This has happened to me several times, but tonight it may be the most expensive. I uploaded files, and made substantial changes as they were positioned in the app. I am working with acrylic so I am cutting first, where I can keep a close eye on things and then clean the lens and mirrors before the engrave part. As I did this, the app window somehow reloaded to an older version and now everything is messed up and I have to somehow guess proper alignment. Why does this keep doing this? Is it a bug? It is a serious problem when it happens during a multi-stage job.
When you open the lid, the camera/view/overlay is reverting back to a default. If you arenāt moving anything - material wise or in the app, everything should be lined back up.
Iām confused as to why you feel the need to clean before the cut and engrave. Should be no reason to have to do that in between the operations.
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Never heard of thatā¦ though have had some painful losses due to one reason or anotherā¦
But something I just finally realized (or maybe one of the recent updates?), once you had the images as you like them in the GFUI, right click and āsave asā and it will go to your computer, so easy to load again.
And if you use Inkscape, and likely Illustrator lets you do this too, IMPORT the etching file, and most types will load in so you can align them in the program, and donāt always have to align the etching and cutting files in the GFUI.
Cleaning between steps is a great idea on acrylic!
But if you run the camera calibration, it gets really, really closeāI finally ran it and first job I couldnāt tell where it was etched since it was exactly where the GFUI image showed it to be, and I was used to being a bit off, even right under the camera lens!
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Even not opening the lid, if you have used set focus to do a pass, and then run another pass the focus will revert to zero height that will throw everything off.
I frequently run the engrave first and then only cut when I am satisfied with the depth of the engrave and though I have not opened the lid in that time I use set focus near but not on the area engraved often two or three times to make sure it is the same before running the cut again.
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I agree with this. In fact, acrylic is one of the ācleanerā materials you could be using in the Glowforge. I use lots of it.
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Just going to add my two cents on this too; cleaning between operations is way overkill and not necessary. This opinion may be way off base, but as much as dirty optics arenāt good, that much cleaning may not be good for the optics either. I do mostly acrylic and clean them maybe once a week depending on how much engraving.
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Recommended is every 40 hours of operation (that means while cutting or engraving, not just powered on). Thatās an average, but in the middle of a job is definitely not required.
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Unfortunately, I am getting a lot of flaming on both machines, and it caused a fire and has temporarily disabled one machine (waiting for a new carriage plate and belt). The flaming, not only posing a fire hazard, is allowing soot to build up on the windows/lens of the laser head as well as on the engraves if I do them last, which is hard to remove. I am adding an external fan and will see how to clean the air-assist. But it was because of the rapid build up of this soot, actually, that the machine turned off with an orange button, and the files reverted to an older version. I hope to correct the flaming issue. But I would also like to learn how to make the latest version of upload, the default file so that this doesnāt happen to me again. Thank you.
Flame = bad
Is your head fan working? It should really keep flames at bay.
How thick is your acrylic? What settings are you using?
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Couple of questions here:
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Are you using the default Proofgrade settings? You need to be really careful with acrylicā¦most of the fires that got out of control were acrylic fires. (Corrugated cardboard and foam as runners up.)
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Do you have the Pro/Plus models or a Basic?
I have a Plus and Basic and both are having the same problem with flaming during cuts. The Plus is the one that had the fire which damaged the carriage belt and is waiting for a new carriage plate. I am using proof-grade material and settings. I am very wary of cutting acrylic now though engraving seems fine. This is why I want to separate the two operations because I cannot sit in there during a long engrave, waiting for the risky cut part. And if there is any flaming, I rather have the material masked and without exposed engraved to collect soot.
Even if we solve the flaming issue, I will never, ever, take cutting acrylic for granted and assume it is clean, even if it appears that way at the moment.
Okay, the reason that I asked isā¦most people arenāt aware of it, but there are different speed settings for cutting most materials between the Basic and the Plus/Pro models. If your Plus machine has been set up accidentally with the Basic settings (which I could easily see happening if a person has more than one kind of machine) then you will be cutting on the acrylic at much too slow a speed, and that will increase the flame, char and fire chances for the Plus machine.
You can check this by opening a cut of any kind, choosing Acrylic as your material (whatever thickness you were cutting when you lost the belt) and look at the Speed and Power settings showing for the default Proofgrade material.
Open up a file and look on the Plus machine, and do the same on the Basic machine. Write the power and speed settings down for both machines. They should not be the same. If they areā¦that might be the problem.
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Iām so sorry to hear you are having trouble with your design. You may not see a design (and see a āNo Artworkā message) if the original designās artwork was deleted while preparing a print. When you edit a design on your Workspace, the changes are automatically saved as you make them. That means that if you close your browser, navigate to another page, or just hit refresh, your work will pick up right where you left off.
Should you make a change by mistake, you can use undo any time until you leave or refresh the page. If you want a clean start, you can always go to your dashboard and click the upload button to upload the file again. If you got the design from the catalog, then you can start fresh by opening the design, clicking on the three-dot icon, and choosing āReset Designā to remove all changes.
If this happens again, could you please send me a screenshot of what you see in the Glowforge app? 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. Youāll find the screenshot file saved on your desktop.
Windows: Click on the Start Menu and type āsnipping toolā. Open the Snipping Tool > New then click and drag a box around your image. Click the Save icon and name and save your file.
Send us the screenshot, and weāll be happy to take a look.
Have you opened a case about this? I donāt recall seeing it. If you havenāt, I suggest you do. Support will likely not help you with the flame issue in this āversionā case youāve opened.
The fans on both machines are working. But I am adding an external fan to both. When my husband returns from overseas, and we have the new carriage plate for one machine, he will take both apart so that we can clean the air-assist fans. We have not cleaned those. I am sure this is a fan issue myself and we are working on it.
It was .25 PG acrylic using PG settings. We have identical problems with both machines (plus and basic). A fire began in the Plus which destroyed the belt of the carriage plate. That is why we need to replace it.
I still think that, if you havenāt, you should open a case about it. Iāve had this machine for a couple of years now. Cut a fair bit of acrylic. Not once did I end up with flame. Of course, you may use your machine way more than I have and have more build-up. Also I try and keep the machine relatively clean. But I think Iāve only cleaned the air assist fan maybe twice now?
Anywayā¦ My point is that Support will be able to look at the logs of your fan speed, etc. and see if thereās some issue there.
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I AGREE WITH TOM! 
AND SORRY FOR SHOUTING BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE SUPPORT DOES NOT MISS THE 
PROBLEM! TO SUPPORT, PLEASE CHECK OUT POST #8, POST #10, POST#11, POST #12, AND POST#16 IN THE THREAD FOR THEORIES THAT MAY OR MAY NOT APPLY, BUT ARE THINGS THAT ONLY SUPPORT CAN CHECK INTO.
Thank you!
(Hopefully that takes care of it without another thread Tom. Another support staff member will see it when they next review forum threads, and hopefully escalate it to technical.)
To @paideaclassics ā¦ the way support works here on the forum is that each New Topic you create starts another problem ticket for you. They donāt have time to read all the responses every time in every thread, so they can miss anything that comes up in the discussions. And you buried the important issue about the flaming up in the machine way down the line in the responses. They will eventually see this, so you donāt need to create another thread now, but in the future, you want to keep to one topic per thread to make sure they see it. Thatās why Tom suggested you create a new thread.
The flaming up is an important issue. The reverting to an older version is a very low priority response since it deals with customers not understanding how the software works. Itās not going to damage anything. The flaming up might. So thatās the one you need to deal with promptly.
Keep in mind, the people here are guessing at what is happening, including me.
Support can see more than we can. So this is mainly to get their attention for your issue.
I asked for help with the flaming issue (which was what led to the fire) when I also asked to order a replacement carriage plate. The needed part has been shipped, but the rest of my email has yet to be addressed.
Yeah, I guessed that. Itās why I just escalated it. That needs to be dealt with. They might still be researching it which is why I floated the idea aboveā¦and I want them to see it and check it out. It might be an easy fix on their end.
Thank you for providing all of this additional information. Also, thank you @Jules for notating the specific posts we needed.
@paideaclassics I see you already emailed us about this and weāre working on it there, so Iām going to close this topic.
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