Professional Engraving Systems

Setting Plate Size Using the Pendant (Rotary Engraver Feature) - by Jimmy DuBose

Have you ever had a hard time getting your job to engrave in the right location, perhaps you have to engrave an area that does not align against your material guides?

Do your production employees find it complicated to measure engraving areas and find engraving origins?

If you answer yes to these questions, you need to start using “Do New and Set Plate Size from Pendant.”

This new feature makes engraving odd shaped pieces a snap. Simply clamp the item to be engraved on your rotary table, and use your Viper pendant to find the size of the engraving area.

Make sure that your rotary electronics are turned on. Go to the File menu and select * “Do New and Set Plate Size from Pendant.” You will see the dialog below.

This dialog will be your interface with your table electronics.

There are currently two sizing methods available for this feature. The Fill option requires that four points be set on the boundaries of the rectangular engraving area. The more popular Corners option requires that only two points be set. The points must be set in two opposite corners according to the diagram in the dialog.

After Clicking on , an hour glass will appear, and the operator will be stepped through the sizing process.
Jog the engraving head out to the first point on the boundary of your engraving area, and select Report Position on the Viper Pendant. In the Report Position section of the pendant, press the Report Positon button or the Check Box. Your monitor will prompt you to find the next point which in this case is the opposite corner.

After setting your final point on the boundary, the XGW software will ask you if the size of the plate is acceptable. If you select no, you will need to go through the sizing process again. If you select yes, your plate size will be displayed on the screen.

The engraving head on your system will still be located over the last point. It can stay out over the last point, or you can send it home. The job will still engrave in the correct location regardless of the current head location.

Next, create the desired layout and send it to your engraver.

Notice that your X and Y offsets have been updated. The new offsets reflect the location of your first point. This location will always be the upper-left corner of your engraving area. Make sure that Origin is set to X Left, Y Top.

These offsets can be saved with your job, and the job can be used as a template at a later date. All that is needed for the next job to engrave in the correct location is for the item to be mounted in the same position on the table. Customers will speed up their production with the use of templates by eliminating several steps in the layout process, not to mention creating a consistency in their engraved product line.

Finally, this feature eliminates the time consuming manual steps of finding the origin and engraving location on an item. The accuracy of all plate measurements and/or origin locations is definitely increased with this sizing feature. Using “Do New and Set Plate Size Using Pendant” should also make the training of new or inexperienced engravers much easier.

*This feature is also available with microstepper electronics. Jog controls and location reporting work as they do with the "Table Strokes and Homes" (F10) function in the software. For more information on these microsostepper controls, consult the XGW help files in your software.