Tall Plate

What is Tall Plate?

 

There may come a time when you get a request to engrave a job that is larger than your table size. Tall Plate provides us with a means of engraving jobs larger than the actual table size. For instance, a plate measuring 24 inches high by 12 inches wide will engrave on a 13 x 13 inch machine using Tall Plate. Upon download, Tall Plate splits the plate up into sections small enough to fit within the engraving area or 'view window' of the 13 x 13 inch table. Each 'view window' is actually a downloaded as a separate job indexed numerically along the Y-axis. Upon completion of the first 'view window', the engraver will return to Mechanical Home, prompting you to move the material to the next indexed location, placing the next 'view window' on the 13 x 13 surface for engraving. This process of 'feeding the material' through the machine is repeated until the end of the plate has been completed.

 

 

Tall Plate Limitations

 

Physical Restrictions

Although we can engrave larger than the table size, there is a physical limiting factor - the width of the X Axis gantry. On the 13 x 13 engraving table we are still limited by 13 inches in one dimension, in the case of Tall Plate, the width of the plate of 13 inches became the limiting dimension between the uprights of the X Axis gantry.

 

Numerical Restrictions

The tallest plate that will engrave in Tall Plate is equivalent to 10 times the height of the engraving surface. So for a 13 x 13 table, the height of the engraver is 13 inches, thus allowing a 130 inch tall plate; for a 16 x 25 inch table the tallest sign would be 10 times 16 inches or 160 inches.

 

 

Using Tall Plate

 

One of the keys to using Tall Plate is trying NOT to over-do YOUR part in the set up of your job layout. In other words, set up your job as if you had no idea what size table you own. Don't do anything special or different to accommodate the fact of engraving a larger plate. The software does all the calculating for you. So with that in mind:

  1. Set up a new job (or open an existing job).

Important: Prior to the next step, place your "Auto/Off/Start" switch on the Pendant to the "Off" position. Having this switch in "Auto" will not allow the table to pause in between 'view windows' for material placement and movement (steps 6 -10).

  1. Send the job to the engraver using 'To Engraver' under the File menu.

  2. Note the Status Bar: for both Long and Tall Plate, it will read 'Please Wait, Calculating...'.

  3. Next a dialog will appear indicating locations to 'Mark the Plate in the Y-Direction' with values in inches (or millimeters if using metric). These values are the index marks that will be used to move the material from one 'view window' to the next. Using a ruler, mark the plate from the upper left corner (going down the side of the plate in the Y-Axis) at the specified locations using a temporary marker.

              

  1. 'Click' on 'OK' after marking the material, (the Engraver Setup dialog will appear) set or change your parameters , and 'click' on 'OK' to send the job to the engraver.

  2. For the first 'view window', place the material on the engraving surface, lining up the first index mark on the material with the upper left corner of the engraving table. You will have to completely lower the upper rail by loosening the thumb screws to accommodate the upper portions of the material.

 

Depending on 'how tall' of a long plate you are engraving, supports both in front and back of the table may be necessary to accommodate the excess material not supported by the engraving table.

  1. Start the engraver by pressing the "Start" switch on the Pendant.

  2. Upon completion of the first 'view window', the engraver will go back to Mechanical Home and the green READY light will illuminate indicating there is 'more left to engrave'. At this time, move the material so that the second index mark lines up with the upper left corner (for the second 'view window').

  3. Press "Start" to proceed with the second 'view window' or section of the job.

  4. Repeat step 8 until all indexed 'view windows' have been completed.