Allowable cut size on basic

design artwork on a 20" x 16" canvas – when I went to set it up in the glowforge it won’t scan the whole proof grade material. I need to cut something that was 11.8135 x 11.7824 but it shows it is too large, I deduced to the very edge of the material on the screen but you can see when it is actually cut there is still 1 1/8" of room - room that I needed. Is there no way to use the full 20 x 16 area?


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Definitely not. The laser can’t possibly reach any farther back than when the laser tube hits the back wall. It’s nice they give us the extra room to position larger objects though.

They’ve promised a little more than what we’re currently getting. In the webpage they sent you to when you accepted delivery that listed all the current limitations to make sure you were ok with them, this was one of them.

The to-do there said that they were working on getting it to 20.4x11.5 for cuts and engraves will be smaller depending on speed (unspecified).

Today we’re still limited to just under 19.5x11, last I checked.

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Thanks, I just re read the email and it wasn’t clear, as the link to the dimensions was listed as “where are you going to put your GF” . Its no biggy just puts a damper on some ideas I had

You can put your designs a lot closer together than what you’re showing there, if you do it in a single file, and then maybe get the full size that you need.

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I’ve been able to cut larger projects with my basic, but it requires multiple cuts and very, very careful placement with a jig. The largest I’ve been able to cut accurately so far was about 16x16. I don’t recommend trying that until you’ve got your workflow down.

In addition, even in a basic, if you play careful positioning games with jigs and stuff, you can get extra Y distance by flipping or otherwise repositioning your piece. (Yeah, I probably shouldn’t say that until I’ve done a proof of concept)

Nope. Not at this time. 11"x19.5" MAX

Thanks for the help, all! @markwal and @rusty.tracey are correct - the maximum printable area is 11 x 19.5”, and it’s reduced somewhat when the laser operates at high speed, as it can take space for the laser to decelerate.

I’m going to close this thread - if you run into any trouble, go ahead and post a new topic.

Happy printing!

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