Hi Scott,
I suppose the best answer is that it is limited to flat surfaces. Likely, that is the only answer.
But I have been giving the cylinder engraving idea some thought.
Now the rest of what I am going to say is just putting out an idea, but one I am not about to embark on right now nor is this any kind of recommendation.
-----The following is just an idea! Be careful! High Voltage! Laser beams! Yeah yeah--
Basically, this thing consists of 2 motors and a laser. The two motors control X and Y. Well, if you were to engrave on a cylinder, all you would need is 2 motors, right? This will depend on the orientation, but one motor could control the rotation of a cylinder around the Y axis while the other controls Y. If you were to find another stepper motor that was wired the same as the existing X motor, then you could simply unplug the existing X and plug in this other motor and you could use that for your rotation.
One of the motors is attached to the board via thin ribbon cable (which also carried the limit/home lines) but the other motor has 4 wires and is plugged in to the board via a connector. It would be easy enough to pull that connector and plug in a different motor.
Making something to actually rotate your cylinder would be easy enough. This would be nearly the same as the 4th axis for an XYZ cnc machine and plans for a 4th axis are just a google away.
Since you would have no planar X control while the rotary device was plugged in, you would have to manually position the X position. (You may even have to manually move the X position into and then away from the home position during the init phase so that the home switch gets toggled)
The next challenge would come when trying to design the image you want to engrave. The engraver can only be run with their software, which of course is expecting you to engrave upon an XY plane. But, if you plan ahead and can calculate the circumference of your cylinder, then you could design something that would fit nicely on a cylinder.
I can't remember the focal length of the focusing lens, but it is fixed and it is designed to move about in XY planar fashion of the engraving surface. Let's say for this discussion that the fixed distance the lens is above the surface is 3". As long as the surface of the cylinder is that same 3" distance away from the laser head, then it should engrave well.
So, could you do it? Yeah, I think it could be done. Is this a supported "off the shelf" feature? Nope. And of course, your results could be either glorious or disastrous, depending on your skill (and luck) with electronics and the rest of it. Like I said, it's just food for thought.  |