Setting The Cutting Parameters - Roland EGX-20 User Manual

Saving Data
Save the data you have created to a hard disk or the like.

At the toolbar, click
The [Save As] dialog box appears.


Setting the Cutting Parameters

Before you carry out engraving, adjust the Speed control and Spindle Speed control on the switch panel of the EGX-20.
At the central
position
At maximum
General Suggestions for Making Adjustments
Depending on the engraving results, make the settings as described below. Use the Speed control and the Spindle Speed
control to make the adjustments.
• If engraved places are rough (not smooth), then lower the speed.
• If the material melts or suffers burring, lower the spindle speed.
• If the spindle speed is too fast, the material may melt. Lower the spindle speed. Also, if there is buildup of melted cuttings
in engraved grooves, you may be able to remove them by scrubbing with a toothbrush or the like.
• Increasing the spindle speed when using a narrower blade and reducing it when using a thicker blade may produce
better results.
• In many cases, slower speeds produce attractive finished results, but a speed that is too slow may cause melting.
Make the following adjustments with the driver.
• The default engraving depth is 0.1 mm. You can engrave at a greater depth by changing the value for the driver setting [Z
Down Position]. The maximum depth at which you can engrave is 1.0 mm. (In the driver, you make the setting by specify-
ing a value prefixed by a minus sign ["-"].) A greater engraving depth yields correspondingly wider lines. This means that
text characters also become thicker.
• If the engraving depth is too deep, it may not be possible to obtain attractive results even when the speed and spindle
speed are adjusted.
• One method for obtaining engraving results that are attractive yet deep is to perform the same engraving twice. (For
example, setting [Z Down Position] to -0.18 mm and [Z Cutting Pitch] to 0.10 mm results in engraving in two passes, to
a depth of 0.18 mm. )
• Leave [Z Up Position] set to 0.50 mm at all times. Lower values result in less wasted movement.
• You can obtain attractive engraving results by setting [Fill Pitch] to 80% or less than the width of the cutter -- actually at about
50%.
 P. 23, "Filling a Text String"
. Alternatively, go to the [File] menu and select [Save As].
When you're performing engraving for the first time, set the Speed control at the
central position and the Spindle Speed control at its maximum setting.
Also, if you're using acrylic material and the included blade, then you may leave the
settings for the EGX-20 driver at their default values.
Go ahead and try engraving using these settings.
In some cases it may not be possible to perform engraving smoothly. In such cases, ex-
amine the engraving results and adjust the settings for the cutting parameters, repeat-
ing this process of trial and adjustment until you obtain good engraving results.
Specify the information for [Save in]
and [File Name], then click [Save].
3 Creating a Nameplate (Engraving Mode) 25