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Thread: How to get guide light in the center of artwork?

  1. #1

    How to get guide light in the center of artwork?

    I'm using EzCad2 with a Chinese laser and a rotary.

    Right now the guide light indicates the top left corner of whats about to be printed
    Is there anyway to get it to indicate the center of the artwork?

    Any clue as to where to find this setting would be helpful, or even whether it can be done or not?

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Iowa USA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Rice View Post
    I'm using EzCad2 with a Chinese laser and a rotary.

    Right now the guide light indicates the top left corner of whats about to be printed
    Is there anyway to get it to indicate the center of the artwork?

    Any clue as to where to find this setting would be helpful, or even whether it can be done or not?
    F1 and there Should be a red light box on your work, showing the graphic that's on your screen where its going to hit.
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  3. #3
    Thank you Bill for the response.
    Yes F1 and the red light box works great and the guide light shows dead center, but not with the rotary.
    I use the rotary to mark a cylinder with a handle, and I want my clients logo dead center with the handle center.
    I'd like to be able to line up the guide light with the center of the handle, hit Mark, have the the rotary turn the distance of half the logo and start printing from that position if possible?
    Even if there was a way I could type in the distance manually to get the rotary to move a precise measurement before marking?

    I really appreciate any help with this because right now I'm using a tape measure from my sewing kit to wrap around the can, marking the left edge of the logo with a pencil mark and hoping I come close enough.

    Doesn't seem like the most ideal way when I'm standing in front of thousands of dollars of computers and lasers does it :-(

  4. #4
    Note that dead center on the 'main area' work table represents top-dead center in the rotary axis, which I'll assume is Y (depends on the orientation of your rotary and the settings). Very important is to enter the correct diameter of the part. Also, the "focal length" setting should match your "Field" setting in the F3-parameters.

    Also- any moving of what you're engraving is done on the main area table before going to the rotary-mark menu, you can't move the engraving in the rotary menu...

    So since zero-Y is straight up, and you want the engraving centered with the handle, just mount the part with the handle straight up! Now you can redlight the engraving to insure the that the rotary itself and the handle ARE straight up, and to locate the X position of the engraving. If the image is dead center on the basic work table, the engraving will be put right where the red light is.

    Now suppose you want to engrave someone's name 90° from the handle, just a little math is needed. Diameter times 3.1416 (pi) divided by 4-- this is how far to move the engraving up or down the Y axis to move the engraving exactly 90°... Example, if you're engraving a 50mm diameter cup: 50mm x pi = 157.08 / 4 = 39.27mm. So just move the engraving this amount, and the rotary will put the engraving exactly 1/4 turn from the 0-Y starting point, 78.54mm will center it on the 1/2 turn centerline.

    Note that when you're moving the engraving, it doesn't matter if you move the engraving off the main worktable, a little or a lot, as the rotary axis length can get much larger than the basic square table area. Should you happen to move something that goes beyond 360°. the program will tell you, and gives you the choice to fix it, or engrave anyway



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    Last edited by Kev Williams; 09-18-2017 at 12:40 AM.
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  5. #5
    Thank you for a very thoughtful response Kev, you have given me a whole new way to look at how to manipulate the artwork. I always thought in terms of moving the piece on the rotary rather than the artwork on the work table.
    I did figure out a way to do this by typing half the width of the artwork into the step mark plugin and moving the can that way.
    But your method saves me 3 extra steps on each marking! Thanks again.

  6. #6
    Your most welcome, because, until I played with it myself, I wasn't totally sure that the top of the arc in the rotary was the table-center coordinate until I messed with it! So now I AM sure!
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


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