? About Engraving acrylic

So I’m trying to engrave an acrylic piece for a buddy and for some reason it doesn’t like the file. Its nothing extravagant. Its literally an outline of Washington state with DOSH in the middle. Its 11" x 8" and I have the setting at 100 for speed and 35 for power with 3 passes and 225 lpi. It worked for a sample 6" x 6" I made him last week but for some reason it won’t accept it in 11" x 8". Any suggestions? DOSH11X8WELDED

loaded the file in my dashboard with the same settings and it works. Do you by any chance have it too close to one edge? in the grey margins that appear on the screen when you select the artwork. If so you can reposition it closer to the center of the bed.

If not some more information like a screen shot or any error flags that pop up would be helpful.

Hey thx for the quick reply. And yes I have repositioned it a few times. For some reason it just gives me the refresh error. Im gonna retry in the morning and ill let you know how it goes.

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No problem, I was mistaken when I said it worked on my end, I had 1000 set as the speed of the engrave. With the speed at 1000 it is a 3hr long print. When I try with 100 speed it gives me back an error, maybe due to the length of the print? I would think that something that takes 3 hrs at 1000 speed could be setting some sort of print time record when set to 100.

When you do get it working be sure to watch the engrave like a hawk. Most of the fires I’ve seen on this forum where the machine is destroyed was from people engraving or cutting acrylic and not paying attention to it only to realize they messed up when the glass lid explodes from the heat.

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Thank you again. I never leave the machine unattended. I hauled hazmat for 8 years and have multiple safety awards lol. I know to never turn a blind eye. I will try increasing speed by increments and see if that helps. Ill keep u updated. And again I appreciate the help.

Just wondering why you have such a low speed?

Generally, acrylic engraves are performed at 1000.

The machine does not have the ability to print for 30+ hrs.

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Well for the 6 x 6 I did for the test last week i looked it up and thats what was stated for power and speed so I went with it. I told my wife it seemed like an absurd amount of time for it but the final product turned out perfect.

I will definitely try it out at full speed tmrw and see what that does.

Not sure where you “looked it up” but acrylic is one of the materials that has “default” settings. You should always start with the Glowforge settings when available, and modify from there if necessary.

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Ya thats what we tried after the other settings and it still didn’t work. I dont think it defaulted to 1000 for speed. So we explored every other option besides top speed. Ill try full speed in the morning.

I’m sorry that you ran into trouble when trying to set up your print. It looks like you’ve received some great information from our other community members so far. Thanks folks!

If your next test doesn’t work, will you please share a screenshot with us showing what you see in the Glowforge App when the print fails to start? Make sure to include the rulers in your screenshot and show as much of the bed as possible

To take a screenshot:

Mac: Press Shift-Command-4 and click and drag a box around your image. You’ll find the screenshot file saved on your desktop.
Windows: Click on the Start Menu and type “snipping tool”. Open the Snipping Tool > New then click and drag a box around your image. Click the Save icon and name and save your file.

We’ll be happy to take a look at the screenshot and then follow up with next steps.

If you go for more power, faster speed and a higher LPI the horizontal lines you get with lower LPI can nearly vanish, and do it in one pass. The one pass will take longer but it will be just one pass.

I use full power, 1000 speed and 675 LPI. and setting the focus height to 0.2 will round what ridges occur, this goes just over halfway through the material so lower power will not be as deep.

Try first on small pieces till you get what you want, rather than ruin a huge piece. :grin:

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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.