I have the XTool D1 10W and having very good luck with the RA2 on tumblers. A friend gave me an OMTech 50W CO2 with two roller/rotaries, but not the chuck. I’d like to start doing tumblers on the CO2 to speed up the process, but I really want to do so with a chuck rotary.
I really like how the RA2 has many options for chuck jaws and attachments. Looking at the OMtech chuck roller, but I"m a little concerned with it being all metal jaws and a limited length between the jaws and the tail stock grabber.
Questions:
Has anyone tried the OMTech chuck? Any pros/cons/advice?
Or could I use the RA2 with the correct adapter? Or perhaps there are other “more adjustable” CO2 chuck rollers that would work with the OMTech.
Nice friend, he will have an infinite queue of friends here doing that
Comparing hardware to hardware I’d think the motors on the XTool would probably take less current to run them than the bigger ones. Check which type of NEMA motor it is. They are defined by the length of one side… A NEMA 23 is 2.3" in width on one side.
This might required changing the internal current switches inside the 50W…
Both have their ups/downs… A chuck needs to hold the part very firmly so the size can be an issue. Large mugs may be a problem. But small tube like object work well.
The wheel or roller rotaries are size independent as a general statement. However the cup/mug can walk or slip on these devices.
I have a chuck on the fiber and a PiBurn 3 on the co2.
After a long two days, I have everything hooked up. The chuck setup did not have enough room between the laser head for focusing and the tumbler, so I had to remove the chuck from it’s factory base and ended up making a new base from 3/4" plywood, which drops into the tray where the knife bed came out.
I think I may have done something wrong with the order of operation when hooking it up because after many tests, I didn’t land at 10,000 steps/rotation, rather 12,160. I saw something on the OMTech Facebook group about resetting Y to 150 on my 50 W (500 mm x 300 mm bed). So eventually I’ll figure that out.
Ready to do some power grid tests, but I keep getting an error on the controller about overshotting. It seems that the controller “thinks” I’m at the far left edge of the workspace, but I’m not. I must have screwed that up somehow.
If there’s any info out there about how to reset X/Y coords and steps/min to save the correct settings, I’d appreciate it.
I’ll try to post pics of my new rotary base from my phone in case anyone else ran into the same height issues.
I started with 10,000 from most advice and then just manually kept expanding it until 12,160 was correct. It also framed a rectangle the correct size of my tumbler.
Thanks Jack. I’ll follow that info. Probably just need to shut it off for a while and come back fresh. It’s sooo close. Thanks for your patience! I don’t recall seeing any motor placard info but I’ll see what I can find.
yep. I dug open the control door and took pictures of the dip switches. Unfortunately, the “placard” was on the bottom of the control module, so I had to remove it.
On my DM545AA, Pulse/Rev table SW 5,6,7,8 are Off, Off, On, Off, which comes up to 5,000 Pulses/revolution. I’ll try to google the “ratio” for the OMTech chuck, but I already have the cover off, so I may just count the teeth.
Really appreciate the detailed instructions!
Then I should just have to figure out resetting my Y axis to avoid the controller errors.
Exactly!
