Laser Rotary Chuck Attachment

Laser Rotary Chuck Attachment
Name	Rotary Wheel Attachment
Zone	Laser Cutter
Owner	i3Detroit
Make Model
Part Number
Date Acquired	2015-06
Storage Location	Black and yellow bin under desk
Authorization Required	Yes
Status	Running
Value	$225
Documentation
Other References

Intro

This tool can be used with the laser cutter to etch on round objects that fit in a chuck, such as wooden dowels.

The tool is stored in the bottom drawer of the gray laser tools cabinet.

Rules

Make sure the laser head has clearance over the whole chuck, especially if you are engraving near the chuck. If it does not have clearance, do not engrave near the chuck! The laser head will move past the bounding box edge to decelerate while it is engraving. Failure to follow this will result in the laser head crashing into the rotary tool.

Instructions

These instructions assume you understand how to operate Wolverine.

Tool Installation

1. Lower the bed approx 6-8 inches.
2. Turn the machine off.
3. Place the rotary chuck tool on the bed, making sure the cord comes out the left side. Align its front edge with a line in the honeycomb. (Optionally, you can also use carpenters' squares to line it up square with the laser chases, or the X axis alignment jig see below)
4. Slide the plug under the right rail and down the hole in the front right corner. Open the side doors of the laser cutter. Unplug the "Y-Axis" plug from the top side of the controller case inside and plug the rotary tool connector into the Y-axis socket. The connector is keyed, so rotate it until you feel it drop into the keyed slot.
5. Make sure the correct chuck set (jaws) is properly inserted, and clamp your work piece in the chuck. There are internal and external grip jaws for the chucks. Insert the jaws in numerical order counter-clockwise into the slots around the edge of the chuck (numbers stamped on each jaw). Rotate the chuck key CCW until you feel jaw #1 slip. Then tighten by turning the chuck key CW, holding all of the jaws until they are engaged and moving inward. The outer faces of all three jaws should eventually be flush with the circumference of the chuck. If not, retry the process.
6. Load the workpiece and clamp down using the chuck key. Move the centering cone on the right to engage the center of the right face of the workpiece. Tighten the cap screw to hold it in place.
7. Power the machine on. Once the chuck starts spinning, move the crossbar to the back to engage the Y-axis homing switch. This should stop the chuck from turning. Keep your hands to the left of the laser head because the machine will also move the head to the far right!
8. Manually move the crossbar so that it's directly over the centerline of the chuck axis. Use the directional pad -Y key to rotate the chuck a few times. This should avoid any SOFT STOP errors when you run your program.
9. Move the head to the starting position on the workpiece and use the focus jug to make sure the surface of the workpiece is at the focal point.

Setup & Cutting

1. Start Lasercut with the shortcut labeled "Lasercut Rotary"
2. There are 10,000 pulses in a full revolution of the chuck. If you want your design to wrap all the way around the workpiece, set Machine Options > Worktable > Y-Axis > Pulse Unit to be 1/10000 your design's total y-dimension. For example, if engraving a 223.523 mm (x) by 374.251 mm (y) rectangle, leave X-axis pulse unit alone (Wolverine specific value) but set Y-axis pulse unit to 0.0374251. This seems to scale the scan gap correctly with your art. If your design is intended to be some fraction of a revolution, then divide by a proprtionally smaller fraction of 10,000. (E.g., 5000 for half way around). Save the new value and exit the Machine Options menu.
   

1. Move the laser head to the desired horizontal position on your work piece, centered over the centerline of the workpiece.
2. Load your file in Lasercut and set the origin to the appropriate starting point as you would without the rotary tool. Note that the Up/Center/Down setting of the start position will determine where your design is positioned around the circumference of the workpiece. Typically this will not matter unless your workpiece is asymmetric around the axis, or you want to align the design with some feature such as a handle.
3. Upload your file to the laser.
4. Test the bounding box as usual.
5. Cut/Engrave your piece.

Cleanup

1. Unplug the rotary tool and plug the normal Y-axis motor plug back in.
2. Put the rotary tool away in the bottom drawer of the gray cabinet.

X axis alignment jig

1. This tool was made by Greg Smith so if you need help contact him
2. Install the pointed center tool in the chuck, this will determine the center of the chuck end.
3. Mount the alignment tool between centers and use the squaring leg to rotate it to the vertical position, this aligns the centering line with the chuck attachment tool.
4. make sure the laser's tip is approximately at the focal distance, then by manipulating the X axis you can see if the red dot aligns with the line in the alignment jig,
5. Adjust the Chuck attachment too as required.

Authorized Users and Trainers

Trainer Name	Certified Date
Mike Fink	2015/10/02

User Name	Authorized By	Date of Most Recent Training