0.48" Acrylic – Material Thickness Error Message

Problems and Support
#1

I’ve been trying to cut 0.48" acrylic and keep getting the following error message:
Your material must be less than 0.5” tall with the tray in, or between 1.5” and 2” with the tray out.

I’ve managed to cut this material just fine in the past but for some reason this error message keeps popping up now. Is there any way to fix this?

#2

Is it masked? Sometimes it has trouble measuring shiny / transparent materials.

#3

Yes I’ve masked both sides. And I thought it might’ve been a focus issue where the laser isn’t focusing on the highest part of the material but I’ve manually set the focus and I’m still having this issue.

#4

and you’ve double checked with calipers that it’s legit .48"? if it’s cast acrylic, it may not be .48" from edge to edge. cast has variance across a sheet, and 2 hundredths of an inch is definitely within that variance.

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#5

Make sure there’s nothing in the dimples under the tray, and nothing on the top of the honeycomb keeping your material from lying flat.

#6

I did double check it yeah. But the acrylic is bowing ever so slightly and won’t lay completely flat in the tray. But this is only on the outside edges. the middle section from which I’m trying to cut is laying completely flat.

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#7

I pulled out the tray, dusted it off and placed it back in. Still having the issue. What’s weird is that it worked twice before giving me the error message again.

#8

if the head is measuring the height anywhere outside of where it’s 100% flat and touching the bed, it’s going to read it as higher than .48". and .02" is a very very small variance.

if you’re that close to the maximum height for using the crumb tray, it’s not surprising that any little variance messes you up. i’d take the crumb tray put the acrylic on something that raises the surface somewhere within 1/2" of the head, but not so close that you could get an error like that.

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#9

Hello Alan2;

Did you get your problem fixed? Mine has been doing the same thing all day. I used the same exact material for the past few weeks and no problems. Today I am getting the message “Your material must be less than .5” tall with the tray in or between 1.5"and 2" with the tray out." I was using this material yesterday and no issues. Thank you and have a great night. Missy

#10

Could be environmental. Change of seasons can cause materials to do things like referenced. Changes in humidity, heat. Maybe ?

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#11

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re running into trouble. I’ve extracted the log files from your Glowforge to review your most recent prints, and compared it with the details you’ve sent over. It appears your Glowforge is experiencing trouble measuring the material inside of the bed. I’d like to take a look at two specific connections.

Could you please do the following?

  1. Turn off your Glowforge.
  2. Holding only the finished black surfaces, grasp the printer head as shown. Pull gently up and back to disengage the magnets and remove the head.
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  3. There is a small tab in the center of the wire ribbon. Push down fully on the tab to release it, and gently pull the wire ribbon plug from the printer head.
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  4. Take a clear photo of the gold pins inside the printer head where you just unplugged the wire ribbon. It should look like this.
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  5. Pick up the printer head and wire ribbon. Make sure the tab on the wire ribbon is facing up. Slide the ribbon back into the head until it clicks.
  6. As shown, lower the printer head over the metal plate so that it rests next to the two round posts. Then push it gently away from you – you’ll feel a “click” as magnets pull the printer head until it sits snugly atop the metal plate.
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  7. Pull the laser arm all the way forward.
  8. Reach over the laser arm, and to the left of the inside of the unit and you’ll see this circuit board:
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  9. Take a photo of the circuit board. If the cable I’ve indicated above with the red arrow appears to be loose, please reconnect it and try printing again. This cable should ‘click’ back into place.
  10. Turn your Glowforge back on.
  11. Send us the photos you took in step 4 and step 9.

Once we can review these two photos, we’ll send over the next best steps.

#12

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen any replies on this thread so I’m going to close it. If you still need help with this please either start a new thread or email support@glowforge.com.

#13