As you can see the head is not moving properly, any idas where to start?
Welcome to the forum. I see you have been a member since 2015.
It seems that the engraves are crisp and the lines in focus. The outlines, however, are not always where they are meant to be. To eliminate some possible errors, it would be helpful if you printed the Gift of Good Measure and shared the result. Is it possible that the printhead was moved with the machine on? Is it possible that the material shifted or that the printhead collided with something?
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Yeah the neck of the guitar is screwed up on the engraving too. I’ll try to do the good measure tool as soon as I can get back to it. Nothing for the head to hit, and the leather was held in place. It’s been doing this ever since the belt snapped to the head and I had to replace it.
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Probably need to adjust the tightness of the belt.
Make sure the belt is the right way(teeth in- wouldn’t be the first time).
Make sure there are no twists in the belt.
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The score lines around the circles are off, but the engrave looks pretty good. Inspect your carriage plate wheels really well for cracks or problematic wear. Also look for debris in the belt.
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Looking at the GoGM pic, my first suspicion is the head is not level, it’s “canted” to one side. Might be the carriage plate on the rails, might be the plate itself or the magnets that secure the head to it.
Definitely looks like a “mechanical” (physical) problem.
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I adjusted the tension on the belt, checked the wheels for damage, and inspected the belt and the rest while it was apart. I don’t see any damage to the wheels, but suspect they might be the problem. It’s still moving to the left on the engraving process. Sometimes in the star of the logo and other times the guitar neck. It’s even at different areas on the material. I’m thinking of just replacing the whole carriage. I appreciate your inputs.
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Feels like the left pulley that the carriage belt goes around. The carriage moves freely when you don’t have the belt on, but has issues when the belt is connected. The tighter the belt the worse it feels.
Print the Gift of Good Measure with the new carriage plate and post a photo so a comparison can be made with the previous print of that file.
That is almost certainly a belt tension issue. What is odd, however, is that parts of the design engrave properly (the numbers from 1 1/2 through 2). The score lines for all but the large circle are ok, but the largest circle is not.
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I’m certain it’s mechanical as well but it is odd how it’s not consistent. For example, look at the areas I highlighted in red. The finest part of the scale, and the numbers below, are all sharp, but the area in-between is not. In the imperial version you printed, all of the engrave is one image.
I just printed one (I needed a mm version) but you can see how mine is pretty sharp. The reason it’s a little fuzzy is I used some unfinished ply so the masking doesn’t make as perfect of a “seal” against the wood fibers. Obviously I just compared the scale parts.
Edit - I just went ahead and printed the imperial version on a scrap of “Black and white board” (cheap MDF from Home Depot with a whiteboard surface on one side and chalkboard finish on the other)
The odd stuff is just from me rubbing my fingers over it to make sure all the masking was removed, or where I didn’t get it all. I didn’t see it until I uploaded the pic.
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Yes, i agree. When moving to the area to start the project, you can see the head “shaking” and you can feel it “catching” in 4 or 5 spots across the length of the arm when you move it by hand. It doesn’t do that when the belt is off. I’ve sent a message to glowforge, as I don’t see a way of replacing the belt pully on the left side.
The left side is the motor, so it’s not a simple pulley.
The motor itself may have a bad bearing. Have you been working with support on this?
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I contacted them yesterday. Hopefully they’ll respond soon. Thank you.
You could try. If you have an automatic email reply you should have the case number.
They still say it’s the tightest of the pulley and belt. I loosen the belt to where it moves smoothly and the belt is practically sagging. Then it does this.
These are printed 2 right above the others.
I tightened the belt a little and got this
The right two are good, the left two the neck of the guitar messed up and the cut lines.
Glowforge support is again no help, just watch this vide of tightening the belt.
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