THE ENGRAVERS JOURNAL/JUNE 07 www.engraversjournal.com
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You also receive an accessory kit,
two engraving cutters of your choice,
a two-year limited parts and labor war-
ranty and an operator’s manual. The
manual is actually fairly well written
and easy to follow. It includes the ba-
sics for engraving different types of
jobs, some tutorials and a walk-through
of the main features in the software. If
you need more help, you can use Vi-
sion’s online Technical Assistant Cen-
ter. Vision also offers on-site training
and installation with the purchase of
this system.
Different package options are also
available, depending on your needs.
For example, in addition to the above-
mentioned items, you can add the ring
engraving accessory, additional cutters,
a burnishing adaptor and three different
holding jigs for a total of $16,710, in-
cluding freight.
For all it has to offer, the MAX Pro
is fairly compact, measuring 28" long x
28" wide x 26" high and weighing 150
lbs. I had the unit sitting on an office
desk and there was a little more than
half the desktop left over for work
-
space.
An
11
/64" top-loading spindle with
adjustable speeds up to 16,000 rpm is
standard on this machine. This allows
you to use industry standard rotary en-
graving cutters for materials like plas-
tics, rotating diamond burnishing cut-
ters for glass or non-rotating diamonds
for traditional diamond engraving. Op-
tional spindles are available as well, in-
cluding a 6 mm or
1
/4" top-loading spin-
dle, top/bottom-loading collet spindles
or high frequency spindles (40,000 or
50,000 rpm) for special, high produc-
tion work.
The machine features three inch-
es of Z travel (up/down movement),
which is notably larger than similar
machines available on the market. You
can adjust the “lift” of the spindle as
needed, i.e. the amount the spindle
lifts between each cutter during en
-
graving. This is useful in situations
such as engraving the inside of a bowl
or a tapered item to prevent the cutter
from smashing into the high spots. The
amount of downward pressure exerted
against the material can also be modi-
fied using a manual spring dampen-
ing pressure adjustment on the spindle.
Typically, you need more pressure on
harder materials, like brass, and less
pressure on more fragile materials,
such as glass or when diamond engrav-
ing materials of various hardness.
The machine is powered by micro
stepper motors, which are surprisingly
quiet. I had the machine running in a
quiet office setting and it didn’t disturb
anyone. According to Vision, they opt
-
ed against servo motors, normally tout-
ed as providing smoother and faster
engraving, due to the speed and perfor-
mance of the stepper motors. As a side
note, Vision Engraving Systems has its
own in-house machine shop, so nearly
every component on this machine (as
well as the others in their line) is manu-
factured in their Arizona factory.
The Control Center
The MAX Pro is equipped with
Vision’s most up-to-date Series 3 con-
troller. On this model, the controller
is built into the machine and all of the
various engraving features and opera-
tions can be accessed using a hand-
held pendant mounted on the side of
the unit. Note that the hand-held ver-
sion of the controller is a $750 option
on Vision’s other units but it’s stan-
dard with the MAX Pro. Personally, I
didn’t find it necessary to remove the
pendant from the cradle as it is already
in a usable location on the side of the
machine. For example, it is very con
-
venient to push buttons on the pendant
to jog the spindle around while look-
ing at the work area as opposed to the
pendant. And because it isn’t a separate
unit, it doesn’t take up any added work
space, which can be precious in many
retail operations. The pendant features
15 buttons and an LCD display, but
don’t let the 15 buttons scare you; I
found the pendant very user-friendly.
Using the hand-held pendant you
can set the Z speed (how fast the spin-
dle moves down to the material), the
spindle rpm and the feed rate (X,Y en-
graving speed). The maximum feed
rate, by the way, is 10 inches per sec-
ond, which is quite fast for this type of
machine. Note that you can also make
machine adjustments like these in the
software, but most engravers will prob-
ably prefer using the pendant. This
is easier and faster and allows you to
make adjustments “on the fly.” For ex-
ample, if you decide you need a high-
er spindle speed or slower engraving
speed, you can adjust the speed using
a knob on the pendant while the job is
engraving.
Vision’s controller also offers other
state-of-the-art features, such as open
architecture and high speed Ethernet
connectivity to your PC. In addition to
Here is a close-up look at the spindle
assembly on the MAX Pro machine.
The Vision Pro software allows you
to scan and vectorize logos and then
apply fill routines for engraving.
Engraving features and controls can
be accessed using the hand-held
pendant conveniently located on the
side of the machine.
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