Alignment wildly off

Tape some cardboard down on the bed. Have your design file with the art placed inside the shape of the hexagon. Ignore the design but cut the cardboard out. Remove cardboard. Drop in the coaster and then engrave your design.

That is a work around for an issue that should not occur, though. I can see slight misalignment, but a) not this much, and b) not within the same job (different actions, but same job)

Sorry. The quote wasn’t placed right. I was just thinking of the coaster. You are absolutely right about the earrings. That alignment and placement of the print is not within specs and needs an explanation.

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Hmmm, I might have tapped it when the camera wasn’t recognizing the proofgrade materials.

I appreciate the work around anyway and will keep it in my arsenal as other things arise. Thank you!

The Glowforge uses dead reckoning to know where the head is at all times. But it can only do that if the head is only moved under command of the computer.

If you move the head manually when it is on, the computer has no knowledge of this movement. This will make placement off by however much the head was moved…and if later motion plans cause the head to reach the physical limits, it will also cause distortions.

You should only move the head (or gantry) manually when the power is off.

If you notice any alignment anomaly, it’s good to power cycle the Glowforge so it will calibrate again.

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So I was away from my GF but eager to return and start over. Today, I fired her up only to find that she’s stuck in calibration mode with the head vibrating off to the left every 30 seconds or so…for 20 minutes! I restarted and same thing. What now?

Do you have any material on the tray? Sometimes that confuses the camera. If you do, I would cut the GF off, remove the material, then turn it on again.

Alternatively, you could leave the material on the tray and just move the head under the camera (with the GF off, of course).

I did have material in there. Took it out and restarted. Now the head is all the way to the right and instead of trying to jump on the x axis, the whole carriage is moving about an inch back and forth on the y axis.
I had hope for a minute! Any other ideas?

What is the difference between power cycle and reboot?

Wait!! I also had to clear what was on the app layout and it seems to be ready now to take next step. Wish me luck with the refire!

I think when you just power cycle it, it restarts to a state it believes is a known good state. However, sometimes that is not quite accurate. It’s kind of like sleeping or hibernating a laptop. It can restart fastest from sleep, faster from hibernate, but a true reboot is sometimes required to clear up state.

I’m sure @scott.wiederhold can go into more detail if you want it.

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There is no difference. They are two different terms for the exact same process.
@johnse is referencing @jules describing the WiFi connection procedure.

Test print was ok! I do wish that you could add existing stored projects with the “+ artwork” button within layout if copy / paste is part of what was giving me difficulty.

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Nope. Jules was describing more of a reset. If you turn it off after the teal button, it does not affect the current WiFi settings.

Now it is possible that this is tribal knowledge that could be incorrect. Which is why I tagged Scott.

There is no “reset” that I’m aware of. Certainly an interesting concept though. Love to hear more!

First, remember that the Glowforge is essentially a dumb terminal. It has only one non-volatile setting that is user adjustable: the wifi configuration. The rest is set at the factory, with firmware updates, or from the cloud.

What is often described as a “reset” is actually just putting the device into wireless configuration mode. This happens whether you do it by holding the button down briefly while powering on (PURPLE button), or holding it for 15 seconds or so while the unit is on (TEAL button).

Both methods do not clear or reset any settings, and will only save changes if you complete the wireless setup process.

It may be less confusing if it were described as “entering wireless setup mode”, instead of “resetting”.

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I sit corrected, thank you.

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I’m so sorry you had trouble with your print.

I’ve extracted the data and it looks like the head had been moved prior to this print. I’m glad that restarting your unit has solved it and I’ve recorded your feedback for the rest of the team.

Please let us know if you have trouble with this again.