Rotary engraving question

When I took the rotary engraving class from @talkers, the rotary attachment was spinning the object with every sweep of the laser (i.e., it would make a rapid sweep/rotation in the Y/radial direction to engrave, followed by a slight movement in the X/axial direction, and then another rapid rotation in the Y direction). Needless to say, this made holding the object very difficult.

Later, John (@talkers) told me that he discovered that it should have been set up differently, so that it would engrave longitudinally along the X-axis, then a slight index movement in the Y direction.

I have reviewed the original class notes and also the OEM’s manual (page 53). I can’t find anything that suggests how to do this.

Anybody know how to set this?

Unilaterism fires in one direction, then returns,
Swing fires in both directions. On the pass and on the return. Cuts time in half.

I have tested it a few times with different materials, and have not seen a difference.

X_ is on the X axis. This is what we want for the rotary tool.

Y might be beneficial to reduce smoke on rasters or follow grain patterns? dunno really.

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Awesome, thanks! I have updated the Rotary Engraving document.

Thanks @mikeglass for the document!

Edit: With Mike’s permission, I put the document into a wiki page to replace the google docs item. It is linked from the Laser Committee page, same as the document was.

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