<< Click to Display Table of Contents >  SAMLight Manual > Splitting > Splitting Settings Splitting Settings

This section provides an overview of the Splitting Settings, which are divided into the General and Mode sections. Please note that not all settings are available for every splitting mode. Refer to the corresponding mode-specific section for information about the available settings. Additionally, some settings are available only for specific options within a mode. In such cases, the settings remain visible but are grayed out and cannot be modified until the corresponding option is selected.
 

General:

Splitting Option: The Splitting Option is configured in the corresponding splitting settings dialog. Select the required option from the Splitting Option drop-down menu. For an overview of the available splitting options for each splitting mode, refer to the Splitting Modes and Options table in the Splitting chapter.

Axis Speed: This parameter is available for both planar [mm/s] and angular [deg/s] operation modes. It defines the speed at which the connected drive moves between split parts. The selected speed overwrites the speed set in the motion settings.

MOTF Speed: Defines the intended conveyor/belt speed during the marking process. This value is used to calculate the positioning and timing of the split parts to ensure optimal placement and maximum available marking time.
This value can only be edited for 1D MOTF Entity Based Splitting and should be set according to the actual intended belt speed.

Maximum MOTF Speed: Displays the estimated maximum MOTF speed at which the system can reliably position and mark the split parts based on the configured MOTF Speed. This value is calculated automatically and serves as a guideline only. It is not a fixed or guaranteed operating limit, but an approximation of the speed above which marking errors can occur. The Maximum MOTF Speed is always read-only and cannot be edited.

Split Repetitions: Specifies how many times each split part is marked before the motion system advances to the next split part. When splitting is enabled, the individual Mark Loop Count settings for entities are ignored. If you want to repeat individual entities instead of entire split parts, use the Pen Path feature.

Example: A job is divided into three split parts (Part1, Part2, and Part3):

oSplit Repetitions = 1: Part1 → Part2 → Part3

oSplit Repetitions = 2: Part1 → Part1 → Part2 → Part2 → Part3 → Part3

Job Repetitions: Specifies how many times the entire split job is repeated. After the last split part has been marked, the scanner restarts with the first split part. This process continues until the specified number of Job Repetitions has been completed.

Example: A job consists of three split parts (Part1, Part2, and Part3):

oJob Repetitions = 1: Part1 → Part2 → Part3

oJob Repetitions = 2: Part1 → Part2 → Part3 → Part1 → Part2 → Part3

Split Overlap: Extends each split part in the positive split direction, creating an overlap with the following split part. Constant vectors whose end points lie entirely within the overlap area are included in the overlapping split part. For an illustration, refer to Visualization of Special Options. This option is only available for Fixed Size Splitting.

Group Width: Defines the maximum size of the generated split parts in the selected splitting direction with Entity Based Splitting. Complete entities are grouped into the same split part as long as their combined size in the splitting direction does not exceed the specified Group Width. If adding the next entity would exceed this value, a new split part is created. Entities larger than the specified Group Width are automatically split into multiple split parts. Increasing the Group Width can reduce the number of split parts and may decrease the marking time. It is not available for 2D Planar Splitting and when Top Level Entities as Split Parts is enabled.

Example: In this example, the Group Width is set to 10 mm. With Entity Based Splitting, entities are grouped into the same split part as long as their combined size in the splitting direction does not exceed the specified Group Width.
The figure below shows two rows:
The first displays the entities with the center of the split parts in dashed lines.
The second row illustrates how the software is splitting entities with the different split parts named Part1, Part2, and Part3.
 
Entity1 and Entity2 together do not exceed the 10 mm Group Width and are therefore grouped into Part1.
Entity3 does not fit completely within the remaining Group Width, so a new split part is created. Since Entity3 itself is larger than the specified Group Width, it is split into Part2 and Part3. Part2 uses the full 10 mm Group Width, while Part3 contains the remaining portion of Entity3.

Figure 406: Example of Splitting with Group Width

Start Position: Enable this checkbox to define a fixed start position for the splitting routine. The specified value represents the absolute position of the selected axis. Use Get Current Position to set the current position of the motion controller as the start position. When Start Position is enabled, the Mark Trigger window is not available. In 2D Splitting, the axes move to the start position sequentially, as multi-axis movement is not interpolated.

Ring Center Position: Only available for Ring Splitting. This option defines the start position of the ring center in the X and Y directions.  

Job Repetition Gap: Only for 1D MOTF Splitting. This option defines the gap between consecutive job repetitions when Endless Job Repetition is enabled. The specified gap is applied after each completed job repetition.

Workpiece Movement: Specifies that the workpiece moves instead of the scan head. When enabled, all movement directions are inverted to compensate for the workpiece motion.

Automatic Start Position: Only for 2D Planar Splitting. Automatically calculates and moves the motion system to the start position of the split, provided the split is centered on the working area and the motion axes are at position 0,0. When enabled, a manual start position is not required and the Enable checkbox for Start Position is disabled.

Move Back to Start Position: Returns the scan head to the start position after each marking. When disabled, the scan head remains at the position where the previous marking finished, and the next marking starts from that position.

Keep Mark In Progress Active: Keeps the Mark In Progress (MIP) signal (Opto_Out_0 for USC cards or Digi_Out_0 for RTC cards) active for the entire job, including all split markings and axes movements. When disabled, the signal is activated only while a split part is being marked and is deactivated during the axis movement between split parts.

Cog Vectors in Overlap Area: Splits vectors in the overlap area using a cogged edge instead of a straight edge. This distributes the split points across the overlap area, which can reduce localized heating and improve marking quality when many vectors extend into the next split part. This setting is only available if a Split Overlap is defined. For an illustration, see Visualization of Special Options.

Avoid Unnecessary Splits: Optimizes the position of the split lines to reduce unnecessary splits and accelerate the marking process. Enabling this option may change the order in which the split parts are marked. For an illustration, see Visualization of Special Options.

Do Not Recalculate Split Lines: Only available for Fixed Size Splitting. Prevents the split lines from being recalculated when the job is re-split. This allows entities to be exchanged without changing the existing split line positions.

Center Whole Job on Current Axis Position: Centers the entire marking job on the current axis position. When enabled, the first split part always starts at the same position, ensuring a consistent marking start position for every job.

Skip Empty Splits: Only for 2D Planar Splitting. When enabled, the scanner skips split parts that contain no marking data, reducing unnecessary movement.

Top Level Entities as Split Parts: When enabled, top-level entities are treated as individual split parts and are marked as a whole instead of being split into smaller parts. Each top-level entity must fit within the working area, and split boundaries are placed only between top-level entities. This option is enabled by default only for Entity Based 2D Planar Splitting. In all other entity based splitting modes it can be enabled manually.

oOrder by Start Border: Determines the marking order based on the position of the entities instead of their order in the Object List. If the outline of multiple entities share the same start border, they are marked according to their position in the Entity List.

Example: If the split direction is from left to right, the entities are marked from left to right. In the example below this would correspond to the following marking order: 1 → 2 → 4 → 3. If the split direction is from top to bottom the marking order would be: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4.

Figure 407: Example of Order by Start Border
 

oUngroup Text: Treats each character of ScWinTextChars2D entity as an individual entity during splitting instead of treating the entire text as a single entity.

Endless Job Repetition: Only for 1D MOTF Splitting. When enabled, all split parts are treated as a single repeating job. The entire split job is repeated continuously until the marking process is stopped. This enables the Job Repetitions Gap option.

Example: If a job consists of three split parts (Part1, Part2, and Part3). The Endless Job Repetition would look like: Part1 → Part2 → Part3 → Part1 → Part2 → Part3→ Part1 → Part2 → Part3 → ...

Split Part Placement: Only available for 1D MOTF Splitting. Define how split parts are positioned within the working area during Fixed Size and Entity Based Splitting. For Fixed Size Splitting, only the Center All Split Parts checkbox is available. For Entity Based Splitting, a drop-down menu with all three placement modes is available.  
Available placements modes:

oFirst Split at Border: Places the first split part at the border of the working area in the selected Split Order direction. The remaining split parts are positioned automatically to optimize MOTF Speed.

oFirst Split Part in Center: Places the first split part in the center of the working area. The remaining split parts are positioned automatically to optimize MOTF Speed.

oCenter All Split Parts: Places every split part in the center of the working area. Automatic optimization of split part positions is disabled.

Mode:

Axis: Defines the motion axis or axes used for splitting.

o1D Splitting: Select the axis that defines the splitting direction.

o2D Splitting:

▪Horizontal Axis: Defines the motion axis used for horizontal movements. The same axis cannot be selected as the the Vertical Axis.

▪Vertical Axis: Defines the motion axis used for vertical movements. The same axis cannot be selected as the Horizontal Axis.

Split Order: Defines the order in which split parts are marked. The marking order is a combination of the selected button states, which is displayed in the preview. Clicking on the buttons allows cycling through the available options. Examples of button behavior are provided in the 2D Planar Splitting chapter.

Button functions:

o / : Defines whether split parts are marked along the lines or along the columns.

o / : Defines whether marking proceeds from bottom to top or from top to bottom.

o / : Defines whether marking proceeds from left to right or right to left.

o / : Defines whether marking is unidirectional or bidirectional.

Split Part Size: Defines the size of the generated split parts. The available setting depends on the selected splitting mode.

o1D Planar and 1D MOTF Fixed Size Splitting:

Split Size: Defines the size of a single split part. The Split Size must be smaller than the working area in the selected splitting direction.

o2D Planar Fixed Size Splitting:

Split Width: Defines the horizontal size of each split part. The Split Width must be smaller than the working area in the horizontal direction.

Split Height: Defines the vertical size of each split part. The Split Height must be smaller than the working area in the vertical direction.

oAngular and Ring Fixed Size Splitting:

Split Angle: Defines the angular size of each split part in degrees.

oRing Splitting Bitmap Marking:

Mark Angle: Specifies the angular size of the ring section to be marked with the bitmap. Depending on this value, the size of the bitmap is modified to fit, in case the option Keep Bitmap Size is not chosen.

Diameter: Defines the diameter of the object to be marked. For cylindrical objects, this corresponds to the diameter of the base surface. This option is only available for Angular Splitting and Ring Splitting.

Height: Only available for Ring Splitting. Defines the height of the ring. For cylindrical objects, this is the distance between the two circular bases. The figure below illustrates the Diameter and Height parameter of Ring Splitting.

oMargin: Defines the distance by which the guide lines are moved inward from the top and bottom edges of the ring. The guide lines indicate the recommended marking area for optimal marking results. Marking outside this area may result in distortion caused by the curvature of the cylindrical object. For an illustration of how the curvature can affect the marking result, refer to Marking on the Side of a 3D Surface. This option affects only the guide lines and has no influence on the marking output.

Repetitions over 360°: Only available for Angular Splitting and Ring Splitting. If the specified Diameter results in a cylinder circumference large enough to accommodate multiple markings, additional copies of the marking are placed around the cylinder. The copies are distributed evenly over the entire circumference.

Z Tilt Compensation: Only available for Ring Splitting. Uses a preset configured in Settings → Extras → Splitting → Ring Splitting Tilt Compensation. Before using this option, at least one preset must be created. The desired preset can then be selected from the drop-down menu. The configured Angle, Spindle Offset, and the states of Spindle Radius to Ring Center and Engrave Inside are displayed for the selected preset.

Keep Bitmap Size: Only available for Bitmap Marking in Ring Splitting.By default, the bitmap is scaled to match the specified Split Angle. When this option is enabled, the bitmap is marked at its original size instead.

Tolerate Larger Split Jobs Than 360°: This allows a continuous rotation with an angle greater than 360°.

Move Forward to Start Position: Moves the axis to the start position after marking has finished.