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How can curved objects be carved without rotation?

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Laser
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09-13

Hello! I recently purchase a new machine, and it’s the first and only machine I have that has an auto-focus and a Z axis that uses a stepper motor. This got me thinking about how I can use this to engrave curved objects without the use of a rotary and to my understanding X-Tool has a machine that can do this.

I want to create a height map that uses the Y position to adjust the Z axis accordingly. All of the products would be in a jig, so it stays in the same spot every time. This would pretty much exclusively be for raster engraving as I don’t think you could move the Z axis (the bed) fast enough or accurately enough.

I don’t think there is any way to do this from a Ruida controller, so my idea was to use an Aurdino to control the Z axis separately from the Ruida controller, and to piggyback of the Y Axis stepper motor driver to get the Y axis position.

Now honestly, I have no idea if this would work and it’s pretty crude, but I engrave a lot of glasses, and not having to load rotary tools over and over would save me a ton of time.

I’d really love to hear some of you guy’s opinions about the idea and if it’s even feasible.

C

    • さいと康成

      09-14
      True on both counts, plus the autofocus switch simply sets the Z axis (the controller says “U axis”, but we know what it means) coordinate to 0.0. It does not report the trip coordinate, so there’s no way to extract the data for a height map.

On my machine, the Z axis (the controller says “U axis”, but we know what it means) runs on four honkin’ big leadscrews and moves in a 1 mm diameter spiral as it travels up and down. You can set the vertical position very accurately, but the X and Y position is essentially unknown within a millimeter.

Believe this: if there was a cheaper way to engrave on curved objects than using a rotary, you’d find it in the laser’s description as a major selling point.
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