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Saving Your Power Supply
Use Shift + Reset instead of OFF/ON. Pressing the Power button ON/OFF to clear a job will shorten the life of your power supply.
Fan Cleaning
How often do you clean your fan filter on your XL/XL-Xtra? All it takes is a screw driver to pop off the black plastic cover on rear fan. Just wash with water and mild detergent, towel dry and replace.
Backwards XL Fans
During maintenance on XL’s I have found quite a few fans where the covers had been installed backwards from the factory. The filter could not be removed from the outside. If your XL/XL-Xtra has it’s fan cover on backwards, first remove your machine cover. Then loosen the screws holding the fan in place, and turn the cover plate around so that the filter is accessible from the outside of your XL/XL-Xtra.
Baseline blues
If your baseline is off from the top of the plate, try squaring your cutter box.
Eccentric bar
If your eccentric will not return to the up position, check and make sure the set screw at the right end of the silver eccentric bar is tight. The set screw seats on the flat spot of the eccentric motor’s shaft.
Moving Nowhere
If your XL/XL-Xtra display says MOVING TO HOME and nothing is happening, check the ON/OFF switch on the back left side of machine (next to Auxiliary table outlet). It should be in the OFF position. In the ON position, it is trying to communicate with a Mark XII table.
Saving Jobs
Without a doubt, the biggest single problem for all owners of Wizzard's, Genies, and XL’s are faced with is scrambled jobs. The problem occurs when the operator accidentally uses the SAVE command when attempting to LOAD a job.
If the current job that the computer is trying to SAVE has more lines than the job already saved, the program doesn’t know how to handle the extra lines. You will start seeing garbled names when you view the job directory. This is the sure sign that you have a corrupted job directory. If you must write over an existing saved job, be sure and replace it with the same number of lines.
Left Margin Off
If job is off to the left, check and see if you have an extra space in the text line (Add this to problems/solutions in all machine sections)
Don’t use zero
Using 001 instead of 0 for left and right margins
Several owners have experienced problems in the standard and Extend-A-Plate mode when they used 0.000 for the margins. Problems left when they used .001 instead.
Extend-A-Plate Reverse Engraving
Need to reverse engrave on Plexiglas or other material using Extend-A-Plate? Just change your plate alignment to Reverse & Upside Down Engraving.
Vacuum Cleaner Problems
Avoid vacuum cleaners around a computerized engraver that is on. Recently a member was cleaning up with a vacuum cleaner around his Wizzard while a job was engraving. The vacuum caused a static charge that knocked out several of the components of the Wizzard. The final bill exceeded $600. Keep using the vacuum to keep your machine clean, but turn off your engraver first.
Picking Up Your Wizzard
Don’t pick up your Wizzard by the silver eccentric bar. Eventually you’ll break off the end of the bar, or the stepper motor shaft. The eccentric bar sells for $100, and the stepper motor will set you back another $200.
Boxing Your Wizzard
Unfortunately, from time to time, it is necessary for you to send a machine in for repair. So, ideally you should maintain the shipping container in which your engraver came in when you purchased your machine.
DON’T build a wooden box to ship it in. True, you could probably park the truck on top without hurting it, but unless it is completely surround by several inches of foam rubber, not Styrofoam peanuts, it will more than likely suffer additional damage from the shock waves as the wooden box bounces in the trailer each time it hits a pot hole in the road. Also the people handling them are not as gentle with a wooden box as they are with cardboard.
DON’T put your machine in a cardboard box filled with a garbage can full of Styrofoam peanuts and expect the peanuts to support the weight of the machine and keep it in a firm position. As soon as the transportation vibration begins, the machine will crush the Styrofoam peanuts and seek the lowest level, allowing shock waves to occur. Picture this: crushed peanuts not only in the bottom of the crushed box, but also inside the machine, they have come throughout every air vent in the machine. The time involved in removal of all this is added to your bill on labor at a cost of $65.00 an hour. And, put a declared value on the shipment that equals replacement cost.
Please don’t ship the Plexiglas cover, they always get broken, we do not repair these and the land fills are full. We do not need your power cord or diamond spindle. Ship the rotating spindle only if you are having a spindle problem, and it needs to be repaired. Maker sure the jigs are screwed down or securely fastened, and we don’t need the support bar.
Guess Your Wizzard’s Weight
The approximate weight of a Wizzard in it’s original shipping box, less any accessories and manuals, is 70 lbs.
Sublines & Batching
When doing plaques, is it possible to use sublines in this manner?
John Sample
The ‘J’ & ‘S’ are in 3-Line Helvetica and the ‘ohn’ & ‘ample’ are to be in another font, say Gothic or 3-Line Roman.
Also, when batching plates, can I print out the whole job, or do I have to print out each plate as I engrave it. (I’m trying to keep a running file of each batched name it seems ridiculous to print out each one separately with the whole job specifications attached.
Answer: Your Wizzard printout will only show the first name in the batch job. Your John Sample layout requires 3 sublines, and the XL is limited to 2 sublines. The only alternative I know is to use and additional baseline for the last part of the name.
Keyboard Cover
Using a Wizzard without a plastic keyboard cover could be compared to the TV commercial about not changing your oil. You can “Pay Us $29.95 for a keyboard cover now, or pay them $325.00 for a new keyboard later”. If you have an older Wizzard that doesn’t have a keyboard cover, or your cover has become damaged, get a new one today! Take it from the top, these keyboards won’t be made for ever!
Auto Starting Wizzard
Dahlgren service techs often place a small rivet or hex wrench in the START port on the right side of a Wizzard/II/XL/XTRA. This allows for continuous, unattended engraving for testing the reliability of a machine. You might find other uses for the procedure. After setting up a layout with text, go to the Job Option screen and input the number of job repeats you want. After pressing COMPUTE, place the small hex wrench in the START port. The engraver will start, and continue until it has completed the number of repeats, or until you CANCEL the job. Avoid using an object that is over an 1-1/2 inches long as it may interfere with other components beyond the start switch inside the engraver.
Static Electricity
Static is the worst enemy of a Wizzard. A few of the symptoms include loss of Home position, ‘lock-ups’ or loss of cursor, or the system will arbitrarily re-initialize. One cause might be static electricity build up in the power cord. Unplug the power cord from the wall socket and waiting a minute or two for the static buildup to discharge.
No Oil
Don’t use oil on or around electronic circuit boards! Several members report still using oil (similar to 3-in-1 brand) on their Wizzard's. In the last month I have seen a power supply ($395) and a Dual CPU board ($1600) damaged by oil. The damage was caused by excessive amounts of oil dripping down into the Wizzard case while lubricating the ends of the silver eccentric bar. A white lithium grease is preferred for lubricating the left end of the eccentric bar. Dahlgren recommends Break Free for lubricating your leadscrews. It doesn’t readily attract particles as does grease or oil.
Zippo Lighter Engraving
When engraving a Zippo lighter, try using the plastic display case that most of them come with as a jig. The case has a notch on the left side. If you need to engrave where the notch is on the opposite side, just cut a small notch in the display case, and flip the lighter over. Use double faced tape to keep the lighter in its plastic case. Sometimes you may have to put small pieces of paper in the case to shim it tighter.
Extend-a-plate
When using some versions of the XL Extend-A-Plate program, watch out for even numbers of 5.00, 10.00 etc. as coordinates for plate placement. The program will lock up if you try to engrave. If you do have these coordinates, halt the program and change one of the margins slightly as to change the calculation.
Extend-A-Plate
Recently while using Extend-A-Plate, I was engraving a 6 x 24 plate with 3-1/2 inch 3-Line Roman letters. While using 10 degrees of italics, the first section would engrave great. But when I went to engrave the second section, the engraver went crazy. I have updated to Version 2.44 and the problem appears to be corrected.
Italics
It has been noted by users that in some versions of the XL Extend-A-Plate program an italics value of greater than 15% will cause the program to crash.
Figuring Larger Layouts
If you own an XL, try this handy tip. Even though you don’t have an auxiliary table, select the auxiliary table option by pressing the [SPACEBAR] when the cursor is at ‘standard table’ (at the top of your XL screen). Then enter your layout, and output to printer, or write down the dimensions. The dimensions help you figure base lines, etc. for larger plates that can’t be engraved on Extend-A-Plate.
2.44 Problem
I recently had a problem with Version 2.44 of my XL software. It dropped the letter size to 1/2 of the requested size when using a subline on arc engraving. It started in the correct position, but the letters were smaller.
SHIFT + RESET
I recently spent almost a $1000 for a switch pack (ON/OFF switch assembly) and a power supply. To make a long story short, every time I wanted to cancel a job or start a new job, I would hit the ON/OFF switch. My service technician told me that the constant surge of electricity had caused the premature failure of the power supply and the switch pack. He told me to start using SHIFT + RESET to avoid the constant power surge.
Home Key
Does your Wizzard lock up when your loading ‘Load Cart’? Instead of having to restart your machine and possibly lose a valuable layout, try pressing the HOME key.
Oversize Cutters
I got a .250 cutter with a 1/8 shaft from Tekni-Kut of Dallas, and a wide nose cone from Western Engravers. Now I can easily engrave bold letters up to 3 inches tall on my Wizzard. The total cost was under $50.
Programming EPROM'S
The speed of the chip you are using for logos is important, especially on a Wizzard XL. The slowest speed that an XL will read is a 250 speed chip. Using a slower speed chip (300, 400 etc.) will cause the logo not to read. This problem is usually NOT associated with the Wizzard/Wizzard II, or Genie.
Screen Static
If you get excessive static on your screen when you start your engraving motor, you might need to replace your engraving motor brushes. Worn brushes or defective motors also cause your engraver to stop in mid-job. If you engrave a lot of phenolic or matrix for rubber stamps, you should keep several sets of motor brushes along with an extra engraving motor. The cost of a new motor is $99.95.
Worn Belts
A worn belt can cause excessive wear on your spindle, V-wheel guide bearings, and spindle motor. Replacement cost is minimal.
Table Switch
Does your XL or XL Xtra not move HOME, and will not engrave? Check the Auxiliary Table Switch on the back of the machine. This should be positioned to OFF. If the switch is positioned to ON, the machine will not move. Turn your machine OFF and position the Auxiliary Table Switch to OFF. Turn your machine back ON.
Burnishing On Aluminum
I’ve used the diamond tipped burnishing tool for several weeks now and found that it will even burnish in soft aluminum. They cost a little more than the standard burnishing tip, but the durability appears to be worth the difference.
Quick Circle
Type in the letter 0 and stretch it to 136%.
SHIFT-START
Did you know any job you have computed, whether you run it or cancel it, can be ran again without COMPUTE. Just SHIFT><START> and those arc and long calculating jobs will engrave immediately.
SHIFT -> or SHIFT
Will take you to the end or the beginning of text lines, and some fields. Try it.
SHIFT +RESET
Does not reset the cutter down speed to fast. Turning machine off and on does.
XL Tall Plate Oddity
A 48” tall plate, Autolayout on. Five lines will give you a letter height larger than the engraving area size. Also at 48” height, Autolayout defaults to zero on top and bottom margins. (11/19/88)
Power Requirements
110-120 volt, 3 amp (60 HZ) grounded AC outlet
Reassembling Machine
When reassembling your machine, and after the pan assembly is mounted, run a SLEW test before mounting the machine cover. This assures that you have plugged in the axes and limit switches correctly. Also check your MOTOR switch to make sure your engraving motor is properly connected.
Eccentric Bar Dragging
Does your Wizzard silver eccentric bar drag between letters, or is your cutter hitting your A/B jigs when it returns HOME? First make sure your cutter box is square. The gap on the right of the cutter box should be equal from the front to the back after pressing SHIFT + CUTTER DOWN. Next check the set screw on the right side of the eccentric bar. If it has one of the new connectors (stepper motor is mounted to side of frame with 1 inch spacers, and the stepper motor shaft is not connected directly to the eccentric bar), check the small Allen screws on the connector.
Saving Jobs - XL
YES YOU CAN CHANGE THE NAME ON A JOB THAT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY SAVED! Per my previous article about job storage on the XL, I received several calls from observant members. You can rename a previous save job on your XL. The trick is to change the job description after you press [ENTER] to save the job, and before you press [SHIFT] + [ENTER].
Grinding Noise
While engraving plastic name tags on my Wizzard, I started hearing a grinding noise, like metal on metal. The spindle started moving to the right, and engraving my letters all over the holding jigs. I knew for sure one of my stepper motors was about to quit. But when I Slewed my machine, they worked perfect. It only seemed to grind when I was engraving plastics, or using my engraving motor. I changed the motor brushes, but it didn’t help. The problem was finally solved when I bought a new engraving motor. My old motor was five years old and worn out.
Rocker Switch Fix
Recently my on/off button on my Wizzard didn’t work (old, flat rocker style). Until I could get it repaired, my computer friend came up with a quick fix.
There are two wires, one black and one yellow that are on the bottom side of the switch. To bypass the bad switch, he cut one of the wires that was soldered to the switch, and resoldered it with the other wire. I used a power strip as an on/off switch until the switch could be replaced.
Tails on letters
I followed the Network’s procedure for squaring my cutter, and my letter quality got better. It stopped tails on letters, inconsistent line widths.
However, I got tails on a letters engraving a 4x4 aluminum plate. After careful examination I discovered that the tails were on the rows of letters in the middle of the plate.
I solved the problem by using the A/B jig hold down screws, and placing my center support bar under the plate.
To Grease Or Not To Grease
Some say to grease the right side of your silver eccentric bar. I say no! And if has washers on the right side, remove them so they don’t collect grease and debris.
Keyboard Trick
Did you know that the PAUSE and CAPS LOCK keys on the Wizzard keyboard both have lock mechanisms. They can be interchanged in case the E key fails.
Unsightly Gap
Does your Wizzard, Wizzard II or Genie have a gap between the case and the pan assembly, right below the black knob used to tighten the plate. Put a piece of masking or duct tape over the gap to prevent parts or engraving particles from falling on your mother board.
Different Jigs, Different Homes
Do you have more than one Wizzard, or do you have duplicate jigs? Swapping different jigs between machines can cause the HOME to be off. Each set of jigs has it’s own individual HOME and jig settings.
CRT/External Monitor
If you have an external monitor, you can disconnect your CRT from the main board, and still operate your engraver. The CRT doesn’t have to be installed in the engraver if you have an external monitor.
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