I would think the reason that the 20mm movement wasn't exact is because the rotary is made for cylindrical shaped objects. The displacement along a straight axis would be greater in comparison to that of object being rotated. If you placed a mark on a properly setup object that mark changed elevation in z-axis causing a greater distance to be travled. Makes sense in my head, hopefully makes sense to someone else
The roller is a little finicky. Because there is not a positive connection between the rollers and the material, the material is prone to slipping. To minimize this, I try to keep my "Y" axis moves slow and to a minimum. I found that adding weight to something like this cardboard tube to help. A couple AA batteries inside of the tube can really help minimize slipping. Once you have this set up correctly, it works nicely. You are right about this needing a cylindrical shape to work best. A rotary chuck would be more consistent and allow for more "Y" axis movement. Maybe someday I will invest in one. A friend of mine has one for his big laser and it works great.
I think you might have also showed plugging the attachment in. I assume it just replaces the Y stepper...but still. Also the MM/rotation is just pi*circumference. No clue why the software doesnt just calculate that for you. You dont need to experiment, its 37 because pi is pi and the circumference is 12.
That is an excellent point. Even though this video was about the configuration within LightBurn, it would have been a great idea to have shown how the rotary roller is set up physically on the LE5040. As you assumed, it is a simple matter of unplugging the "Y" stepper motor from the LE5040 and replacing that with the plug from the rotary roller. Using the roller interface within LightBurn makes more sense when using a rotary chuck vs a roller. For my roller, I just make a slight controller change to the number of steps for that stepper motor and I have a macro within Lightburn to do that for me. When I am done, I have another macro that sets everything back.
Good question. I do not know. If the connection to the rotary is the same as what is being used for the "Y" axis stepper motor, there is a good chance you could get that to work.
I have a Makeblock, the rotary attachment for that is not deep enough for anything with a handle. Can this Ortur rotary do mugs or anything glassware, drinkware with a handle? If yes, I am buying. Thanks. On the part of the video where the 2nd burn is off, I through trial and error have found that by reducing my power and running it twice I get a better image, I also wrap the bottom with a 2" wide medical bandage tape (the kind that is self adhesive but can be reused and has some cushion) if you wrap that on the bottom, it rolls better, no slipping.
Great question. I just put a big glass mug on there to see how much area I could etch. Looks like about 1/4 of the mug. So basically from the handle to about 1/4 of the way around. If you want to do that type of thing, a chuck style rotary would be a better choice. My latest video (ruclips.net/video/0MI6o26_JGc/видео.html) shows a chuck style rotary that we were using at Making it Happen (another RUclips channel). Leon used it to burn a big glass mug with ease. He also did a thermal mug and burned the paint off down to the stainless steel. He said it was about $150 for that rotary chuck. Something to look into if that is the kind of thing you are looking to etch.
Firstly, great video, thanks. I make pens out of wood on my lathe and am thinking of using my 3018 to laser engrave them. Would this rotary roller be a possibility for engraving pens?. Michael
Great question. That is so cool that you are making wooden pens that way. This may not be the best solution for something like what you are making. The minimum distance between the center of the rollers is 30mm. Without some sort of fixture to hold the pen, it would just fall right through. when I burn pencils, I will burn three edges at the same time. That way when someone it looking at it, the image looks normal as long as they are looking at the middle or top surface. Wood tends to burn well so I can get away with focusing just a little deeper than the top surface. Here is an example of this: ruclips.net/video/m-5NjH3qIJs/видео.html. I hope this help. Good luck.
@@CNCATHome Thanks AT, yeah I will give that a try. I will first burn a line with name etc. Then rotate it slightly for date etc. Want to use it for when I make Pens for weddings as an example.
I am sorry to hear that you are having issues with the rotary roller and LightBurn. What I have found is that I do not use the rotary setup in LightBurn. By setting $101=84, $111=2000, and $121=750 that makes the needed change for my configuration. The important one is the $101 that sets the steps/mm. $111 sets the max rate in mm/min and the $121 sets the acceleration in mm/sex^2. I have found that running the rotary roller too quickly causes the material to shift and that isn't good. I plug the rotary roller into the "Y" axis port on the controller and run a macro that makes the setting change. I make sure to get the laser centered on the long axis of my material and focus the laser (set the height in your case) on that material. There shouldn't be anything more to do that this. Check in with SainSmart support as they can help you with information specific to the LE-60A. There is a contact page on their website: www.sainsmart.com/pages/contact-us. I hope this helps.
@@gregmaples6240 - The command $$ + enter will show you the controller's configuration. Setting up a macro is done in LightBurn on the Console tab by right clicking on one of the 6 macro buttons. To set one of the controller parameter such as $101, just enter it in the "(type commands here)" text area on the Console tab like this, $101=80. Press enter and it will be set in your controller. Do the $$ + enter to see that it is now set. In the description of this video, I show my Rotary Y macro settings (ignore the comments as they aren't part of the macro). Before messing around too much with the controller's parameters, it is a good idea to make a backup of how they are currently set. Just do your $$ + enter and copy the text into a file somewhere you can save it.
@@CNCATHome Very late with this, but did you calibrate the steps for your stepper motors? From the 3D Printing world, calibrating extruder steps is the same, so most likely that 84 you set with $101 is just a bit off.
@@billywoods3541 - I really should take a closer look at my settings to insure they are accurate. When I first got this set up, I was mainly looking to get it working about right. The accuracy you are talking about with your 3D printer wasn't needed at that time. If I hope to be more accurate with my burns, I should go back after this to see if the 84 is a good setting for the stepper.
If they are basically cylindrical and under about 10 inches, it should work. The distance between the rollers can be set up to 90mm or 3.54 inches which would accommodate a fairly large diameter glass. If you can get the parameters set on the laser so that it will etch the glass, you should be in business.
That is a good question Dan. The answer to your specific question is the circumference of the roller as you stated. The more I dug into Rotary Setup, the less I ended up using it. I created a macro that changes my $101, $111, and $121 values between rotary and flat configuration. The "mm per rotation" is "How many mm of Y travel corresponds with one full rotation of the rollers". That being said, I was told by LightBurn that this value is usually figured out with trial and error. Part of the reason for this is it is intended to be used without making changed to the controller settings (mainly $101with a GRBL controller). With the roller circumference known, and the amount of Y travel required to make them move one full rotation, LightBurn computes a scale factor for the Y axis and stores it. When you enable the rotary setting, this makes LightBurn scale the Y axis moves when generating GCode for the machine by that computed scale. Per LightBurn - "It's not perfect - for example, If you command a specific move in the Y axis at a given speed, because the Y is scaled, that move might be at the wrong speed. That's not usually a problem, since very few people do vector marking with rotaries as they tend to slip, because items aren't "locked in", but are just held by gravity and friction, so if the rollers move abruptly at any point, you're likely to lose position." I hope this helps. :-)
@@CNCATHome I was just down working on my machine and figured out that since I am using an Arduino UNO with a CNC shield, that I can connect the rotary to the Z axis driver and not have to swap the Y axis cable every time I want to use it. Because of that I can set settings for the Z axis rotary and leave them.
I bought this roller and every time I engrave it comes out backwards or upside down can you help please Thank You David OH my laser is a Atomstack A5 Thanks
Thank you for the question. My first burn was backwards as I have the rotary roller oriented 180° wrong. So I just turned it around and that solved that issue. If you are having issues with your X or Y axis, you might be able to correct this with the $2 setting. You can see a good explanation of this here: github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki/Grbl-v1.1-Configuration. I hope this helps.
I am not sure there is much I can help you with on this. The rotary roller is a bit tricky to use due to material slippage. Once you have the $101 set so it works for your configuration, you do your burn just like any other. To reduce material slippage, slow things down and avoid direction changes on the "Y" axis.
Not totally. The gantry wasn't square and I corrected that and that helped.. I tightened the belts and that helped a little too. There is an issue with the v-bearings that I haven't figured out completely where they don't roll consistently and that makes the laser wiggle just a little and creates a wave when burning. I have minimized that by using the Y axis for the big moves.
@@CNCATHome Thanks, that helps a little, but it still begs the question, why would any of that have to do with the rotary? I have the problem when ONLY rotating, not while moving anything on the X axis. I rotate a set amount in one direction, but when rotating back in the other direction, it doesn't go back to where it started from. It is actually a little ahead of where it started from. When using my regular Y axis it is fine.
@@danbemowski3014 - I have run into a couple issues with my laser and was thinking about a different issue. The one I was having with the rotary roller has been resolved. It was a slipping issue. The material that I put on the roller would slip as it moved. To minimize this, I burn mainly with X movement and make small Y increments with the roller. This has helped minimize the slipping. I also only make one pass vs. burning one object and then another. Get it all done at one time. With something light weight such as the tube from a roll of bathroom tissue, I added a couple AA batteries into the tube to give it more weight. It helped reduce the slipping. The best solution would be to use a rotary chuck vs. a rotary roller. They cost a bit more and have their own limitations. They do give you a positive grip on your working piece. So no slipping.
@@CNCATHome Perfect. I was starting to wonder if it was something with the way I have the belt routed on mine. I think one of the rods is not completely straight and it causes a sligh binding at one point. That and possibly slipping as you mentioned too, but it happens with short movements as well and seems pretty consistent on the distance. I do thank you for your time, insights and most of all your video. It helped me a lot.
IF you are using Windows10 with LightBurn (I am) are you having any issues with the USB connection "going to sleep" and the engraving stopping midstream? Just curious since I have major problem with it right now, Can't burn anything more than 2 minutes.
Sorry to hear about your issue. The computer that is running my machine is a repurposed Windows 7 computer. I am not having any issues with that. Sounds like you may have an aggressive power saving setting. With my new laptop, I have run into issues where things seems to stop when the power saver stuff kicks in to turn the screen off. It seems more things also halt when that happens. I hope you are able to track that down.
@@CNCATHome I am using a laptop with all power saving features turned off. So it says according to everything I can find. I think I will repurpose a pc to Linux and run Lightburn for Linux. Thanks anyway for the reply.
I would think the reason that the 20mm movement wasn't exact is because the rotary is made for cylindrical shaped objects. The displacement along a straight axis would be greater in comparison to that of object being rotated. If you placed a mark on a properly setup object that mark changed elevation in z-axis causing a greater distance to be travled.
Makes sense in my head, hopefully makes sense to someone else
The roller is a little finicky. Because there is not a positive connection between the rollers and the material, the material is prone to slipping. To minimize this, I try to keep my "Y" axis moves slow and to a minimum. I found that adding weight to something like this cardboard tube to help. A couple AA batteries inside of the tube can really help minimize slipping. Once you have this set up correctly, it works nicely. You are right about this needing a cylindrical shape to work best. A rotary chuck would be more consistent and allow for more "Y" axis movement. Maybe someday I will invest in one. A friend of mine has one for his big laser and it works great.
Thanks a million
I am glad my video could be of help.
I think you might have also showed plugging the attachment in. I assume it just replaces the Y stepper...but still. Also the MM/rotation is just pi*circumference. No clue why the software doesnt just calculate that for you. You dont need to experiment, its 37 because pi is pi and the circumference is 12.
That is an excellent point. Even though this video was about the configuration within LightBurn, it would have been a great idea to have shown how the rotary roller is set up physically on the LE5040. As you assumed, it is a simple matter of unplugging the "Y" stepper motor from the LE5040 and replacing that with the plug from the rotary roller. Using the roller interface within LightBurn makes more sense when using a rotary chuck vs a roller. For my roller, I just make a slight controller change to the number of steps for that stepper motor and I have a macro within Lightburn to do that for me. When I am done, I have another macro that sets everything back.
Thank you great video and easy to follow.
Do you know if a third party three jaw rotary axis would be compatible and get set up the same way?
Good question. I do not know. If the connection to the rotary is the same as what is being used for the "Y" axis stepper motor, there is a good chance you could get that to work.
I have a Makeblock, the rotary attachment for that is not deep enough for anything with a handle. Can this Ortur rotary do mugs or anything glassware, drinkware with a handle? If yes, I am buying. Thanks. On the part of the video where the 2nd burn is off, I through trial and error have found that by reducing my power and running it twice I get a better image, I also wrap the bottom with a 2" wide medical bandage tape (the kind that is self adhesive but can be reused and has some cushion) if you wrap that on the bottom, it rolls better, no slipping.
Great question. I just put a big glass mug on there to see how much area I could etch. Looks like about 1/4 of the mug. So basically from the handle to about 1/4 of the way around. If you want to do that type of thing, a chuck style rotary would be a better choice. My latest video (ruclips.net/video/0MI6o26_JGc/видео.html) shows a chuck style rotary that we were using at Making it Happen (another RUclips channel). Leon used it to burn a big glass mug with ease. He also did a thermal mug and burned the paint off down to the stainless steel. He said it was about $150 for that rotary chuck. Something to look into if that is the kind of thing you are looking to etch.
Firstly, great video, thanks.
I make pens out of wood on my lathe and am thinking of using my 3018 to laser engrave them. Would this rotary roller be a possibility for engraving pens?.
Michael
Great question. That is so cool that you are making wooden pens that way. This may not be the best solution for something like what you are making. The minimum distance between the center of the rollers is 30mm. Without some sort of fixture to hold the pen, it would just fall right through. when I burn pencils, I will burn three edges at the same time. That way when someone it looking at it, the image looks normal as long as they are looking at the middle or top surface. Wood tends to burn well so I can get away with focusing just a little deeper than the top surface. Here is an example of this: ruclips.net/video/m-5NjH3qIJs/видео.html. I hope this help. Good luck.
@@CNCATHome Thanks AT, yeah I will give that a try. I will first burn a line with name etc. Then rotate it slightly for date etc. Want to use it for when I make Pens for weddings as an example.
I HAVE THE LC60A with the Genmitsu Laser Rotary and can't get it to work with lightburn, or setup full 360 rotation
I am sorry to hear that you are having issues with the rotary roller and LightBurn. What I have found is that I do not use the rotary setup in LightBurn. By setting $101=84, $111=2000, and $121=750 that makes the needed change for my configuration. The important one is the $101 that sets the steps/mm. $111 sets the max rate in mm/min and the $121 sets the acceleration in mm/sex^2. I have found that running the rotary roller too quickly causes the material to shift and that isn't good.
I plug the rotary roller into the "Y" axis port on the controller and run a macro that makes the setting change. I make sure to get the laser centered on the long axis of my material and focus the laser (set the height in your case) on that material. There shouldn't be anything more to do that this. Check in with SainSmart support as they can help you with information specific to the LE-60A. There is a contact page on their website: www.sainsmart.com/pages/contact-us. I hope this helps.
@@CNCATHome Yesterday I had macros set for rotary but did not know how to switch it around if I am correct it is $$ and enter
@@gregmaples6240 - The command $$ + enter will show you the controller's configuration. Setting up a macro is done in LightBurn on the Console tab by right clicking on one of the 6 macro buttons. To set one of the controller parameter such as $101, just enter it in the "(type commands here)" text area on the Console tab like this, $101=80. Press enter and it will be set in your controller. Do the $$ + enter to see that it is now set. In the description of this video, I show my Rotary Y macro settings (ignore the comments as they aren't part of the macro). Before messing around too much with the controller's parameters, it is a good idea to make a backup of how they are currently set. Just do your $$ + enter and copy the text into a file somewhere you can save it.
@@CNCATHome Very late with this, but did you calibrate the steps for your stepper motors? From the 3D Printing world, calibrating extruder steps is the same, so most likely that 84 you set with $101 is just a bit off.
@@billywoods3541 - I really should take a closer look at my settings to insure they are accurate. When I first got this set up, I was mainly looking to get it working about right. The accuracy you are talking about with your 3D printer wasn't needed at that time. If I hope to be more accurate with my burns, I should go back after this to see if the 84 is a good setting for the stepper.
can you tell me what size is the belt please.
The belt is labeled as 250-2GT. That makes it 250mm long.
@@CNCATHome Thank you
Could I etch whisky glasses with this?
If they are basically cylindrical and under about 10 inches, it should work. The distance between the rollers can be set up to 90mm or 3.54 inches which would accommodate a fairly large diameter glass. If you can get the parameters set on the laser so that it will etch the glass, you should be in business.
So the 37mm, what is that referencing? Is that the circumference of the roller?
That is a good question Dan. The answer to your specific question is the circumference of the roller as you stated.
The more I dug into Rotary Setup, the less I ended up using it. I created a macro that changes my $101, $111, and $121 values between rotary and flat configuration.
The "mm per rotation" is "How many mm of Y travel corresponds with one full rotation of the rollers". That being said, I was told by LightBurn that this value is usually figured out with trial and error. Part of the reason for this is it is intended to be used without making changed to the controller settings (mainly $101with a GRBL controller).
With the roller circumference known, and the amount of Y travel required to make them move one full rotation, LightBurn computes a scale factor for the Y axis and stores it. When you enable the rotary setting, this makes LightBurn scale the Y axis moves when generating GCode for the machine by that computed scale.
Per LightBurn - "It's not perfect - for example, If you command a specific move in the Y axis at a given speed, because the Y is scaled, that move might be at the wrong speed. That's not usually a problem, since very few people do vector marking with rotaries as they tend to slip, because items aren't "locked in", but are just held by gravity and friction, so if the rollers move abruptly at any point, you're likely to lose position."
I hope this helps. :-)
@@CNCATHome I was just down working on my machine and figured out that since I am using an Arduino UNO with a CNC shield, that I can connect the rotary to the Z axis driver and not have to swap the Y axis cable every time I want to use it. Because of that I can set settings for the Z axis rotary and leave them.
I bought this roller and every time I engrave it comes out backwards or upside down can you help please Thank You David OH my laser is a Atomstack A5 Thanks
Thank you for the question. My first burn was backwards as I have the rotary roller oriented 180° wrong. So I just turned it around and that solved that issue. If you are having issues with your X or Y axis, you might be able to correct this with the $2 setting. You can see a good explanation of this here: github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki/Grbl-v1.1-Configuration. I hope this helps.
@@CNCATHome Thanks for your help I check that out
@@davidharris425 If you're using Lightburn, Click Tools --> Rotary Setup --> Turn on "Mirror Output to Rotary"
Are you open to a one-on-one training? I'd be willing to pay. This video is very helpful, but I think I'd learn better from a live session.
I am not sure there is much I can help you with on this. The rotary roller is a bit tricky to use due to material slippage. Once you have the $101 set so it works for your configuration, you do your burn just like any other. To reduce material slippage, slow things down and avoid direction changes on the "Y" axis.
Did you ever figure out the issue with the Y scan being skewed? I seem to be having a similar issue.
Not totally. The gantry wasn't square and I corrected that and that helped.. I tightened the belts and that helped a little too. There is an issue with the v-bearings that I haven't figured out completely where they don't roll consistently and that makes the laser wiggle just a little and creates a wave when burning. I have minimized that by using the Y axis for the big moves.
@@CNCATHome Thanks, that helps a little, but it still begs the question, why would any of that have to do with the rotary? I have the problem when ONLY rotating, not while moving anything on the X axis. I rotate a set amount in one direction, but when rotating back in the other direction, it doesn't go back to where it started from. It is actually a little ahead of where it started from. When using my regular Y axis it is fine.
@@danbemowski3014 - I have run into a couple issues with my laser and was thinking about a different issue. The one I was having with the rotary roller has been resolved. It was a slipping issue. The material that I put on the roller would slip as it moved. To minimize this, I burn mainly with X movement and make small Y increments with the roller. This has helped minimize the slipping. I also only make one pass vs. burning one object and then another. Get it all done at one time. With something light weight such as the tube from a roll of bathroom tissue, I added a couple AA batteries into the tube to give it more weight. It helped reduce the slipping. The best solution would be to use a rotary chuck vs. a rotary roller. They cost a bit more and have their own limitations. They do give you a positive grip on your working piece. So no slipping.
@@CNCATHome Perfect. I was starting to wonder if it was something with the way I have the belt routed on mine. I think one of the rods is not completely straight and it causes a sligh binding at one point. That and possibly slipping as you mentioned too, but it happens with short movements as well and seems pretty consistent on the distance. I do thank you for your time, insights and most of all your video. It helped me a lot.
IF you are using Windows10 with LightBurn (I am) are you having any issues with the USB connection "going to sleep" and the engraving stopping midstream? Just curious since I have major problem with it right now, Can't burn anything more than 2 minutes.
Sorry to hear about your issue. The computer that is running my machine is a repurposed Windows 7 computer. I am not having any issues with that. Sounds like you may have an aggressive power saving setting. With my new laptop, I have run into issues where things seems to stop when the power saver stuff kicks in to turn the screen off. It seems more things also halt when that happens. I hope you are able to track that down.
@@CNCATHome I am using a laptop with all power saving features turned off. So it says according to everything I can find. I think I will repurpose a pc to Linux and run Lightburn for Linux. Thanks anyway for the reply.
@@woodturner1954 - I hope it is the OS and putting Linux on there solves the issue.