I’ve been having a problem with my GF Plus cutting through my materials lately. I’ve cleaned the exhaust fan and air assist fan and all of my mirrors are clean. I’m just venting out the window so I’m not using my air filter because it was time to be replaced.
I’ve recently tried to cut 1/8" draftboard with and without masking and now just got this 1/8" White Colorboard MDF I ordered from Craft Closet to try because you supposedly don’t need to mask and can just clean with a damp rag afterward. Well, the flame pretty much obliterated the one edge.
I used the recommended settings of 170 speed/full power and as you see in the one picture, it was the cleanest cut but didn’t cut totally all the way. I then tried 165 speed/100 power with two passes and that was terrible with fire and charring, so I just decided I would try and clean up the big piece I would try cutting by sanding the edges if they were ragged by using the first settings. Well, it didn’t cut through at all, so I ran a second pass, which cut it this time, but it’s a burnt mess and obviously has ruined the coating.
Any idea why this is happening? Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated! I am making confirmation ornaments and they need to be white, not off white or yellow! LOL! I made a tester earlier where I cut and engraved first and then painted (pic also attached), but that’s a lot of work, didn’t turn out nice and white because of charring I had to clean off and also isn’t quite as clean of a paint job as I wanted, so I’m kind of at a loss as to what to do about this issue.
Is the small fan on the printhead clean? When you cleaned the air assist fan, did you remove it completely and clean the blades as well as the area in the fan housing? Also, if 170/full didn’t cut, the next step would be 165 or 160 full one pass.
Yeah, I took that completely off and cleaned it well as well as the printhead fan.
I did lower speed to 165, but at the same time, I also lowered my power to 100 with two passes and it was really bad. I can try 165 speed/full power and see what happens.
As far as I can tell, it seems to be auto focusing just fine, so I don’t think that’s an issue.
Okay. I just tried 165 Speed/Full Power and it cut right through just fine! …BUT I still have a huge flame. Is this normal? I’ve attached a video for you. I was able to clean the piece up and looks like it’s okay, not yellowed too much.
Nope, your air assist is definitely blocked.
There’s a chute on the underside that aims the flame, and it gets blocked. Grab a qtip or toothpick and shove that up inside. Almost guarantee you’ll find something impacted in there.
Yep, that was sure it!! I’m not sure why I haven’t ever noticed that area to clean! It was terribly blocked up. In fact, I took pictures after cleaning it and then cutting so others might see where and what you were talking about and apparently two large chunks fell out while it was cutting! I also attached a video of the difference it made with the flame! Thanks @deirdrebeth!
As noted, the flame happens when not enough air was happening. The good thing about the smoke is that it leaves a trail in the direction of the air movement. If the fan is doing its job any smoke trails will be pointed directly forward, when not doing its job the trails will drift to the left following the exhaust. If the exhaust is also not strong enough they will drift every which way.
If there is an inline fan of more than 250 CFM the smoke will move faster and have less time to land anywhere. If you are sending the smke out the window then a filter is not needed. The higher the CFM the less time the smoke has to land anywhere.
MDF is the dirtiest material you can use and would be my guess why you were having such issues with the crud, and would kill your filter in weeks. Real plywood without MDFis very much easier and cleaner to cut. Aspen, basswood , and maple are the whitest woods available.
This is really good information! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! If I have further issues with the white MDF discoloring, I will try Maple. I’ve got some of that on hand! The first picture of the test ornament was made using untreated light MDF. It didn’t have any protective coating on it. Do you think it would help to spray the sheet with Shellac prior to cutting and engraving? I just wonder if that would help keep the white paint from turning a dirty yellow white. I didn’t pretreat that in any way prior to engraving and cutting and before painting.
Any engraving will obviously go through any paint. But, if you used white acrylic paint then the Zeiss wipes you should be using for the lenses will wipe away any crud you get. I think that you will find that a decent fan of say 400+ CFM plus the lesser rate of creating that crud by not using MDF will create little for the Zeiss wipe to do.
I have two pictures posted above where mine was clogged. The chute is right under the laser head. It’s difficult to see unless you have a straight line of vision so you’ll want the door open in order to see it.
…BUT I still have a huge flame. Is this normal? I’ve attached a video for you. I was able to clean the piece up and looks like it’s okay, not yellowed too much.
