If there are any must-have tools for laser engraving, laser rotary attachment would be on top of the list without any doubt. If you are new to laser engraving or have no idea about it, please keep on reading. In this post, we have included almost everything you might need to know about it. What’s a rotary attachment? How does it work? How to get more out of it? What’s the best product option in the market? You might find answers to all questions through this post.

Part One: What’s a laser rotary attachment? How does it work?

A laser rotary attachment is also known as a rotary roller or rotation module.  It is specially designed for laser engraving machines to make it possible to engrave on cylindrical and curved surfaces or objects. Why engraving on a cylindrical surface would be a problem? How does rotary attachment help solve the problem?

To get a better idea of how it works, let’s start with how a laser engraver works. For a laser engraving machine, there are usually three axes: the X-axis, the Y-axis, and the Z-axis. The X-axis would allow the laser to move in the left and right directions. The Y-axis allows the laser to move forward or backward. The Z-axis would be used to adjust laser focal length. To engrave an image, the laser engraving machine would move and engrave from point to point or from line to line. During the process, the software would send commends to the laser to move at the exact speed, direction, and distance according to information provided by designed files to achieve excate results and get the same images to the design file.

However, to get optimized engraving results, the laser light should be focused on the smallest spot for the most powerful engraving abilities and the laser focal point should be placed on the engraving surface. For a flat object, as the distance between the laser source and engraving surface would remain the same all the time when the laser moves on Y-axis, it won’t be a problem. Things get complicated when engraving a cylindrical object, as the distance between the laser and engraving surface would keep changing during the whole process when the laser moves on Y-axis. That’s why a laser rotary attachment comes into use. And it is also important to limit the design image within the engraving area.

With a rotary attachment, the laser module no longer needs to move on Y-axis. The rotary roller would keep rotating the cylindrical object, thus the distance between the laser source and the engraving surface would remain the same. In a word, instead of moving the laser module, the rotary roller rotates the engraving surface to achieve movement on Y-axis with a static laser focal length.

Part Two: Why should every engraver get a rotary roller attachment?

1) You gonna need & love it!

The first time when I got myself the first laser engraver, I started engraving on everything available on hand from my wallet, phone cover, and notebooks to kitchenware. However, I soon realized that I cannot engrave on my drinking cups and wine bottles which I used every day. I felt a bit disappointed and soon decided to get my first rotary roller then. Since then, I have never stopped exploring things that I can get my hands on and have been surprised by the engraving ideas out there from time to time. I could list all creations and art pieces you could accomplish with the rotary roller, but I prefer not to take away the fun of exploration.

2) It won’t dig a hole in your wallet!

If you owned a laser engraver, you might have already decided to get a rotary roller but are scared away by the extremely high price. Sure, there are rotary attachments sold at over $200 dollars on the market. The good news is that there are also many affordable product options at costs lower than $50 dollars. Though there might be some minor differences in functions and qualities, it isn’t rocket science and a cheaper one would also get your work done.

3) Your money would be paid off really soon!

Is a rotary attachment a profitable investment? The answer is definitely Yes. The rotary roller would expand the scope of your creation immediately. If you are in the laser engraving business, your investment in the rotary attachment would be paid off really soon as engraving glass tumblers and wine bottles are booming businesses in the industry.

Part Three: 9 creative ways to get more out of rotary attachment?

The rotary attachment is the key to a brand-new engraving world full of surprise. With its assistance, some amazing ideas are now possible to be realized. No matter whether you are planning on your wedding, starting your engraving home business, creating decorations for home improvements or building customized gifts for your friends, you might get some sparkling ideas on the website that might need using a rotary roller. And following are some of the most popular and creative ways to get the most out of the rotary attachments. If you have no ideas to find images and designs for engraving, please click and check our list of top 13 websites to find and download engraving files.

1) Tumblers & Bottles

Tumblers and bottles are one of the most well-known objects to be engraved with rotary attachment. The idea not only refers to engraving on drinking tumblers and wine bottles but also could expand to engraving on stainless steel growlers, pint and shot glasses, stemless wine glasses, water bottles, mugs, spice jars, champagne bottles, high ball glasses, champagne flutes, etc. This isn’t a creative idea but a good place to start practicing your skills on rotary engraving. And one important tip for engraving on transparent glassware is to remember to color coat the glass with darker color before engraving (click and check the post on “Engraving Tumblers: An Awesome Gift To Make At Home“).

2) Woden Baseball Bat Mugs

Baseball is also a very popular sport in many countries and an engraved baseball bat and bat mag make great gift ideas. Whether you are running online gift stores, local sporting goods stores, looking for gifts for your father, or preparing groomsmen gifts, laser engraved baseball bat mugs and baseball bats are great ideas to try.

3) Wood Rolling Pin

The customized wooden rolling pin is one of the most interesting engraving ideas one could create with rotary attachment. If you are looking for ideas to light up your daily life with some funny cookies or to impress your friends and neighbors with your cooking skills and creativity, why not build one with the rotary roller. If you are running a dessert business from home, a customized rolling pin would be a must-have tool, especially for celebrations and holiday events.

4) Drumstick

The musical instrument is another hot market for personalized lasered products. You might already get your guitar engraved with your favorite images and words. Now it’s time to get yourself a personalized drum stick. You can also build a customized gift box for the stick to make a perfect gift set.

5) Fabric Lamp Shades

Personalized lampshades are always the best choices for home improvements and personal gifts. With a rotary attachment, it will be very easy to get your fabric lampshades engraved with your favorite design to fit in the environment. It’s also a good practice to combine different lamp styles, light colors, and design files to create lamps for different rooms and purposes.

6) Personalized Stainless Steel Necklace

A personalized necklace is another gift and business idea to get started with laser engraving machines and rotary roller attachments. Though some materials would fail to be engraved, materials like stainless steel and coated metal materials would be very suitable for laser engraving. If you are not good at making necklaces by yourself, you might purchase them online and complete laser etching later.

6) Laser Engraving On Flashlights

When I was working in a LED flashlight factory, I noticed local dealers prefer purchasing batches of flashlights without any branding and laser engraving their own brand by themselves. For dealers without equipment or skills, they would outsource laser engraving from local service providers. If you won a laser engraving store, you might contact them as potential leads.

7) Engraved Wooden Wine Opener

A wine opener is a perfect option as a promotional giveaway for branding/marketing for a bar or restaurant, or even a customized gift for a beer connoisseur. It’s some of the most frequently used tools every day and is easy to be customized with a laser engraver and rotary attachment.

8) Wood Wine Box

Most wine boxes are rectangular designs. And a personalized cylinder wine carrier with customized wording or images would make your gift stands out immediately. This would add extra value to either a personal gift or a product to sell. Even if you are not giving the wine and carrier to anyone as a gift, this could also be a very interesting collection to nourish as your personal hobby.

9) Customized Cosmetic Jar

There might be all kinds of jars around us from condiment jars to cosmetic jars that we could get our hands-on. No matter whether you are trying to build your own cosmetic brands for your business, mark clear tags for different condiments, or make unique gifts, the rotary roller would be a really helpful tool.

Part Four: Best Rotary Attachment for Laser Engraver

There are many rotary attachments in the market with different prices ranging from $40 to $500 and the rotary attachment from Two Trees would be one with the best value for beginner users, DIY projects, and small businesses. The rotary roller is at a very really competitive price and builds from superior quality materials. You may find more details in the official store.  The rotary roller also offers 5 size options to fit engraved objects of different sizes. If you want to add a rotary engraving function to your engraving machine, this would be a great product to start your trial.

Part Five: How to Use Laser Rotary Attachment?

1) Universal Laser Rotary Attachment Setup Guidance

One of the most frequently asked questions is “How to install a rotary attachment laser?”. Here is a setup tutorial video with a step-by-step guide on installation.

2) How to connect rotary attachment with your engraver?

With a rotary attachment, the machine would use the rotary roller to rotate the engraving surface instead of moving the laser module to get the designed images. Thus the process of connecting the rotary attachment to the engraver is basically replacing the Y-axis connectors with connectors from the rotary attachment. Following is a wiring guide.

3) Tips on using Rotary Roller Attachment

Though rotary attachment is easy to install and use, there are some tips that need to be highlighted before purchasing and using the tool.

• Mind the size: most rotary attachment is very compact in size thus for larger engraving objects, you might need to lift up the laser engraver with some books, boxes, or customized feet and only put the engraving area on the rotary attachment.
• Mind the weight: the stepper motor is usually preset with a specific power watt and the have limits on the weight it could hold and rotate. The weight limit might not be stated by the supplier but you could run a few tests to figure out the exact number.
• Mind the focal point: only when the focal point is placed on the engraving area, the engraver would get the best performance. Thus for curved surfaces, it’s important to limit your design file to the area with the least deviation.

Part Six: Best Laser Engraver with Rotary Attachment

Except for other regular laser engraving machines, there are also laser engravers with rotary attachments. One of the best ones would be our brand-new Kickstarter enclosed laser engraver TS3. The 10W laser engraver combines laser from two separate 5W diodes into one power laser beam for maximum engraving and cutting abilities. The internal smoke filter and external exhaust pipe ensure smoke and dust won’t affect engraving. The flame detector, alarming system, and metal housing provide safety protection at the highest level. The built-in honeycomb workbench and rotary roller laid beneath enhance users’ experience to the maximum extent. You might find more information regarding this enclosed laser engraver and cutter in the following video:

Part Seven: Conclusion

Rotary attachment is an essential tool for laser engraving machines. No matter whether you are a DIY enthusiast or laser engraving business owner, the tool would tap your full potential for creation. What’s more, the best value rotary roller attachment won’t cost you too much. If you are still looking for such a tool to expand your scope of business and creation, you might start your testing with the least risk and costs. In case you have anything to share regarding the rotary tool or find the post helpful, please share the post on your social media and leave us a comment.