Installation and Operating Instructions Desk top Laser

Transcription

1 Installation and Operating Instructions Desk top Laser This manual covers the following: A. Unpacking and setup of the engraver B. Installation of Newly Seal software C. Basic operation of Newly Seal software A: Unpack the Engraver and set on a stable bench top. Remove all tape holding the lid shut and the laser head in place. Unscrew the four screws holding the Perspex viewing window in place in the work area door and remove the protective paper from the window. Refit the window to the door. Unpack the water pump and Air extraction fan. Remove and discard the fan cover. The fan slides into the flanges at the rear of the machine (it is a firm fit) with the air outlet facing upwards. Depending on the material you will be engraving you might consider fitting the short pieces of air extraction hose so the air can vent outside. This will be necessary if engraving rubber as the fumes given off are quite strong. Fit the water hoses to the pump ensuring the IN hose is attached to the pump outlet. Fill a bucket with cold water and place the water pump in it. Ensure the pump is fully submerged. Make sure the OUT hose is resting in the bucket.

2 Ensure both power switches on the front panel are in the OFF position (down) and the laser power adjustment ( Adjust ) is all the way anti-clockwise (this is a ten turn adjustment). Plug all three devices into the power board supplied and power up. Switch on the laser machine power switch only (green switch). The internal light will come on and the machine will go through a reset procedure. Confirm that water is flowing in the tube by lifting the OUT pipe from the bucket and observing the water flow. NOTE: NEVER run the laser tube without water flowing or it may be damaged by excessive heat build up inside the glass tube. Place a piece of corrugated cardboard under the laser head and CLOSE THE LID. Switch on the laser power switch (red) and advance the laser power adjustment clockwise one or two full turns (after confirming water flow). Very briefly touch the TEST push button and the laser beam will shoot at the piece of cardboard. SAFETY TIP: It is important to ALWAYS have the lid of the machine closed whenever the laser tube is in operation. It has been known for reflecting mirrors to come away from their mountings and as a result the laser beam can shoot in an unpredictable direction. The exact setting of this Laser Power Adjustment will depend on several factors. 1. The age of the tube (it will slowly lose power over time). 2. The type of work being performed (deep engraving or surface marking). 3. The speed that you set the scan of the head.

3 Most of the time the initial setting will be by trial and error using a scrap piece of material rather than the finished job. Make notes so that you can refer to your most commonly used settings. TIP: Never put the actual finished piece to be engraved in the machine without first testing and confirming the laser power setting and start position of the laser head. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT switch on the laser power until you have satisfied yourself that the head will start in the correct position. Do several trial runs with the laser power switched OFF. The start position is adjustable in the Engraving window of the software and you will need to experiment with this. Place some masking tape on the bed of the cutting table or use a marking pen to mark your chosen start place for repeat jobs. B: Fit the Software Dongle to a spare USB port and allow the software to auto find it (WinXP). Place the Newly Seal CD ROM in the CD Drive and allow it to run. The installation is straightforward. Click bottom left button on the panel that opens to begin installation. C: Start the program and a fresh workspace will open. About halfway along the top toolbar select Draw Load Image A box will open and allow you to browse for the file you wish to import. For this trial we will locate the file katana.bmp which is on the CD ROM supplied with these instructions on it. The image should open on the screen. It is possible that a warning message may appear as well an unsupported operation Ignore this and close the box this message appears in. TIP: It does not matter where on the screen the image that you import appears. The engraving position will be specified in the following steps.

4 Select File Engraving from the top menu and another box will open. It is here we will select the start point of the laser and also exactly how we want the engraving to appear. In the dropdown box Face we can select if the image is to be right reading or reversed (you would select reverse for a rubber stamp). There is also a checkbox to the right of this dropdown box In Relief. This allows us to engrave the image or engrave it in negative (as in a photographic negative). Here is an example of a TIFF image engraved In Relief which is the default selection. We will select Normal for this procedure as shown below.

5 In the X and Y boxes (above) we can select the start position of the laser head in millimeters. Select (Prop ) at the top right and the following box will appear: Of note here is the To XY after engrav tick this box and specify the X and Y positions as 0. This sets the position the head will return to after it finishes engraving.

6 Clicking Device will open the box above with additional settings. I would suggest setting them as the picture above initially. The picture below shows the correct placement for the work in the machine. Slide the retaining handle towards you against the spring tension and allow it to clamp the work. The work sits flush with the top surface of the handle for it to be in correct focus for the laser beam. After satisfying ourselves that the settings are correct and the work is in the correct position, we select Engraving in the box on the right side of this panel and the software will prepare the picture for engraving and send it to the machine. There are many other parameters to experiment with here such as speed of machine, gap between sweeps, laser power adjustment and many others.

7 I can t stress too strongly that you should do a trial run with the laser power switched off to ensure the engraving will take place in the correct position on your work. Also it is always wise to test engrave a scrap piece of material first. End of manual --0o0--