I’m currently researching a rotary attachment purchase and I’ve watched a couple of YouTube videos. I have a generic Chinese 80W CO2 laser with a Ruida controller. My assumption was that LightBurn’s ‘Enable Rotary’ option was all that was needed to put my laser into rotary attachment mode. But a person on YT was advocating using the default set of Device Settings when in Gantry laser mode and a separate set of Device Settings for use in Rotary Attachment mode. The differences between the 2 sets were significantly reduced values for Idle Speed, Idle Acceleration & Max Acceleration. This seems like a lot of faffing about, but does his recommendation have merit?
Yes and no. 
Knowing which controller is in your generic laser will tell us if you can use another axis for control. My generic CO2 uses the Y-axis. I unplug the Y axis motor and plug the rotary into that stepper driver. The cup on the rotary isn’t directly driven by a cog-belt - so it can slip if the speeds and accelerations aren’t set lower.
Some engravers allow you to use the Z-axis driver to control your rotary. Some controllers have an A-axis or a U-axis to rotate around the X-axis.
If your engraver uses a currently unused axis for your rotary - it shouldn’t mess with your regular axis settings.
Please take a picture of the controller module inside the engraver cabinet and drag and drop that pic into a reply here.
Depending on the controller the rotary settings may be adjusted once and not interfere with the gantry, or it may require the use of the gantry motor driver and revised settings along that axis. I can understand the appeal of making two Device Profiles.
There is a workflow where you read and write settings to the DSP controller and turn the rotary attachment on and off.
This may be worth a look:
Hi John,
Thanks for your fast response. Here’s a photo of my Ruida controller
I believe the rotary attachment will be a straight swap for the Y axis stepper motor. I have no wiring specifically for a rotary in my laser, so I’m planning to add a 4 pole changeover relay to facilitate switching between the Y axis and the rotary attachment.
The Ruida is a 4 axes controller but it really doesn’t support a rotary on the U axes.
I have the G model, not the S.
I have my rotary on the Y axes… I just swap it out with the cable…
The gui setup is pretty simple … Are you ready to set it up?
I have a PiBurn rotary… what kind do you have a chuck or roller?
Hi Jack,
I have a Piburn home-made clone. My question is… Do people really change speed and acceleration settings when switching their laser over to rotary, then switch the settings back when they take the rotary off?
Yes and you probably will also … actually Lightburn makes it easy to switch settings quickly…
If I do a line engraving on a mug, the acceleration and max speed are lowered in the Y direction … the rotational… The mug has mass and is not able to respond to quick movements.
I have multiple ‘rotary’ type settings for mine saved… depending on what kind of job I’m doing…
I use the “Edit → Machine Settings” and save my ‘settings’. I can ‘load’ them and ‘write’ them back to the controller at any time. This is one of mine for the PiBurn.
Most of the time my Y settings for acceleration are very low… doubt I can make the 500mm/s with any vector graphics… With many vector graphics the acceleration value is in the mid single digits…
Just remember the consequences of a lower acceleration… it take longer to get to the specified speed (min or max)… I.E. you can’t expect it to run at 500mm/s with an acceleration of 5mm/s^2 with a ‘line’ of only a mm in length before it does a 90 deg directional change …
There is an acceleration formula, but I lost it somewhere… Oz posted it somewhere… never could find it again…
Do you have it setup and working?
Good luck
Thanks Jack, that’s really helpful. I’m surprised that there isn’t more discussion about appropriate ‘device settings’ for rotaries as clearly they would make a difference.
I don’t have my rotary working yet, hoping to get it to a usable stage over the Christmas period.
This post is a quick guide to setting up your rotary…
Good luck
Cheers 
Did you get it working properly?
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