EDIT: Having solved the problem, I’m editing this post to share the information.
Goal was to engrave a small diameter object on the Fusion rotary attachment.
PHYSICAL SETUP: It’s necessary to make special holder ends that ride on the drive wheels / support wheels to support the workpiece (photo shows bubble level on the workpiece). They must be sized within a fairly narrow margin to operate properly.
The workpiece will be so light that it needs the drive clamp wheel. The holder end on the LHS (drive side) needs a hollow socket for the clamp wheel.
I laser cut multiple pieces of 1/4" plywood and glued those slices together using toothpicks to align them. I did not glue the workpiece into those ends.
The diameter of the holder ends should be a nominal 1-3/4". The laser travel goes well beyond the actual workpiece, and this diameter will allow the laser head to pass over without colliding. The diameter can’t be much smaller than that because the socket becomes too small for the clamp wheel.
ARTWORK:
Scale the artwork for the circumference of the holder end. Create your artwork sized for the workpiece circumference and edit the scale in the Epilog dashboard when printing.
Click on the artwork inside the preview window and it will bring up the scaling options. Deselect the lock on the aspect ratio and scale ONLY the vertical dimension to match the circumference of the holder end. The screen image will look long and distorted but it engraves correctly. (In the example, the workpiece circumference was 0.8 but the holder end circumference was 5.5).
POWER SETTINGS:
Reduce the power settings substantially. The scan lines will be very close together and the imported settings will scorch or burn your piece. For a poplar dowel with blue tape I used 600 resolution, 100% speed, and 23% power.
