I ran into an issue when trying to engrave something without the tray. Because it was low, it threw this new error, which prevented me from running a score border for alignment.
I think we should be able to bypass this error, and run a score anyways, as to make an outline to drop our items in to engrave.
That’s a tricky one for things that have to be supported just a bit to get into focal range.
Its great for knowing, but you should be able to say, I know its out of range, please let me do it anyways
Happy cake day!
Does it throw the error even if you enter a height that’s within the range?
I can’t manually enter a height. It has to detect a valid height via the head sensor.
What I’ve been doing is running it once to see where it checks for height, then placing a piece of material there for it to detect, and once it detects it, I slide a ruler in the passthrough slot and swat it off the top of the material so it won’t interfere with the score.
Huge PITA
great use of the passthrough feature!
LOL. I thought I was the only one who did that. I didn’t mention it because I expect a number of folks would find it to be a safety issue 
I don’t have the shields installed normally so it’s a double strike against me. But I’ll slide a ruler or piece of scrap in to move magnets that I left in places they shouldn’t be. Just have to make sure I grab the metal ruler when I want to pull the magnet out but wood one when I just want to move it.
I’m sorry for the trouble. If you remove the crumb tray, you may need to put something laser-compatible underneath your material to raise it up so that your Glowforge can focus on your material. For best results, the top of your material should be between 1.5" and 2" high, measured from the metal plate on the bottom. You can enter this measured height into the “Use Uncertified Material” box.
Could you please try this and let me know how it goes?
I have gotten my machine to run a score on some paper at the very bottom of the machine. The mark was so fat, defocused, and wide that it seemed useless as an alignment tool.
I’ve done that, but it defeats the purpose.
I had an urn lid that was 1” thick that needed to be placed inside an outline I engraved on the board it was sitting on. I was unable to engrave the outline on the board it was sitting on because that board was not in focal range. If I moved the board it was sitting on into focal range, then back down, it would get rid of the alignment marks I just engraved into it.
I was previously able to run jobs beyond the focusable area. It was very useful.
Please allow me to override this inability
I’ve actually used this a few times and didn’t have a problem.
It didn’t really matter if the line was wider, as I just needed to make sure what I was engraving was centered in that outline.
I agree with you here. But just thinking about ways around it, since that’s what we’ve got. You could support your Snapmark jig up to the box top height, and snap to that? Maybe? Guess it might depend on the item shape, etc also.
I can think of other intricate ways but they would be kind of a pain.
I actually couldn’t do that which is why I had to draw the line. If the snapmark piece is down too low it can’t recognize it.
It would be pretty easy for them just to pop up a warning that you could accept or cancel instead of deciding to cancel the job for you.
I know we asked them for a calculator or warning, but IMO this actually removed a useful feature instead of adding one.
I’m curious, why not just raise the object into the target range?
He’s running an outline of the object on a piece of sacrificial material to locate it properly for the engraving (in the file: an outline that mimics the shape/dimensions of the object being engraved, and the engrave positioned in relationship to that outline).
Basically, coloring within the lines 
I think the only time I’ve had to do this was on my MacBook, but that must have been before the height warning.
@takitus I’m wondering here, and might be worth a shot. I know you can run jobs on an empty crumbtray, but I think you have to set the focal height separate/different from the material height field.
I just ran a quick test. A piece of chipboard with the tray removed and a 5x5” square in the design. It’s warped pretty good, a decent bow in it (long story), but well below the crumbtray height.
Put material height at .1” and the focal height at .01” - and it processed the job. But i only ran it at 5 power, so you could just see a slight mark at the corners.
I upped the power and ran it again - and it gave me the error.
I changed the material height and the focal height just slightly again, upped the power to leave more of a mark. And it processed the job.
Ill try this out! Nice find!
One by one, I’m giving away all of my tricks lol
Thanks for the additional details, @takitus. I have a better understanding of the workflow you’re using now, and why the current solution of raising the material doesn’t suit your needs. Sorry for the confusion early on! I’ve passed your request to the team along with your feedback. Additionally, I’ve moved this thread to the Beyond the Manual section so the discussion can continue there.
