Glad I used a stop

Had a watch for a client, which we normally don't do, but they are a customer for many other products and asked us to look at some watches about 6 months ago. We did, they were simple black backs, and we tried one and it worked, so we did a small batch for them. This time, the owner brings a watch in, wants it engraved to give to his son. Wants 4 words, around a circle, one of them being "Love". I put the watch in, and drew a reference circle so I could align it with the watch back. For some reason, which I don't always do, I said "I should probably put this against some stops". I got it all lined up via the reference circle, and engraved it on the fiber laser. I picked it up and immediately realized that the "L" in "Love" was missing. I hit undo and sure enough, when I deleted the reference circle, I accidentally deleted the L. 5 pt handwriting font, so it's little bitty.

I was sweating it for a minute. Many times I have just sat something on the table and engraved it and moved on. Had I done that, I'd be trying to figure out how to orient it all properly again. Being the font is so small, the red dot pointer isn't much help, because it's more of a blur at that size than anything else.

Instead, I bumped it against the stops, selected the "L" and engraved it. Perfect!

Just a friendly reminder. Take 2 minutes and bolt something to the table to use as stops. It might save you some issues.

I rarely 'stop' a one-off job, and because of that the red light has saved my bacon more often than I can count :) - but even with 1mm lettering or less, it's do-able to re-align a part...

--unhatch and ungroup the font, group 1 letter close to the missing letter and 1 letter opposite-- set the red light to trace the contour, and get a 3x magnifier to help you see. Turn the LED brightness down so it's just barely on, then start moving the part into position. The red light will brighten up a ton when it's lined up to the existing engraving. If they match up good, run the missing letter :)

--this is assuming your LED is very closely aligned with the main beam! :D

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Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd

Had a watch for a client, which we normally don't do, but they are a customer for many other products and asked us to look at some watches about 6 months ago. We did, they were simple black backs, and we tried one and it worked, so we did a small batch for them. This time, the owner brings a watch in, wants it engraved to give to his son. Wants 4 words, around a circle, one of them being "Love". I put the watch in, and drew a reference circle so I could align it with the watch back. For some reason, which I don't always do, I said "I should probably put this against some stops". I got it all lined up via the reference circle, and engraved it on the fiber laser. I picked it up and immediately realized that the "L" in "Love" was missing. I hit undo and sure enough, when I deleted the reference circle, I accidentally deleted the L. 5 pt handwriting font, so it's little bitty.

I was sweating it for a minute. Many times I have just sat something on the table and engraved it and moved on. Had I done that, I'd be trying to figure out how to orient it all properly again. Being the font is so small, the red dot pointer isn't much help, because it's more of a blur at that size than anything else.

Instead, I bumped it against the stops, selected the "L" and engraved it. Perfect!

Just a friendly reminder. Take 2 minutes and bolt something to the table to use as stops. It might save you some issues.

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I'm still trying to figure that out. Any recommendations for stops? You just using wood jigs? That's what I use on the Speedy and out works great.

Had a group of walmart knives I'm giving to some family and friends (cheap the $5 kind) black finish. Had to re do the first as it didn't cut well enough. Dag nab it, was a hair out of focus. So redo One L E T T E R at a time....
Painful but works. I've a cheap sliding screw woodworking vise I've had for a couple of three decades or so. One of the first things I bought for WWing... It is bolted down to my x-y on my fiber's table. ANYthing that I can clamp, I clamp.
I have a BAD habit of touching the work and that will screw things up too. Did a locket today. didn't want to clamp. Put a big wad of modelling clay on the clamp and into it goes the locket. Holds steady, wipes clean.
Works great.

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Originally Posted by Jacob John

I'm still trying to figure that out. Any recommendations for stops? You just using wood jigs? That's what I use on the Speedy and out works great.

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Try Lego's Jacob, they are more versatile than anything you'll find!

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Originally Posted by Gary Hair

Try Lego's Jacob, they are more versatile than anything you'll find!

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Crap, that sounds almost too good to be true. :eek: My son has a ton of them around, so I'll try that!

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Originally Posted by Jacob John

Crap, that sounds almost too good to be true. :eek: My son has a ton of them around, so I'll try that!

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Amazingly enough, they are made to within .0005” tolerance so when you make a fixture with them it’s accurate and repeatable and more precise than your laser... I bought several of the plates, 6”, 12” and 18”, so I could build several fixtures at a time. I usually take a pic of them so I can rebuild easily for later jobs.

The lego is a great tip..we dont use it , but will from now on

What size are the holes in the galvo laser bed and worktable from companies like Ray Fine? Are the Metric or Imperial? When I emailed Ray Fine and asked if they are were M6 or 1/4x20 and they responded with, Yes for M6 laser, 1/4 x 20 etc. I think since I was asking about the JPT M6 laser source they though I meant for it specifically. Lol I guess I should have been clearer.
Do you guys use the threaded posts or are they just dowel type pins that drop in?
Thanks

Something that might help is breaking the sentence into words. Redlight the word and it almost writes itself on the part. If you select the whole sentence you get what you saw.