Camera Not Picking up Whole Crumb Tray

I’m wondering if there are any suggestions for when the camera is not viewing the whole crumb tray when trying to print? I am wasting a lot of material and/or time moving the piece I am cutting around so the camera picks it up. I have cleaned my machine multiple times and also did the re-calibration to see if it would help, but still no luck. My Glowforge still cuts great! I am just hoping to be able to create a design that fills a whole sheet and be able to cut more efficiently. As opposed to having to move the piece around on the crumb tray in order for it to be in the camera viewing area. Here are some pics to illustrate what I am talking about.

From the picture below you can see that in order to cut on the top of the material, I had to move it all the way down to where the handle part is on the crumb tray, thus rendering that part of the material unusable.

This picture shows the roughly 2in of space at the top of the crumb tray that the camera is not picking up.

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated!

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That’s normal. You can zoom out to see the whole bed.

Can you use the hand tool to drag the view down? My machine is not on, but mine shows the entire ruler if I drag the view so that the ruler shows. What does it look like if you scale out to 67%?

This is what it looks like when I zoom out. When I use the hand tool, it will not give me a greater view or allow me to view other areas of the material. Zoomed out 67%|690x380

You appear to be looking at the maximum area of 12"x20". The laser can’t access the whole bed.

When you zoom out you can see the entire honeycomb tray. As others said, the laser can’t access the entire area. When the laser is in the home position top left, there is material behind and to the
right of the printhead that aren’t reachable as the laser cannot print behind itself or further than the carriage will allow it to move to the right. If, however, the hand tool doesn’t allow you to move the viewable area around, something is not right.

There’s always a strip across the top and down the left side that you can’t see on the camera. The laser can’t reach those areas, so it doesn’t matter – the camera shows you the entire printable area. :slight_smile:

I actually can’t view my entire crumb tray when I zoom out and I cannot use the hand tool to move around the whole bed. I used to be able to and something switched to where I can’t now. @geek2nurse how much space is typical on the top which is unusable? Mine right now is close to 3 inches. I used to be able to cut closer to the top of proofgrade than that…

You can’t ever see the full crumb tray, no matter how much you zoom or move around with the hand tool. :slight_smile: When you say 3 inches unusable, are you saying 3 inches of crumb tray, or 3 inches of a piece of 20" by 12" material? The full cuttable area is around 19" by 10.5" give or take.

Maybe put a piece of PG material in the crumb tray, align it with the front edge of the honeycomb, then take a screen shot of the full bed view, so Support can evaluate it for you.

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This diagram might help to explain it. There is about an inch of material hidden underneath the thumbnail column on the left. You might think you’re placing the design in the upper left corner, but you won’t be. If you want to efficiently use a whole sheet of material, work out from the lower right corner. (Where the Black Star is located) Make sure the metal gridded area is completely covered with material. And you can rotate the remainder of the sheet so that the uncut areas are down in the lower right corner for use of the unreachable areas.

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The fact that the hand tool doesn’t move the image around is definitely a problem. Have you tried a different browser?

Your Glowforge bed can accommodate materials measuring 18 x 20.4”. Your Glowforge has a maximum printable area of approximately 11″ (279 mm) deep and 19.5″ (495 mm) wide, and it’s reduced somewhat when the laser operates at high speed, as it can take space for the laser to decelerate.

This means not all of the bed is displayed, or available to be printed on, so there will always be about an inch of space on the left. This material can be reused as scrap later for small pieces. For example, a lot of customers use small pieces of scrap to print these pins available in the free laser design section: Honeycomb bed holdown pins

There is a test you can run that will make sure you’re able to use the expected print area. Could you please do the following?

Make sure your Glowforge is clean and level

  • Turn off your Glowforge.
  • Check for small pieces of debris or dust.
    • Check the lower door to make sure it closes all the way. It may require some force to open, but open it, wipe any dust off the edges, and close it all the way.
    • Remove the tray and clean any dust or debris from the surface underneath. Pay careful attention to remove all debris from the four dimples where the tray rests.
    • Check the lid to make sure it closes all the way. Small particles of material, such as dust or debris, can prevent it from closing completely.
  • Check the surface your Glowforge is on to make sure it’s flat. Ensure your Glowforge is not twisted slightly and that there is no debris propping up one side of the machine.
  • Turn your Glowforge back on.

Create and upload a test file

  • Create a file with a rectangle with a stroke and no fill that’s 10.95" by 19.45". (If you’d like instructions on how to do that, just let us know.)

  • We included an extra piece of Proofgrade Draftboard with your materials shipment for troubleshooting. Place a full sheet of Proofgrade Draftboard in the center of the bed.

  • Sign in to app.glowforge.com and upload your file

  • When your file opens in the workspace, drag your design so that it’s centered

  • Take a screenshot of the workspace to show us the artwork placement. Make sure to include the rulers in your screenshot and show as much of the bed as possible.

    • Mac: Press Shift-Command-4 and click and drag a box around your image. You’ll find the screenshot file saved on your desktop.
    • Windows: Click on the Start Menu and search for the Snipping Tool. Open the Snipping Tool > New then click and drag a box around your image. Click the Save icon and name and save your file.

If your screenshot doesn’t show the full design, please contact us so we can investigate.

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Thanks for the suggestion! It seemed to have fixed when I switched browsers. My browser just to happened to update yesterday so not sure if that did the trick…but it’s working now.

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Thanks so much for the diagram Jules! Very helpful!

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Thanks for the help @dklgood and @jules! I am so glad you were able to resolve the trouble. I am going to close this thread now. If you have any other questions, feel free to start a new thread or email us at support@glowforge.com.

Happy Printing!

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