Problem with ZATH engraving

[ellysgifts]

When we attempt to engrave any of the heart keychains, the laser auto focus center keeps hitting the little ring that holds the heart to the keychain. We have tried all of the six styles and have had the same result.

Is there a way to adjust this without taking the keychain apart or have the laser files been changed? (I got around it by putting a small hole in the jig where the ring is and pushing the ring through the jig)

Thanks,

[Alex]

Hi,

Can you tell me which layout it is that you're scanning? I'd like to see if I can replicate it here, and if I can I'll try to find a way to make it so the file doesn't do that. In the mean time, you'll have to do a manual focus, although the outcome of the job shouldn't be affected by such a minute difference in focus. For example, if the focus sensor would focus on the jig instead of the key chain, the piece would still come out just fine (on this particular item anyway.)

-Alex

P.S. I have moved this thread to the "Troubleshooting" forum, as it belongs there.

[ellysgifts]

Alex,
It does it on all the layouts. It looks like the focus sensor hits (not by much) the small piece of metal that connects the heart shape to the keyring. My solution was to put a small hole in the jig so that I could push this little piece to the same height as the heart shape.

PS -- How does one do a manual focus?


Regards,
Kurt

[Alex]

A hole in the jig sounds like an equally reasonable solution for now. To do a manual focus:

-First turn off the "Auto-Focus" and "Z-Up Position" buttons before you run the file. (these are located next to each other, right above the power and speed setting columns.) Then send the file to the laser.

-Now turn on the red eye on the laser machine, and use the arrow buttons on the laser machine to move the laser head over top of the piece so that the red dot is where you want it to focus. You may have to drop the tray first if the piece is too tall.

-Push the focus button on the laser machine (directly below the red-eye button, looks like 2 triangles hitting a circle.) Let it focus and bounce back. When it stops, hit the green button and it will start lasing the file.

-Alex

[ellysgifts]

Alex,
Thanks for the info on the manual focus but the problem happens during the engraving. As the laser head moves back and forth doing its thing, the auto focus sensor hits the little ring. I don't think it's an auto focus probelm, unless the sensor is pushing the item farther into the jig and causing it to incorrectly determine the distance. But, as I said, I've gotten around the problem by pushing the little ring through the jig.

Regards,
Kurt

[Alex]

Ah, now I'm getting a clearer picture of what's happening. Yes, if the auto-focus sensor starts dragging across any part of the item or jig while engraving, that is caused by a problem during focusing. What's happening is that the auto-focus sensor is focusing too low, and so it drags across the piece while engraving. This can be caused by a few things, usually it has either focused in the wrong place/off the item (doesn't sound like this is the issue) OR the "Z-alignment" is set wrong.

When the focus sensor touches an item, it senses that and is programmed to back off a certain amount. In your case, I think it is probably set just a tiny bit too low, so it doesn't quite back off enough to stay above the ring while engraving. This is very easy to reset, so I'll give you guys a call here in a bit and walk you through realigning the focus. Hopefully that will solve the issue.

-Alex

[Alex]

After calling and testing the change it looks like this fix has solved the problem. Case closed.