Amazing! Great idea and thanks for sharing!
Ha! With a little engraving youâve got one of those rolling pins that makes cool shapes! Very nice.
Brainstorming here - once we figure out how to reliably spin the objects, one could wire up an arduino with a light sensor/photogate and have the GF self-index by passing over a certain part of the bed, and use the software to get it there, either by having a âdummyâ point or some feature in the âcut orderâ menu.
System is completely separate from GF, no fiddling with Y-axis, etc.
Absolutely brilliant!
I also thought along the Arduino lines but⌠then we hit ânon-open sourceryâ alerts⌠The GF laser path sequence is based on some efficiency algorithm. This means (apparently somewhat ironically) that the laser jumps from one part of the cut / engrave pattern to another. If it were all âsequentialâ and determinable, we could simply adopt the rotary pattern like you suggest for a given design. But since this is not the case, while itâs not impossible I am sure, it would be a lot harder.
A lot would be possible with the GF if users could get access to the source code or even just the G code of a certain design. But then weâd also need to be able to feed whatever mods back into the machine somehow so weâre now moving more towards a dev kit⌠Will they do it? Time will tell.
My thinking on this months ago was to use Arduino, but manually advance remotely using my phone or add a pushbutton that will advance the rotation by 1 increment.
I havenât been keeping up with the GFUI all that much, but Iâm fairly certain we can set/re-order the operations. This feels âhackyâ, but if I have a drawing layer with a separate color, it is itâs own operation. If that layer contains a single short line/point, say, in the top right corner, and place my sensor there, I can create a series of features that always returns the cutter head to approximately the same place. (and not laser my sensor haha) So regardless of what the efficiency algorithm is doing with the rest of the job, those drawing interrupts would bring the head back to the index position.
[engrave operation]
[index punch 1] // photo sensor LOW, rotates n seconds
[engrave operation]
[index punch 2]
[âŚ]
Maybe it could be a combination. Once we understand a pattern we could automate within a given âsequence rangeâ, using the benefit of the GFâs autofocus - i.e. allowing for some curvature - and just automate the incremental index rotations just like @karaelena has done manually.
It would be very cool if the GF software allows us to create âsequence block overridesâ (man, I should work in Hollywood). This could solve the whole thing for some projects. It might look something like this:
- Simply draw boxes over the design in increments that equate to the diameter of the object weâre engraving.
- Place and align the object on the rotary indexer.
- GF completes the first sequence, parks the head in the corner and give a little beep sound.
- The rotary indexer knew how long each âblockâ would have taken and then rotates one set increment.
- After a per-determined pause the GF resumes, doing the second block.
- Engrave, Rotate, Repeat
@cbarker, I think we just said a lot of the same things at the same timeâŚ
The only thing is that âre-orderingâ of the operations. My understanding is that weâre pretty closed source at this point.
I wouldnât be surprised if GF have something cooking on the rotary front already. I think it was one of the early âhopperâ items.
Iâm disappointed I didnât get to use âSequence block overrideâ though.
Hereâs a quote from Dan
But itâs what you were thinking, right?
Ok, awesome. Thanks, I missed that! That might be enough to give us what we need here!
Yeah⌠but the best I could do was drawing interrupts. I need to go back to technobabble school.
It would be nice if we could have a generic sequence block override that allows positioning the cutter head without having to use a drawing feature, but as it stands I think this would work!
Thinking about this more, would need to have a little ablative âtowerâ that is adjustable to the height of the work piece in the index-zone to give the camera something to focus on.
Iâd say youâre awesome, but some things are too obvious to be repeated Very cool!
Bookmarked!
As long as you can specify the order of operations in the UI, you could just do: main score/engrave, trigger engrave to set off the mechanism, negligible-power engrave off to one side to delay the head while the indexer is moving. Rinse, repeat in order as many times as you need.
Or, if youâre willing to risk fire and explosion, you could have a wireless thingy running the indexer (particle, onion, pi etc) that would wait until the engrave was done and then tell the GF interface ârepeat last jobâ and trigger a robotic button-pusher outside the caseâŚ
So cool! This is something Iâd buy from the design catalog!
and voila! Another functionality that not even GF could foresee (or maybe it was in the hopper )
That is super clever!
WOW! Amazing work, and I canât wait to buy this off you from the catalog! I"m so thrilled it works!