Brand new Glowforge not cutting through "Gift of Good Measure"

I just printed the “gift of good measure” and it didn’t cut all the way through on medium draft board. It looks good otherwise. I printed on 10/1, at 5:35pm or so Eastern time. I only did a single pass, it’s my very first print on the Glowforge. I confirmed everything is clean (it was brand new… no smudges or anything), crumb tray is flat, etc.

Make sure your material is totally flat against the honeycomb tray – even a tiny bit of warp can affect cutting through. Honeycomb bed holdown pins are really helpful for this, as are flat magnets.

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@techyg: If your PG draftboard is warped at all then the Glowforge will need “help” holding it flat against the crumb tray honeycomb. You can check for that by pressing down with your finger in the place you plan to cut. If there is any “give” at all, then you will need to do something to fix that. I recommend that you find a place on the draftboard where you are certain the draftboard is flat against the tray and then try cutting there. :sunglasses:

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Thanks. I did notice the far right side of the draft board is lifting up a little, but the left seems flat and flush. I’ll see if I can dig up my neodymium Sou Vide magnets- those might do the trick.

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Thanks… I’m gonna try again here in a few once I find my magnets. I think you guys are correct. I printed again (still without magnets), and the second print seemed to get through a little more but still didn’t go all the way. I didn’t realize how finicky it was on being level, but when you think about it, it makes sense!

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Unfortunately, no luck. I tried magnets, and also taped the board down with masking tape on all 4 sides. It’s still basically doing the same thing- the laser isn’t going all the way through. I’m not really sure what else to do at this point. The board had no “give” where I tried printing it. In fact, it didn’t have any give when I printed it on the left side either, it’s just that the right side end was a little higher…

Is it correctly identifying the material? If the thickness setting is off, that could be the problem. You could try measuring the thickness with a pair of calipers to make sure your board isn’t thicker than standard.

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I just tried a different piece of wood, a sheet of 12x12 baltic birch plywood (1/8" thick). I used the settings for Proofgrade Maple, because I read on here that’s what someone else used and it worked for them. It seemed to cut a little better, and one of the holes actually popped out for me. But it still didn’t cut all the way through in most of the spots. The draft board measures 3.5mm in a few spots, and the baltic birch is 3.0mm.

Honeycomb pins work better than the magnets in my experience. (Try them. You’ll like them.) :smile:

Alternatively, if you do not shift the backing material at all or try to move the design on the screen, you can send it to cut a second time by hitting the Print button again with everything but the cuts set to Ignore, and it will cut again in the same place. Or set the number of Passes to 2 in the Proofgrade settings pop-out. (The little arrow to the right when you click on the thumbnail.)

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I will definitely check out those honeycomb pins!! I have a lot of learning to do. Thanks for the help. I will also try and re-cut it. Great idea.

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Ok, finally got it working thanks to the help from everyone here. The double pass cut trick got it to cut all the way through, thanks for suggesting that, Jules! I’m pretty sure my wood has some warping issues. The 60% humidity right now probably doesn’t help.

I used some masking tape when I cut and it turned out pretty good. I’m happy with it!

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Yep, looks good! :sunglasses::+1:

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@techyg: “Fresh” PG draftboard is more like 3.2mm in my experience. I too have had issues with high humidity and the Glowforge laser cutting all the way through PG drafboard—with default PG settings. I’d expect better with both the PG material and the Glowforge out-of-the-box. Maybe you live next to a giant body of water like I do (i.e. Pacific Ocean)! :sunglasses:

Please try doing this. Take out the crumb tray and check the four areas where it sits into the Glowforge machine. Make sure there is nothing there that could elevate one or more of the corners. Then check the bottom of the crumb tray in those same four corners. Then place the tray back into the machine and be sure that it is well seated. It should sit very flat and firm. Good luck.

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I live about 3 miles from Lake Erie! So yeah, that is definitely a possibility… The PG materials arrived about 3 days ago and have been in my basement since the GF arrived today, so it’s entirely possible it has swollen up a bit. I just tried the “two pass” trick on it, and it didn’t work, although it seems to work fine on the BB plywood.

I did notice that the crumb tray does not sit entirely without wobbling. I am not sure why, as I tried to eye up everything so the feet sit flush in the spots they are supposed to, but no matter what there is a tiny bit of wobble. I’m sure it’s throwing things off a bit. I’ll have to get out my level or possibly run a dial indicator gauge with the gantry to see if I can get it perfectly flat. Is this common?

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You shouldn’t have wobble really. If you make an effort you may be able to slide it back or forwards a fraction of an inch.

It’s also worth making sure you didn’t leave a fingerprint on the window of the head (it’s on the left side). It’s in a natural position to put your finger right there when installing it. Many of us have done it :slight_smile:

Also, make sure it’s turned/installed correctly. The black, solid tray portion should be installed to the rear of the machine. The honeycomb should be at the front (that’s been done also).

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When the PG draftboard does not cut I only have to slow the cut speed by ~10% here. Something else is wrong. :sunglasses:

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Tray “wobbling” is bad. That’s surely the issue. Check for debris in the depressions that (sort of) lock the tray in place. If not, then your tray is warped and needs some “adjustment”—with a hammer—just kidding! :sunglasses:

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Also, make sure that the surface the GF is sitting on is completely flat. If it sits on a non-flat surface, that can torque the case a fraction and could lead to the tray wobble.

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