Xenetech fonts, are they all created equally?

From:	joyce (JLADY)	7 Sep 2006
To:	ALL	11 of 19

4780.11

How stupid am I!!

For the first time, I adjusted the pressure manually (about .05??) (I thought that was only used with a featherlite) and it seemed to help immensely, but when I look at the characters with a magnifier you can still see the sloppy engraving, but for now I think it is acceptable.

But I still don't understand why I can't adjust the pressure with the screw and use the automatic (proximity sensor), when I go real light it doesn't sense the material and engraves in the air.

By the way I tried the circle test. What I did was cut a 2x2 black brass, put a 1" circle (centered)

and when viewing on screen it is not actually centered (margins are L/R .1, top/bottom .5 aspect ratio 1.)

I turned the plate 4 times and got 4 different circles overlapping.

So.......................

From:	basehorawards	7 Sep 2006
To:	joyce (JLADY)	12 of 19

4780.12 In reply to 4780.11

Joyce,

I think when Joe was referring to rotating the image he meant to rotate it in the software (Plate / Sideways Right) rather than turning the material.

Also, if you sweep select the circle and then click the Justification button until it says Centered the Press Enter then click on "D" to redraw your circle will be centered side to side. To center up and down click on the "Y" button and then use your arrow keys to get the Y Center setting and set that to be half of the plate height.

Try the engraving again without moving the plate and see what you get.

James Smith

Basehor Awards & Trophies

EDITED: 7 Sep 2006 by BASEHORAWARDS

From:	logojohn	7 Sep 2006
To:	joyce (JLADY)	14 of 19

4780.14 In reply to 4780.11
quote: when I go real light it doesn't sense the material and engraves in the air. Do you have the z axis spindle motor on and set to a low speed of about 2. If it is off altogether the small belt that connects the spindle to the motor will create drag and not come completely down. The motor doesn't stay on for the engraving. It just fires for a couple seconds while the cutter is descending so the belt doesn't hang up. Dont set the cutter speed real fast though as it won't stop fast enough and could leave some spin marks where it starts the first letter. If you only do drag engraving but not burnishing, you can just remove the small belt altogether so it isn't necessary to have the motor come on at all. A couple things to check in the Engraver setup. Make sure you have something in the z float. Something like .02 should work on flat items. Make sure the "Full Automatic Cutter Set" has a dot by it and not the manual or no cutter set at start. If it still doesn't comes down remove the small belt. If you can't easily move the spindle up and down freely you have serious problems. I had an old dahlgren with the ball slides to. This is nothing like that. It is incredibly solidly built with a tight fit that needs no adjustment. I ordered ours with a 1/4 inch spindle. They are so thick you can drop it down well over an inch beyond the bottom and it doesn't flex at all. If you are using a narrow one, as someone said, do not let it extend down too far or it could flex some and cause distortion. . .
EDITED: 7 Sep 2006 by LOGOJOHN

From:	Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY)	7 Sep 2006
To:	joyce (JLADY)	16 of 19

4780.16 In reply to 4780.15
If I am translating 'Z float' properly, that is too much. If it is how far the spindle tries to travel downward after touching the piece, it is compressing the spring .15". Set it for .05, or .02 as recommended in a previous post to lessen the spring pressure exerted on the drag bit. If you are gouging the bit shaft will flex due to the excessive drag caused by the pressure. Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem) When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

From:	logojohn	7 Sep 2006
To:	Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY)	17 of 19

4780.17 In reply to 4780.16
That is what it does. But the spring tension can also be adjusted a lot by compressing it more (or less) by moving a large ring up or down the threaded center holding the spring. If it was close to the maximum compression, the .15 could present some of the problems you mentioned. But if it was set toward the less compressed end, .15 likely wouldn't be a problem on anything except soft metal like pewter. They likely suggested .15 so there is some float in case something isn't flat. But most flat metal can be done with .05 or even less. The spring can be set with very little pressure. I sometimes set the float up to 1/2 inch (and also increase the cutter up distance). This allows doing things like metal flasks, flashlights etc. that are round but can't be done on the cylindrical attachment. Between the float and the light spring pressure, it follows the curve on the item as far down as you can go without hitting the cutter bevel against it. It will autosense the surface after each letter so could go up or down a slope a little at a time with it set at a low amount. But if the line finishes at a low spot and a small cutter up is entered, when the cutter returns to the beginning of the next line it could gouge into the side of a raised area in the middle. With the high settings it will also float over the whole item. That is necessary with an underline, decoration or logo that covers a large distance. Since it is one character, the autosensing will not adjust throughtout. .

From:	joyce (JLADY)	11 Sep 2006
To:	ALL	19 of 19

4780.19

Now I am thinking it is the metal. I used a perp plt from tropar and it came out fine, then engraved it on laser brass from continental and it was horrible again.

Another side issue with my machine, the reason I was getting engraving in the air, is the belt isn't lowering immediately (there is a delay or not at all) because for whatever reason the spindle motor sporatically turns on.