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Lesson Category: Fusion Pro

Removing the Pedestal

Prepare the Machine

Position the machine in an open space with enough clearance behind it to accommodate the machine once it has been positioned on its back.

With the caster feet in the up position, roll the machine backwards so the caster wheels face the front of the machine and the rubber feet are positioned toward the rear of the machine.

Then lower the feet.

This positioning will ensure the feet act as pivot points when the machine is tipped over.

If any exhaust ports are attached to the back of the machine, be sure to remove them.

The back of the Fusion Pro should be a flat surface with no major protrusions before proceeding.

Push the x-axis assembly to the back of the machine.

Remove any engraving or vector tables from the machine.

Place foam padding on the floor behind the machine, ensuring it covers enough space to accommodate the machine once it is positioned on its back.

Secure Ratchet Strap

Next we’ll attach a ratchet strap to keep the machine’s top door in place.

Use an Allen key to remove the machine’s left and right side panels, then set them aside.

Place more foam padding on top of and over the sides of the machine to protect the machine from the ratchet strap.

Hook one end of your ratchet strap to the cross beam supporting the front end of the left-side y-axis assembly, using additional padding, such as a washcloth, to protect the cross beam from scratches.

Hook the other end of your ratchet strap to the cross beam supporting the front end of the right-side y-axis assembly.

Tighten the ratchet strap.

Tilt the Machine

Use caution when tilting or lifting the Fusion Pro.

The Fusion Pro 48 weighs around 650 lbs (295 kg).

With at least 4 people, tilt the machine backwards using the caster rubber feet as a pivot point.

Tilt the machine all the way up and over until it is on positioned on its back and is resting on the foam padding.

Remove the Pedestal

Using an Allen key, remove the long screws around the perimeter of the underside of the pedestal.

With two people, lift the pedestal up, then out of the keyhole hanger slots.

Set the pedestal aside.

The Fusion Pro is now ready to be moved to its final location.

Install the Pedestal

Once the machine is on its back in its final location, lift the pedestal back into the keyhole slots, then secure it using an Allen key and the long screws.

Use strips of tape to orient the caster wheels so that the wheels are pointing upward, and the rubber feet are positioned down toward the back of the machine.

This positioning will ensure the feet act as pivot points when the machine is tipped back over.

Right the Machine

With at least 4 people, tilt the machine forward using the caster rubber feet as a pivot point, until the machine is in its original upright orientation.

Restore the Machine

Raise the rubber caster feet and remove the tape from the wheels.

Release and remove the ratchet strap, then remove the padding.

Use an Allen key to reinstall the left and right side panels.

Finally, reinstall any engraving or vector tables, as well as any exhaust ports on the rear of the machine.

Once complete, be sure to check your laser’s alignment and if necessary, perform the laser alignment procedure.

Image Resolution and How it Affects Engraving

How do you know which DPI setting is right for your project?

Print quality is often determined by the resolution of an image, and is one of the main variables to consider when laser engraving. Resolution is expressed in DPI or dots per inch and is determined by the number of lines or dots that are engraved for every inch of movement. Each horizontal line of dots the laser produces is referred to as a raster line. A higher resolution selected in the print driver will make the dots engrave closer together, and will produce a higher quality result.

Although resolution does play a big part in engraving quality, keep in mind that engraving resolution is only one factor in determining image quality. The focus, brightness, and contrast elements of an image can have greater influence on the look of the final engraving than resolution alone. If low-quality artwork is used, even the highest resolution setting in the print driver will not improve the engraving. Also, keep in mind that image quality is subjective. Engraving a project at 300 DPI may be just fine for some images and customers, while 600 DPI is required as the absolute minimum for others.

These 3 examples exhibit qualities that will not produce the best engraving results.

The first example is a photograph taken at an event where the overall light is too bright and includes a very hazy look.

The second example is a low resolution logo provided as a 72 DPI image, rather than as vector artwork or in a vector format. 72 DPI is too low a resolution for a logo engraving project. It’s best to receive logo artwork as a vector image when possible.

And the third example is of a photograph that is very dark and includes very little contrast. These three photos illustrate some of the image issues that cannot be fixed with resolution settings alone at the laser.

Now we’ll discuss a bit more about how DPI works at the laser. This diagram shows the concept of raster lines and dots-per-inch (DPI), and the difference in dot density between 75, 300, and 600 DPI. Each dot represent a laser pulse, and the arrows represent the change in direction of the optics assembly for each raster line. Note how sparse the dots are at 75 DPI, and how the dots are very close and overlapping at 600 DPI.

How Resolution Affects a Job’s Completion Time

Generally, the time it takes to complete an engraving job is significantly affected by resolution. The higher the resolution, the more time it will take to complete an engraving job. While a higher resolution setting does increase the time it takes to complete an engraving, it allows you to achieve greater depth in materials like wood and rubber without having to reduce the speed of the laser. High resolution is also ideal for highly detailed wood engraving, such as the Epilog Aztec Calendar, and rubber stamps, which typically include small typefaces, intricate details, and more depth in the recessed areas.

There will be times when your customer requests a large number of pieces, and it will be important to minimize the time spent completing the job, without sacrificing quality. Optimizing a projects DPI by selecting a lower resolution will help reduce engraving time and increase profits.

These tiger photo engravings on anodized aluminum show the quality difference at 300, 400, and 600 DPI. Out of these examples, you can see the 600 DPI engraving produced a high-quality engraving and took 2 min and 44 secs to complete. But, the 400 DPI result is nearly just as good, and only took 1:49 seconds to complete.

As an example, if a customer ordered 100 of these tiger cards, then completing the 100 cards at 600 DPI would take around 4 hrs and 35 minutes to be completed, but engraving the project at 400 DPI would allow you to complete the project in just over 3 hours.

Combining DPI and Dithering Pattern for More Time Savings

There are other techniques to save you time without sacrificing engraving quality. Your Epilog Laser machine includes dithering pattern options, which eliminate the perceivable dot pattern you see when engraving at lower resolutions with the Standard dithering option.

In this example, note the dot pattern in the engraving on the left and the absence of the perceivable dot pattern in the example on the right. Each of these engravings were produced using 300 DPI, and the time to complete them was the same, but the one on the left was engraved using the Standard dithering pattern, while the engraving of the right was completed with the Stucki Dithering pattern.

Utilizing Epilog’s Stucki Dithering setting and engraving at 300 DPI produces a high-quality result similar to the 600 DPI, and also provides a large time saving advantage.

Applying this combination of settings to the previous project example of engraving 100 tiger cards, the engraving project would take only 2 hours and 17 minutes to complete, further increasing the time savings and profitability of this project.

As a final example and to further illustrate how DPI effects engraving, we’ve used a 50-watt Helix to engrave a grayscale clip art image, with settings of 45 percent speed and 100 percent power. The only thing that changed between each engraving is the resolution.

When it comes to settings and the final results of a project it can come down to a matter of personal preference as to which resolution looks better, but these photos show the dramatic difference resolution can make, especially when engraving grayscale images.

Matching Resolution Settings to Your Material

We recommend consulting your manual or the included material settings installed with your machine driver and the Epilog Job Manager.

75-200 DPI

Resolution settings in this range are typically used for non-production purposes where you want to experiment with image engraving location, or if you want to quickly produce a rough draft engraving. A low resolution can also be useful when engraving products that don’t require much material to be removed during engraving, such as fabric.

300 DPI

300 DPI is a versatile sweet spot for laser engraving. This setting is useful when engraving materials such as wood, glass, marble, plastic and other items that don’t benefit from the engraved dots being close together.

400 DPI

This resolution value is ideal for many applications. It combines very good image quality with fast engraving times. Many users like 400 DPI for all of their work.

600 DPI

600 DPI provides fine detail, depth, or is useful when high-end results are required.

1200 DPI

1200 DPI resolution is used for projects that require the best engraving quality possible, when engraving extremely small fonts, or when depth of engraving is the goal.

Things to Remember

  • When it comes to settings and the look of the final result, personal preference is something to consider, but also try to minimize the time it takes to complete a project when possible.
  • When experimenting with new products and materials, make sure to have extras on hand for dialing in the best settings and results.
  • Be sure to consult your manual as a starting point for materials settings, and also utilize the epiloglaser.com website as a resource for additional product ideas and materials settings. We provide Sample Club articles monthly, and you can sign up to receive them at www.epiloglaser.com/resources/enews-signup.htm.

Control Panel Tour

The control panel consists of a 7 inch LCD display, a joystick, and a Go/Stop button for starting and stopping your jobs at the machine.

Once you’ve powered on the machine, you will notice several icons on the display. At the top of the screen you will see button icons for the Job Menu Icon, Delete and Settings. At the bottom of the screen you will see button icons for Reset, Focus, Red Dot Pointer, Jog, and Trace.

Job Menu

We will go into more detail about each icon later in this video, but for now let’s start with the Job Menu, which is the first menu you will see every time you power on your machine.
The Job Menu is where you will find a list of jobs you have sent to the machine. The job name displayed is the same as the file name that you printed to the laser from the Software Suite. When the job you want to run has been selected, it will be highlighted in blue.

If you wish to delete a job from the list, select the job and press the “Delete” icon at the top of the screen.

The Job Menu also allows you to edit each job’s settings before running the job. Long press on a job you want to edit, and then tap on the process you want to edit. Input the settings you want to change and press ok. Remember to save the new settings by pressing the save icon.

The Job Menu also has a status indicator in the bottom left corner of the screen, which displays the current status of the machine.
The Status indicator displays the following:

  • A “Homing” status indicates the machine is still powering on, and none of the functions will be available until powering on is complete.
  • An “Idle” status indicates that the machine is currently inactive and ready to run a job.
  • A “Running” status indicates that a job is currently in progress.
  • A “Parking” status indicates that the laser assembly is returning to the Home position.
  • A “Jogging” status indicates that Jog mode is active and the joystick can be used to move the laser head to a specific location over the engraving area.

Go/Stop Button

Pressing the Go/Stop Button while a job is selected will begin running the job. Pressing the Go/Stop button during a running job will stop the lens carriage and the laser beam will shut off.

If the Go/Stop button is pressed during an engraving, the lens carriage will pause on either the far left or far right of the engraving line that is in process.

If the Go/Stop button is pressed during a cutting process, the lens carriage will stop at the end of a line segment or at the location of the next line node.

Once the lens carriage has stopped, you can open the top door to examine the job. By closing the door and pressing the Go/Stop button again, the job will commence where it left off.
The ring around the Go/Stop button will change certain colors depending on the machine’s status.

• White indicates the machine is booting up.

• Purple indicates the machine is waiting for the touch screen configuration to load.

• Multi-colored indicates the machine is Homing.

• Alternating Light Blue to Green indicates the machine is Idle and ready to run a job.

• Green indicates the machine is actively running or tracing a job.

• Red indicates a drive has failed. Contact technical support for assistance if you see this color.

Main Buttons

Now let’s look at the buttons at the bottom of the control panel display.
The first button is the “Reset” button. Pressing the Reset button will move the lens carriage back to its home position after it has been moved across the table.

The second button is the “Focus” button, which will take you to the Focus Menu. The Focus Menu allows you to manually set the table to the correct height for engraving while using the Manual Focus Gauge. With the Focus button highlighted, the height of the table is adjustable by either using the Joystick, the nudge arrows, or entering a precise height on the screen. As the table height is adjusted, the display will show a digital readout of the table height.

The third button is the “Red Dot Pointer” button which turns the Red Dot Pointer on and off at the lens carriage. The Red Dot Pointer is a visible laser beam that runs in the same line as the invisible CO2 or fiber laser beam. It is useful for showing the location of the laser head when using Jog or Focus mode.

The next button is the “Jog” button which takes you to the Jog Menu screen. The Jog Menu allows you to control the X and Y axis positions of the laser head. You may change the current position of the laser head by either using the joystick, nudge arrows, or entering precise coordinates on the screen.

Settings Menu

Now let’s take a look at the Settings Menu, which can be accessed by pressing the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen. The settings menu consists of eight sub-menus.

• The Home button allows you to set an offset to the current Home Position of the laser head.

• The Tutorial button provides a step by step process when you set up your laser for the first time, including a demo job to test once the machine is set up.

• The Focus button takes you to a screen with options to calibrate the table, calibrate the CO2 or fiber laser focus, or the focus plunger.

• The Laser button allows you to fine-tune your laser’s settings.

• The Backup button allows you to backup and restore the machine’s factory settings.

• The Network button allows you to set up your machine’s network settings via Ethernet, Wireless connection or USB.

• The Alignment button takes you to a screen that is used for the laser alignment process for your machine.

• The Program button is used for updating the peripherals of the machine.

At the bottom of the Settings Menu you will also find some helpful information about your machine, including which Firmware version is currently installed, the wattage and laser type the machine has, the machine’s Serial Number, and the current network address.

Configuration Menu

The wrench and gear icon at the bottom of the Settings Menu will take you to the Configuration Menu, which has 3 sections.

The System section displays detailed information about the machine. These are factory settings that should not be changed unless instructed by Epilog Technical Support.

The Network section allows you to view the IP Address, the Network mask and other information about your machine’s connection.

The About section displays information about your laser’s firmware, laser power, and Serial Number.

At the bottom of the Configuration Menu you will also see 3 buttons. Park Axis is used to move the laser head back to its home position. The Home Axis & Home Table buttons will perform the same homing process as when the machine is powering on.

This was a walkthrough of the many functions available on the Fusion Series Control Panel.