FM Manual with Chuck Rotary

608 Trestle Point

Sanford, FL 32771

Phone 888-652-1555 • Fax 407-878-0837www.BOSSLASER.com

Warranty DisclaimerThank you for your interest in the products and

services of Boss Laser, LLC.

This Limited Warranty applies to the laser machines and parts purchased from Boss Laser, LLC.

This Limited Warranty covers any defects in material or workmanship under normal use during the Warranty Period. This does NOT include labor and/or on-site Tech. Support.

During the Warranty Period, Boss Laser, LLC will repair or replace, at no charge, products or parts of a product that proves defective because of improper material or workmanship, under normal use and maintenance.

Boss Laser, LLC will repair the product at no charge, using new replacement parts.

The Warranty Period for laser machine parts purchased from Boss Laser, LLC is two years from the day of arrival for FM Machines.

A replacement part assumes the remaining warranty of the original part

This Limited Warranty does not cover any problem that is caused by:

• Conditions, malfunctions or damage not resulting from defects in materialor workmanship (ex. modifications done to the machine)

Any modifications without written consent from Tech. Support, will void your machine's warranty.

To obtain warranty service, you must first contact Tech. Support (888.652.1555 or TechSupport@bosslaser.com) to determine the

problem and the most appropriate solution for you.

Table of Contents

Machine Components .............................................. 1

Walkthrough (Power On/File Setup) ..................... 4

Sizing of Text/Image. .............................................. 11

Creating a Hatch. ...................................................... 15

Power Settings. ........................................................ 21

How to Properly Turn Off Your Machine .............. 24

Precision Worktable Operation ............................. 25

Chuck Rotary. .......................................................... 26

Differences in RotaryMark & RingTextMark ......... 30

RotaryMark ................................................................ 30

RingTextMark. .......................................................... 41

Change the Work Space Back to Normal .............. 58

1

Fiber Laser Marking Manual

This manual will help you with setting up your system and run you through your

first job. You will be provided with a toolbox that contains everything for you to set up

and operate your new laser system. In the toolbox you will find:

Power Cord

This is the main power input cable that goes from the wall to the “General

Power” of your machine (110VAC)

Allen Wrenches

Just in case something needs to be tightened after shipping; these are

provided for convenience.

Ruler

This is also for your convenience to measure parts or lens height towards

the piece of material

A pair of Fiber Laser Safety Glasses (λ = 1064 nm)

These are mandatory for your safety when operating your laser system

Foot Pedal

This is used as another way to start the file. This is usually used in a

production/manufacturing environment when the operator feeds the

machine new parts without making any software changes

USB Manual/Software with Backup Parameters

The USB flash drive contains all the manuals and resources necessary for

you to operate this laser as well as backup parameters in the event of a

software crash

2

Later in this manual, we will be using terms that you might not be familiar with.

Those terms are explained and illustrated by the pictures below, numerically:

1. Z•Axis Column Handle

2. Z•Axis Column

3. Monitor

4. External Red Dot

Pointer / Focus

5. Scan Head

6. Lens

7. Control Panel

8. Adjustable Worktable

9. Keyboard/Mouse Tray

10. Computer

11. Leveling Feet

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Close up view on the Control Panel (#7)

12. ON/OFF Emergency Switch

13. ON/OFF Scan Head Power

14. ON/OFF Fiber Laser Power

15. ON/OFF Rotary Attachment Power

16. Circuit Breaker

17. Computer USB Port

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Now that you are familiar with the overall terminology, we will walk you through

on turning on and running your first file.

Step 1. Install the power cord (circular electrical connector) into the back of the

machine. The plug will be labeled “General Power.” The other end goes into a 110VAC

outlet (illustrated in the pictures below).

Step 2. To turn on the machine, you will need to do it in a specific sequence:

1. Flip the Circuit Breaker to the up position (#16)

2. Turn the Emergency Switch up; Follow the arrow indicators (#12)

3. Press down on the Scan Head button (#13). It should light up green when ON.

4. Press down on the Laser On/Off button (#14). It should light up green when ON.

a. Note: The Rotary Attachment button is the same, however, it does NOT

light up green.

5. Turn on the PC (#10) & Monitor (#3)

a. Depending on your PC, it may have a door that you must open to access

a switch with a white dot. Flip this switch by pressing on the white dot to

turn on the PC. Wait for a green LED light to turn on to show that the PC is

getting power

6. Lastly, remove the Lens Cap (from #6) from the Scan Head (#5) to prepare for

the following steps on running your job

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Step 3. Launching EzCad2. The shortcut icon is located on the desktop.

Double•click on the icon to start up the program. This is what the software looks like

when fully launched (shown in the picture below).

Step 4. Placing material on worktable.

1. Add a piece of material (metal) onto the worktable. Make sure it is right below the lens.

a. Note: No organic (wood) or plastic (clear acrylic) material. Fiber laser’s

wavelength are designed to engrave mainly on metal.

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Step 5. Focusing the laser onto the material.

1. Now we will show you how to focus the laser on your material, but before

we get into this, we would like to introduce you to the concept behind a laser

being focused.

b. As you can see, the process of focusing the laser is extremely simple. All

you have to do is find the right height between the lens and the material

being engraved, also known as focal length.

2. Your system is equipped with external focus red dot pointer that is designed to

merge with the internal red dot pointer to give you an idea of where the right focal length is (it does happen from time to time that the external red dot pointer shifts during shipping, therefore, laser may need to be calibrated manually. You can

find a video showing & explaining how to manually focus your laser here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/bosslasers)

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Step 6. Creating the file. We are now ready to create our first file in EzCad2.

1. For our first file, we will be creating some text. To do so, click on the Draw Text

Icon (refer to the screenshot below for the location).

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2. Once you have clicked the Draw Text icon, drag your mouse cursor to the white

working area. Your cursor should look like this . Click once more in the

working area. Then you will see the default text appear.

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3. Now we need to change the text to “Hello World.” To do so, click in the text box

located in the bottom left corner (highlighted in yellow below; #1). Delete the

word, “TEXT” and input “HELLO WORLD.” Then, click the Apply button (shown

as #2). Note: This step is important since no changes will be made until you click

on this button. This “applies” to every changes in this software.

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4. If done properly, your screen should look like this…

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5. We'll introduce you to modify the sizing of your text (this applies to any items).

a. You can find the actual default dimensions highlighted within the red box

(#1). See below.

b. The X is the width of the image and Y is the height of the image.

c. Please resize your text/image to your piece/material size

d. The icon indicates that when you modify the X value, the Y value

will be adjust proportionally and vice versa. On the other hand, the

icon will allow you to modify each the X and Y value independently (this might cause distortion with your file).

Note: Make sure you have the file selected prior to modifying. If the file isn’t selected,

the area to change the size will be grayed out.

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Here’s a close up view of the highlighted red box.

Note: It is VERY important after any changes made, that you click Apply to save

changes to your file/object/image.

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6. We are now going to introduce you to Origin. For every file, you want your

drawing to be in the center of your working area and there is a button

for your convenience. It looks like this . See below for the actual location

of the icon (#2). Note: This icon is not always on your working area. ONLY when

an object/image and Pick Tool icon (#1) is selected.

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7. The result of doing this correctly is shown below:

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8. We will now introduce you to Hatching. Hatching is simply a tool for you to fill a

closed, vectored area. This enables you to engrave/mark the inside of the

outlined shape. The hatching is set by you and YOU only. You can decide what

hatch angle, type, and spacing to achieve different effects. Here’s what the

Hatch icon looks like . See below for actual location (#1).

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9. Once you click on the Hatch icon, this window will appear and we will explain

what each function does.

1. Mark Contour. The hatch and the outline of your object(s) are two separate entities.

Mark contour is the outline of your object. It is commonly NOT used for most projects.

For most projects/jobs, Mark Contour is, for the most part, unchecked.

If you were using Mark Contour, this icon would indicate that the hatch

would be processed first and the outline after. On the other hand, if you wanted to

process the outline before and the hatch after, you would have to click on the icon to

make it look like this .

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2. Number of Hatches (Up to 3). You can add up to three different hatch patterns,

angles, and line spaces for different results.

3. Hatch Type.

Note: The line displayed in blue are when the laser is firing. The line displayed in red

are travel distances without the laser firing.

This is an infinite, bi•directional hatch. This means that the laser never stops

firing. This hatch is considered one long line; making this hatch the fastest of all

hatces.

This hatch is very similar to the one mentioned above, BUT the laser is

firing intermediately.

This is a unidirectional hatch. This is great for materials that does not require heat or for higher quality products.

This is a bi•directional hatch that is consider as multiple parallel lines.

This is an offset•pattern type hatch. It is basically an increment offset of the

outline.

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4. All calc. If Checked = Marks entire object as a whole. If unchecked = Marks object

as each individual piece separately.

5. Hatch Angle. Set the angle at which the hatch type is going to follow. For instance, 0 degree hatch would be a horizontal hatch and a 90 degree hatch would be a vertical hatch.

6. Line Spacing. The distance between the hatch lines.

Average distribute line’s parameters are located within the last red rectangle. This is

what we consider “advance hatching” and will be discussed on the full version of the

software manual.

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Now that you understand the terminology of what a hatch consists of, we will now

go through on setting up the hatch for our “Hello World” test file.

Mark Contour: Unchecked

Enable one Hatch only.

All calc: Checked

Hatch Type:

Hatch Angle: 0 degrees

Line Spacing: 0.04 MM

The hatch window’s properties should look like this with those parameters:

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If done properly, your actual working area should look like this:

Interesting Fact: To double check if your hatch pattern is correct to your parameters,

you can simply zoom•in very closely to one area of the file and visually see the lines that

make up the hatch pattern you’ve selected (See below).

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Step 7. Assign your “Power Settings.”

We’ll introduce you to the power settings interface. Here you’ll be able to understand

what each parameter affects your file (below you will see the power settings window).

First, you’ll need to uncheck the “Use default param.”

Checked Unchecked

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By looking at the picture below, we’ll explain what each parameter field (#1 ­ #5) is for…

The terminology for “pen” is basically “layers.”

You can assign different objects to different

layers, therefore, you’ll be able to assign

different power settings per layer. Note: Make

sure your current pen number is the actual

pen you are trying to modify the power

settings for.

1. Loop Count. This is set to 1 by default and it will for most applications stay that way. This is designed for you to repeat the layer color multiple times.

2. Speed. The velocity is in mm/s. Your machine is capable of speeds ranging from 50

• 5000 mm/s. This will determine the speed

processing of your file.

3. Power. This is the fiber laser’s power in percentage. This ranges from 10 - 100%.

4. Frequency. The speed at which your laser can pulse. The laser can pulse from 20 - 80 KHz. This means that the laser, if set at 20 KHz, will pulse 20,000 times in one second. This in the “laser world” is very slow pulsing, therefore lots of energy is being produced. If

you set your laser frequency to 80 KHz, it will pulse 80,000 times for one second. This

becomes “fast pulsing.” Therefore, the laser is not able to generate as much power as if

it was pulsing slower. Since you are modifying the number of times the laser pulses, this

will also change the number of impacts while you are engraving on your material. This

changes the shade of the engraving (Bottomline: 20 KHz = powerful & darken

colorization, 80 KHz = weak & light colorization).

5. Advanced Laser Delay Settings. These settings have been set by us at BOSSLASER. Please do NOT modify these parameters as it can lead to poor job quality.

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Step 8. Positioning the file onto the piece of material.

1. Position the file onto your piece of material is very easy. All you have to do is press

the button.

This is located at the bottom of the screen of the software.

This will display without firing the laser, either a box showing the boundaries/size of your

file if “Show Contour” is unchecked or it will display the actual outline

of your file if “Show Contour” is checked .

Unchecked Checked

Once you are happy with the position of your file on your material, you are ready to

“Mark,” BUT before that, very importantly never press “Mark” without

wearing your fiber laser safety glasses!

Once you have your fiber laser safety glasses on, you are ready to press .

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If ALL the steps were done properly up to this point, you should be left with this finished

engraving/marking…

Congratulations! You have successfully performed your first file!

Note: If you have purchased a Chuck Rotary with your FM machine and wanting

to know on how to use it, skip the “How to Properly Turn Off Your Machine” section and continue on throughout the manual.

How to Properly Turn Off Your Machine

1. Put back the Lens Cap onto the Lens.

2. Shut down PC (Note: Wait for the PC to fully shut down)

3. Turn off the Laser On/Off button

4. Turn off the Scan Head button

5. Press down the Emergency Switch

6. Flip down the Circuit Breaker

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Precision Worktable Operation

In some cases, you will need to adjust the worktable. We will now show you how to properly use this table. Your worktable only has two moving axes (X & Y).

When using the Chuck Rotary, you will need to use the worktable’s operation to properly align the workpiece.

1 – X-Axis Locking Knob

2 – X-Axis Knob

3 – X-Axis Brake

4 – Y-Axis Locking Knob

5 – Y-Axis Knob

6 – Y-Axis Brake

To move the worktable on the Y-Axis, first make sure that the Y-Axis BRAKE has been loosen #6 (if you try to move the worktable with the BRAKE still applied, you may damage your worktable). Loosen the Y-Axis Locking Knob #4, then rotate the Y- Axis Knob #5 clockwise to move the worktable towards the back of the machine and counterclockwise to move the worktable towards the front of the machine when the worktable is at the desired position, please apply the Y-Axis Brake #6 and Y-Axis Locking Knob #4.

To move the worktable on the X-Axis, first make sure that the X-Axis BRAKE has been loosen #3 (if you try to move the worktable with the BRAKE still applied, you may damage your worktable). Loosen the X-Axis Locking Knob #1, then rotate the X- Axis Knob #2 clockwise to move the worktable towards the right of the machine and counterclockwise to move the worktable towards the left of the machine when the worktable is at the desired position, please apply the X-Axis Brake #3 and X-Axis Locking Knob #1.

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Chuck Rotary

If you have purchased a Chuck Rotary, you might have gotten one of these two options shown below:

Once you have one of these chuck rotaries, place it on the worktable (for now) and locate the 4-pin connector at the end of the power cord (it should look like the picture illustrated below):

Now locate the Rotary Attachment outlet at the back of the machine (above the General Power outlet)

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To properly connect it, line up the outlet with the attachment using the 4 pins. The picture below shows where/how it should be connected.

Next, we will need to secure the chuck rotary to the precision worktable. To do so, you’ll need to figure out on which axis you will use your rotary system. We will help you to decide on which axis will work better for you in a few words…

The orientation of the rotary axis is always determined by the item you are processing. For example, if you’re going to be processing mostly small items such as rings, shafts, sockets, etc. It would be better for you to install the chuck rotary on the X-axis (as shown on the next page).

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If you are going to be processing mostly larger/longer items such as bottles, tubes, cups, etc. It would be better for you to install the chuck rotary on the Y- axis (as shown on the next page).

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Now you should know which axis to mount your rotary on depending on your application.

For the example, we will be marking on a nozzle. Therefore, we will mount our rotary on the X-axis (if you need to use the Y-axis because you will be engraving on something larger, there are only few differences which will be noted later on).

To properly mount the chuck rotary, use the M6 allen screws (provided by BossLaser) as shown as the picture above. Note: You can use different holes than picture shows. They are all equal distance from each other.

There are two plugins that you can use for your chuck rotary. They are located

under Laser.

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(Introduction) Differences in RotaryMark & RingTextMark

Note: Some of the terminology below will be explained in more detail in each respective walkthrough. The differences discussed below are made to help you determine which plugin you should learn first.

RotaryMark can be used for about any application (Note: Only vector files & text can be processed using the rotary. Bitmaps, however, are NOT supported). RotaryMark works as described below. The vector file or text is separated/cut-out in multiple lines (split lines). Therefore, the rotary will incrementally move by the determined split line size. That is great for all applications, it however, restricts you to only using one hatch at a time (not against the rotary axis). RotaryMark CAN be used with both the X & Y-axis setup.

RingTextMark is usually used when marking text or small vector files that needs to be positioned accurately on the workpiece (Note: Only vector files & text can be processed using the rotary. Bitmaps, however, are NOT supported). RingTextMark is only for small items or letters which will be marked individually. The rotary will rotate then engrave/mark the small item or letter while the rotary is not moving. Then the rotary will rotate to the next small item or letter and mark it. The fact that the rotary isn’t moving while the engraving is happening makes it work more like you are not using the rotary. Therefore, you are able to use more than one hatch at a time (up to three hatches). RingTextMark can NOT be used with the Y-axis setup; Only the X-axis.

*It is recommended to learn both of these plugins so you will know whichwill best fit your application. It is also recommended to read this manual inthe order in which it was written.

RotaryMark

We will start on how RotaryMark works, but first, we would want to make sure that the file is good, the hatch is set properly, and the Power/Speed/Frequency settings are acceptable.

For the example, we will be writing “Boss Laser” with the text tool, then set our hatch. The only thing to know about hatches when using the rotary is that you do NOT want your hatch pattern go to against the rotary axis or use multiple hatches.

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Example 1: If you are using the rotary on the X-axis, your hatch pattern angle should be 90o.

Example 2: If you are using the rotary on the Y-axis, your hatch pattern angle should be 0o.

Example 1 Example 2

Speed, Power, and Frequency parameters should be set PRIOR to opening the RotaryMark Plugin (Laser > RotaryMark).

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These are the settings we have used for the example. Note: You may need different settings depending on the item you are trying to engrave.

We are now ready to open the plugin. As we mentioned earlier, we will start with RotaryMark. The window should look like this (as shown below):

We will now explain all the function in within this window

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On the top left part of the window you can see the “Part, Time part, Total num, time total section” (As shown below)

Part – This value indicates how many times the engraving/marking has been completed. This value/box is grayed out because it can NOT be edited/changed, however, you can click the R button to reset the engraving/marking count.

Time part – Time elapsed of the given engraving/marking

Total num – The amount of time that the engraving/marking will repeat itself. In other words, if the value is 0, the engraving/marking will be performed once. On the other hand, if the value is 5, the engraving/marking will be repeated over five times.

Time Total – The total engraving/marking time including “Total num” repetitions

To the upper-center part of the window, you’ll find a coordinate reading of the rotary axis.

If you have setup the rotary to work with the X-axis, it will look like the picture on the left. If you have chosen the Y-axis, it will look like the picture on the right.

This reading is for reference only and is most of the time not used.

Under this coordinate reading you will find this check box Invert (as shown below)

If your engraving/marking looks inverted on the work piece, checking this box will make it look normal or vice versa.

Axis Step is the desired jog distance in millimeters

You can in this drop down window select the distance in millimeters that you would like to jog your rotary axis this is usually used for proper placement on the work piece

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To manually jog your rotary on the X-axis, hold CTRL + left or right arrow.

To manually jog your rotary on the Y-axis, hold CTRL + up or down arrow.

Split Size is the distance, in millimeter (mm), in which the rotary will incrementally move.

For example, if the value 0.04, the rotary will rotate 0.04 mm every 0.04 mm. If the value is 2, the rotary will rotate 2 mm every 2 mm.

Part Diameter is the actual size of the item that you are trying to engrave/mark.

Note: You will need to measure the part you are trying to engrave/mark.

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Note: Using a caliper is recommended for precision measurements as it could distort or stretch your engraving/marking on your item if this measurement is not accurate.

To change this value, you will need to click on Part Diameter (a window should appear, as shown below) and enter the value and click OK.

Focus Length is the distance, in millimeter (mm), from the lens to the item’s surface that you are wanting to engrave/mark. Note: When using the chuck rotary, it is highly recommended that you use the shortest lens that we provide (f = 160 mm; this equals a marking area of 110 mm or 4.3 inches)

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The default value should be 160 mm. If this isn’t the case, click on Focus Length button (a window will appear as shown below), enter the correct value and click OK.

Continuous - If checked, your file/engraving will repeat itself continuously until you manually stop it (by pressing the ESC key or clicking the STOP button).

Mark Selected - If checked, only the item selected in the work area will be processed.

Refresh - This will update the work space size

This function will change the size of the work space according to the part diameter, it is commonly used for accurate software placement on the work piece, the height will always be 10 millimeters (you can engrave more than 10mm on the height this is just a default work space representation) and the width will be the calculated part circumference.

For example, if the part diameter is 28.30 millimeter, the work space width will be 28.30 x π = 88.862 millimeter. This allows you to know how much room you have to work with for your engraving/marking or to place it accurately.

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Note: When you are done using the rotary you will need to change the work space back to normal in File > system parameter > workspace (see how to do this step by step at the end of the rotary tutorial).

Mark by split line - If checked, this rotary will move according to the split line drawn not by the split size value.

Note: If mark by split line is checked and that you have NOT drawn any split lines, the rotary might act unexpectedly.

Draw split lines - To draw a split line, place the cursor where you would like to create it in the work space, then double click, a red line will appear (as shown below)

Note: For this example, our rotary is mounted on the X-axis. Therefore, our split lines are vertical. On the other hand, if you were to mount it on the Y-axis, your split lines are horizontal.

You can create as many split line as you would like, certain split line setup might make the rotary act unexpectedly (it is recommended to keep the split lines setup as simple as possible).

You can move the split line after it’s created by clicking and holding the left mouse button and drag it to the desired position.

To remove or delete a split line hover over the desired split line and click on it with the right mouse button.

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Light & Mark - Perform the same function as when you are not using the rotary (look back at Page 23 if needed)

Note: When using the RotaryMark plugin, the red dot preview will only show the first split line (as show below)

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Param (F3) - This will open the rotary parameter window (as shown below)

Click to open Parameter Window

The machines come with preset parameter, it is HIGHLY recommended not to change these values, the ONLY value that you will need to modify in here is the ID

If you have installed your rotary on the X axis the ID needs to be set for X

If you have installed your rotary on the Y axis the ID needs to be set for Y

To change it, simply click on the arrow to open the drop down window then select the desired axis. Do make sure that the Enable box is checked.

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Here are the three tabs available in the Parameter Window.

External Axis 1 is the only one we will be using.

External Axis 2 is not applicable for your machine’s configuration. Make sure that External Axis 2 is NOT enable (unchecked).

HardInfo reflects your controller’s type, version, and serial number.

You now know every function of the RotaryMark plugin and you are ready to engrave/mark your piece. To do so, make sure that you are correctly focused to the material, click on light or press F1, then use the red light preview to place it on your material. At this point wearing your fiber laser safety glasses is MANDATORY, click STOP or Esc then click on Mark or F2. Your file will begin to engrave/mark.

Important! – The sequence to engrave/mark is very important. You HAVE to

click Light or press F1 even if you don’t need to. Then press ESC or click STOP (make sure the rotary stops moving before continuing onwards). Finally, you have to click Mark or press F2.

NOTE: The shutting off procedure sequence is VERY IMPORTANT and basically the same procedure when starting up your FM, but in reverse. Refer to page 24 for Shut Down procedures.

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RingTextMark

We will now explain how the RingTextMark plugin works. Highlight Laser then click RingTextMark (as shown below). Remember that this plugin can ONLY be used

when your rotary is mounted on the X-Axis position.

Before continuing forward, we would want to make sure that the file is good, the hatch is set properly, and the Power/Speed/Frequency settings are acceptable.

For this example, we will be writing “Boss Laser” (on the inside of a ring) with the text tool, then set our hatch. Since we will be using RingTextMark for this exercise, you CAN apply up to three hatches (unlike RotaryMark where you can ONLY have one hatch). The reason for this is because RingTextMark works differently than RotaryMark.

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RingTextMark is only for small items or letters which will be marked individually. The rotary will rotate then engrave/mark the small item or letter while the rotary is not moving. Then the rotary will rotate to the next small item or letter and mark it. The fact that the rotary isn’t moving while the engraving is happening makes it work more like you are not using the rotary. Therefore, you are able to use more than one hatch at a time (up to three hatches).

Now that we have the settings set correctly, we will use the same file that we have used for RotaryMark, we will just go onto modifying our hatch ever so slightly. For the example, we will add a second hatch going against our rotary axis.

Select your image/text, for this case, BossLaser.

Then click on the Hatch icon located at the top . The hatch window should pop up and from here, we will add second hatch. Just for a reminder, your first hatch should look like this (as shown on the next page):

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We will now enable Hatch #2 (as shown below):

The mouse cursor shows where you should click to enable the second hatch. The second you do that; it will show you the status of Hatch #2 (as shown on the next page):

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As you can see, this hatch is not enable yet, that is why everything else is grayed out. All you have to do is click on the white box to enable the second hatch (as shown below):

Please make sure that the angle is set at 0 (shown by the mouse cursor). Then click OK.

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The image should look like this with the two hatches (as shown below):

You can distinctively see the two hatches. One vertical (90o) and one horizontal (0o).

Here is a “zoomed-in” version shown below for you to see more in-depth:

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Now that your hatch looks like this, you are ready to open up the RingTextMark plugin. A window will pop up and it should look like the one appeared below:

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We will now explain all the functions within the RingTextMark window.

On the top left part of the window you can see the “Part, Time part, Total num, time total section” (As shown below)

Part – This value indicates how many times the engraving/marking has been completed. This value/box is grayed out because it can NOT be edited/changed, however, you can click the R button to reset the engraving/marking count.

Time part – Time elapsed of the given engraving/marking

Total num – The amount of time that the engraving/marking will repeat itself. In other words, if the value is 0, the engraving/marking will be performed once. On the other hand, if the value is 5, the engraving/marking will be repeated over five times.

Time Total – The total engraving/marking time including “Total num” repetitions

Mark Selected - If checked, only the item selected in the work area will be processed

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To the upper-center part of the window, you’ll find a coordinate reading of the rotary axis.(Z isn’t used in your machine configuration)

Axis Step is the desired jog distance in millimeters

You can in this drop down window select the distance in millimeters that you would like to jog your rotary axis this is usually used for proper placement on the work piece

To manually jog your rotary on the X-axis, hold CTRL + left or right arrow OR click on the Axis step arrow keys within the RingTextMark window (shown above).

Ring Diameter is the actual size of the item that you are trying to engrave/mark.

Note: You will need to measure the part you are trying to engrave/mark.

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Note: Using a caliper is recommended for precision measurements as it could distort or stretch your engraving/marking on your item if this measurement is not accurate.

To change this value, you will need to click on Part Diameter (a window should appear, as shown below) and enter the value and click OK.

Refresh - This will update the work space size

This function will change the size of the work space according to the part diameter, it is commonly used for accurate software placement on the work piece, the height can be modified in Ring Height

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To change the Ring Height value, click on the Ring Height button. The Height window will pop up (as shown below):

Input the desired height (in this example, it will be 5 millimeters).

The width will be the calculated part circumference.

For example, if the part diameter is 20.00 millimeter, the work space width will be 20.00 x π = 62.8 millimeter. This allows you to know how much room you have to work with for your engraving/marking or to place it accurately.

Note: When you are done using the rotary you will need to change the work space back to normal in File > system parameter > workspace (“Change the Work Space Back to Normal” section provides on how to do this, step-by-step, located at the end of this tutorial).

Ring Inside is self-explanatory. This will need to be checked if you are wanting to engrave/mark of the inside of the ring and vice versa.

L is the length from the pivot of the rotary to the end of your workpiece.

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To set the length, click on L and a window should pop up (as shown below):

Note: Only use L when you are engraving/marking on the inside of the ring.

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Angle is the degree at which the workpiece is set at (as illustrated below):

To set the angle, click on Angle and a window should pop up (as shown below):

Note: Only use Angle when you are engraving/marking on the inside of the ring (as you need an incoming angle so you can engrave/mark inside the ring).

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Distortion Compensation in some cases when engraving the inside of a ring with an incoming angle (Angle) and a certain pivot length (L) the text can appear slightly distorted the

Note: It is recommended to change these value in increments of 0.02

To change these value simply click on one of the distortion symbols then a window will popup (as shown below):

*The maximum distortion coefficient is 0.2 and the minimum distortion coefficient is -0.2

Z Origin. This function isn’t used with your machine’s configuration

Light(F1) – Light function is a little bit more elaborated in the RingTextMark when you click on light now a new window will popup (as shown on the next page):

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This will enable you to show each and every individual letter one at the time.

For this example, we are writing Bosslaser. It has nine letters. B will be letter index 0, O will be letter index 1, S will be letter index 2, etc. Until the letter R will be

letter index 8 (as shown below):

You can jog from letter to letter using Prev (Previous) and Next. You will see as you are clicking on either one of these buttons, the rotary will jog to the location and show where the next letter will be engrave/mark.

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As shown in the picture above, this is letter index #2.

Mark - Perform the same function as when you are not using the rotary (look back at Page 23 if needed)

Param (F3) - This will open the rotary parameter window (as shown below)

Click to open Parameter Window

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The machines come with preset parameter, it is HIGHLY recommended not to change these values, the ONLY value that you will need to modify in here is the ID

If you have installed your rotary on the X axis the ID needs to be set for X

If the ID is set on Y, it NEEDS to be changed to X. To change it, simply click on the arrow to open the drop down window then select X. Do make sure that the Enable box is checked.

Here are the three tabs available in the Parameter Window.

External Axis 1 is the only one we will be using.

External Axis 2 is not applicable for your machine’s configuration. Make sure that External Axis 2 is NOT enable (unchecked).

HardInfo reflects your controller’s type, version, and serial number.

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You now know every function of the RingTextMark plugin and you are ready to engrave/mark your piece. To do so, make sure that you are correctly focused to the material, click on light or press F1, then use the red light preview to place it on your material. Make sure to press Next to preview all the letters that constitute your image/file to ensure a proper placement. At this point wearing your fiber laser safety glasses is MANDATORY, click CANCEL or Esc then click on Mark or F2. Your file will begin to engrave/mark.

Important! – The sequence to engrave/mark is very important. You HAVE to

click Light or press F1 even if you don’t need to. Then press ESC or click CANCEL (make sure the rotary stops moving before continuing onwards). Finally, you have to click Mark or press F2.

NOTE: The shutting off procedure sequence is VERY IMPORTANT and basically the same procedure when starting up your FM, but in reverse (refer to page 24).

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Change the Work Space Back to Normal

When you are done using a rotary, you will need to revert your work space settings back to normal.

To do so, click on File > System parameter > WorkSpace. This window should appear (shown below) if this is done correctly:

File

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System parameter > WorkSpace

If you are using a 160 millimeter lens (f=163 mm), your workspace should look like this (as shown below):

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If you are wanting to use any other lens, please look at your backup settings that you have received with your machine.

NOTE: The shutting off procedure sequence is VERY IMPORTANT and basically

the same procedure when starting up your FM, but in reverse.

How to Properly Turn Off Your Machine

1. Put back the Lens Cap onto the Lens.

2. Shut down PC (Note: Wait for the PC to fully shut down)

3. Turn off the Laser On/Off button

4. Turn off the Scan Head button

5. Press down the Emergency Switch

6. Flip down the Circuit Breaker

Thank you for choosing BOSSLASER!

We appreciate your business!

Revised: 4/17/2018