Using a Rotary Attachment

Using the Epilog Rotary Attachment

Files

http://www.engrave.ca/files/mug_template_v8.cdr
http://www.engrave.ca/files/mug_template_with_different_turns_v8.cdr
http://www.engrave.ca/files/mug_template_with_no_turn_v8.cdr
One of the more intimidating techniques to learn on the laser engraver is how to use the rotary attachment. This help file should help eliminate any misgivings you may have.

1. If your table is not lowered than lower it down about 5 inches
2. Turn the power off to the machine
3. Plug in the rotary machine (the plug is under the left side of the machine (EX or LX and the front of the machine on the TT).
4. Turn the machine on.
5. The machine will know that the rotary attachment is plugged in and the X axis will settle over the attachment – see Figure 1.

Figure 1

6. Place your glass item in the attachment. Now the big question is where do I place my image? To answer this let us look at setting up the image in CorelDraw first.

Setting up your image in CorelDraw

7. The first thing that we need to do in CorelDraw is to create our page size. There are 3 ways you can determine the page size that you need to create. Remember setting up the rotary attachment is just setting up any other job. You need to create a page size that corresponds to you’re the area that you need to engrave on.
8. Create a new blank document in CorelDraw. With nothing selected you can set your page size by entering the size in the property tool bar. See blue box in figure 2.
9. How do we figure out each dimension? The page width is determined by the length of the glass and how far it is from the origin of the rotary attachment home – which is the rubber bumper in Figure 3 – see the blue box.

Figure 2

Figure 3

10. Thus the width of the page is measured from the bumper to where you logo needs to be. If we look at the mug – in Figure 4, if we want the logo to be in the middle of the glass than we measure from the bumper to the location of the bottom of the logo. Actually it does not really matter what the size is as long as it is longer than our location. The red line in Figure 4 would be what I would use for the width of the page. The glass is up against the bumper so I have created a page that corresponds with the length of the glass from the bumper.

Figure 4

11. Usually the tricky part of setting up the page size comes when we try to figure out where we want the image to appear on the glass – which is our page height (the text or logo is turned 90 degrees.
12. Let us assume for this exercise that the glass we are going to work with is the same diameter through out the total glass.
13. To figure out the page height first we need to measure the diameter of the glass.
14. Next take that figure and multiple it by Pi or 3.14. This gives us the circumference of the glass.
15. For example if the glass is 2.75 inches in diameter than we multiple 2.75 by 3.14. This gives us a value of 8.635. Thus our page height is 8.635.

Note: There are two other ways you can figure out the “wrap” of the glass and where the image is suppose to go. First you could place a flexible ruler and wrap it around the glass. This will give you a very good measurement. Secondly you could wrap a piece of paper or a piece of masking tape around the mug – see figure 6. Pull the paper off the glass and than measure the paper. You can also draw where the logo is supposed to go and this would help with your logo placement – see figure 5.

Figure 5

Figure 6

16. Figure 7 shows how I set up the page setup to do an inboard and outboard design on my glass mug. This job was done as one job and the glass traveled almost all the way around. Remember that the laser works down the page. Thus we need to turn the image 90 degrees. The left side of the page is where the top of the glass buts up against the bumper.

Figure 7

17. Once we have the glass setup done in CorelDraw we need to place the glass into the rotary attachment. Because the handle is a little longer I needed to take off the outer rings of the rotary. This is quick and requires taking the 4 thumb screws out – see figure 8 (note the outer rings are for heavy items that require more power to turn). We use this type of system because if we use a cone system heavier items such as beer steins fall out.

Figure 8

18. Figure 9 shows the position of the glass before we start engraving.

Figure 9

19. Once the file is created we need to send the file to the laser. The only thing we need to do in the printer driver is to change the laser page size to match up with page size in CorelDraw. Figure 10 shows the page setup size in the Epilog print driver

Figure 10

20. For this glass I engraved it on a 35 watt machine. I set the power and speed to 100 and 100.
21. Figure 11 shows how much the glass turns before it starts engraving as per the file in figure 5. Remember that the handle was straight up and the handle has passed under the x axis arm. The distance it travels before it starts engraving is the distance of the green arrows in Figure 12.

Figure 11

Figure 12

22. * If you where to put the logo right at the top of the page than the glass will not turn at all before it starts engraving. If the handle was really big and would not go through the arm than you would place the image right at the top of the page. See Figure 13.
23. When it comes to glasses or other items such as wine glasses or bottles that do not have a handle than it does not matter where you place the image. Wherever the image engraves is fine. I would suggest that you place it at the top of the page. Why turn the glass if you do not have to.

Figure 13

24. You may be wondering what direction that the rotary attachment travels? Figure 14 shows you the direction. The circle represents the base of the glass in figure 11 as if you where looking at it from the right side of the machine. Thus the glass in figure 11 will move away from you if you are standing in front of the machine or in a clock wise direction as per figure 14.

Figure 14

25. If you would like to see the actual file all you need to do is down load the help files.
26. If you would like to get an exact position of where the image is going to engrave on the glass than the easiest way is to draw a box around the image as per figure 15 – make sure that it is a vector line.
27. Make the engraving speed parameters about 20 do not worry about the power as we will not be burning the job.
28. Next send the just the vector line to the machine. The best way is to select the box and in the printer driver say process only your selection. Go to the machine and under the “setup” menu move down to the red pointer and turn it on. You will see a red light emanating out of the machine.
29. Now place the glass in the rotary attachment.
30. WITH THE LID UP run the job. You will notice that a red line is created where the machine engraves. The square is the area that encompasses your engraving and thus gives you an exact placement of the area.
31. If you are really worried about the placement you can place tape on the area that needs to be engraved and use a low power.

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