

    After I cleaned it, you couldn't even see the trigger lines
    be6.jpg

    --the drive cog on the motor is very small, maybe only 3/8" diameter, and it's belted to a larger cog, about 7/8" diameter, that moves the belt. 1 rotation of the servo moves the head only about 1-1/8", and this machine has a 38" bed, so full sweep the motor makes approx 47 revolutions. As dirty as that encoder was I'm surprised it read anything!

    I mention this because for all the crud and motor rotations involved with engraving a simple 2x8 plate, the only place errors showed up were the extreme left edges of the engraving, and while logic says missed steps should equal an elongation as you mention, my errors never went beyond the actual engraving area. The left edge of the engraving would 'walk' left, then right, randomly. But it would never walk too far left. As you can imagine the left edge engraving looked like it was following a lightning bolt!

    Your engraving however, doesn't seem to be walking, it's simply shorted. And you indicate it's shorted equally on both ends, middle is fine. Like I said, all I could come up with was an encoder, a mechanical issue. My only experience is with mine, I don't know how laser controllers, especially Trotec's, handle encoder errors. Why mine were all stacked to the left, no clue...

    But I will say your issue seems to be a data issue. Some drivers, my GCC does, have a menu to make ratio corrections. Some don't. Like my Chinese Triumph, it simply is big in both directions by around 3%. When sending jobs like my 31" tall ski lift op panels to the laser, which have dozens of vertical LED warning light holes with engraving to the sides, that 3% really starts to show up. So every job I upload to the laser from Corel I resize to 97%, and everything is fine...

    --it would be MUCH easier to make that adjustment in the software

    Hopefully Trotec can be more help

    >edit, I added this screenshot of my GCC's menu showing the XY scaling adjustment--
    (so far I've never needed it, lol)
    GCCscaling.jpg
    Last edited by Kev Williams; 09-13-2020 at 1:43 PM. Reason: added pic
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  5. #5
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    [QUOTE=Kev Williams;3054397]I had encoder issues with my GCC once, it uses encoders disks on the ends of the servo motor shafts-

    http://www.peninsulatrophy.com/Decoder.jpg

    Appreciate the effort. No Change after cleaning the decoder. Looks as clean as the day I installed it.

    Ran a solution test by increasing the 18" box to 18.34" and the text was aligned in an 18" box ?!#?! Got me.



    Will see if Trotec has a Better/Best solution



    Thanks

    .
    Mark
    In the Great Northwest!

    Trotec Speedy C25, Newing-Hall 350 (AMC I & HPGL), NH-CG-30 (Carbide Cutter Sharpener)
    Sawgrass 400 Gel Ink Printer, CS5, 5/9/x6 CorelDraw

  6. #6
    Mark
    Just out of curiosity have you looked at your raster image in wireframe view just to check the drawing?
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Null View Post
    Mark
    Just out of curiosity have you looked at your raster image in wireframe view just to check the drawing?
    Does not appear to be the software (Corel 16) wireframe is good.

    The engraving is working in a predictable manner. While in vector mode the dimensions are 1 : 1 in raster mode the text 3: 2.94 1/16 short in length (x-axis) every 3" from the image center

    <- CL -> so at 18" all the text has shifted 3/8" smaller

    I ran a brass plate at 6" with a border raster engraved and guess what is was 1/8 " to short. 5.88" and make the drawing 6.125" in length and you get the engraving run at 6"


    I guess I need a firmware engineer to tell me if there is an adjustment (calibration for the x-axis in the raster mode only) I see no adjustment in the software.


    .
    Mark
    In the Great Northwest!

    Trotec Speedy C25, Newing-Hall 350 (AMC I & HPGL), NH-CG-30 (Carbide Cutter Sharpener)
    Sawgrass 400 Gel Ink Printer, CS5, 5/9/x6 CorelDraw

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