Welcome to Synrad Laser Marking Frequently Asked Questions
In a continuing effort to provide the best in customer support and technical assistance, we’ve created this information to help our valued customers with any issues that might come up relating to the use of our products.
This document will be continuously revised, updated, and improved. Please visit often and provide feedback on information that you think belongs here. Click on any of the underlined questions below to hyperlink to the section of the document that provides the answers that you are looking for, or simply scroll through the document to find topics of interest. In some cases, you will be referred to other technical publications elsewhere on the Synrad website, just click on the words ‘Click here’ and you should have the document displayed on your screen. Note that most of our publications are in Adobe Acrobat format, so you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed to view them. If you don’t have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you can download the software at no cost from Adobe’s site at http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html. If you can’t find the information that you want, email flyersupport@synrad.com and let us know what you need. We will be glad to help you!
Product Upgrades
Software
How do I save my custom date codes before upgrading WinMark Pro?
How do I upgrade my WinMark Pro software?
After upgrading my WinMark Pro software, my old files are marking the wrong size. What happened?
Firmware
How do I upgrade the firmware in my Marking Head?
General Troubleshooting
My marker doesn’t seem to work at all. What should I do?
Why don’t I get any laser power unless I press the Test Mark button first?
Why are some of my parts partially marked or completely unmarked?
How do I measure my laser’s output power?
At low power levels, my marks look great. At high power, the marks are trashed. What’s going on?
Why do I have to resize my imported graphic images in WinMark Pro to make them mark properly?
WinMark Pro Automation
General
What is an Auto Text Type and how do I use it?
What is the Event Builder and how do I use it?
How can I set up my mark file to select one or more of multiple objects to mark?
Hardware I/O
How do I set up my Marking Head to mark automatically with a PLC?
Why does my automation only mark once?
Why is my marking head not marking the first few characters of the serial data I send?
My Fenix (or FH head) has four inputs and four outputs, but WinMark Pro shows eight of each. What’s up with that?
Date Coding
RS232 Serial I/O
How does the Serial port text input routine work?
How do I use the serial port to input data into my WinMark Pro file?
How can I get Serial port input data to format as multiple lines of text in one text object?
Will my serial port input data get lost if it is received by the WinMark Pro PC before the next part is ready?
Is there a way to force handshaking between the serial port data generator and WinMark Pro?
Serialization
Why doesn’t my serial number value increment when I mark?
Tracking Operation (Marking “On-The-Fly”)
How do I determine the line speed I’ll be able to support with my Tracking marking head?
Why does my Tracker marking head make smaller marks when the line slows down?
Why does my Tracker marking head mark diagonally?
Why doesn’t my Tracker marking head give me the line speed I need?
ActiveX
What is ActiveX, and how do I use it?
Using ActiveX, how do I change my font from Stroke to True Type?
How do I use the ActiveX AutoTestMark method?
How do I load multiple files and switch from one to another in ActiveX?
Other Marking Questions
Why don’t I see the object properties in WinMark Pro?
Is there a way to run two or more Marking Heads from one computer?
Definition of Terms
The following terms are used throughout this FAQ:
Mark Loop
The Mark Loop is the main body of the WinMark Pro’s automation scheme between the On Before Mark Session and the On After Mark Session Event Builders. (Viewing the Automation Flowchart illustrates the various steps in the automation scheme. The Automation Flowchart may be viewed in WinMark Pro by selecting the Help menu, then the Automation Flowchart.) Every cycle through the Mark Loop causes the laser to fire once. The number of times that WinMark Pro cycles through the Mark Loop in one Mark Session in dictated by the drawing’s Mark Count property. By default, WinMark Pro completes one Mark Loop each mark session, but can be configured to cycle a finite number of loops, or an infinite number of times (Mark Count = 0).
Mark Session
The Mark Session begins by pressing the F1 key or the Mark button on the toolbar in WinMark Pro or the WinMark Pro Launcher, and ends when Mark Count is satisfied or the Escape (ESC) key is pressed. Using the ActiveX MarkDrawing method, the Mark Session begins when the method is called and ends when control is returned to the calling procedure.