Can I use the FRONT passthru slot to trim my stack of 12x24 3mm ply down to 12x20?

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1

Can I use the FRONT passthru slot to trim my stack of 12x24 3mm ply down to 12x20?

It would save me a LOT of time!

Thank you.

2

You can use it to trim each board down, yes. Don’t try to stack them.

3 Likes
3

Yup - put a few honeycomb holddown pins into the grate, then set up a cut line 4" toward the front from those pins - then push the material in the front until it hits the pins, and click Print!
Repeat ad nauseum :slight_smile:

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Thanks very very much!

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Yeah. I do that a lot. It would be faster to use the sliding miter or other saw but, hey I’ve got a laser :grin:

I put a small piece against the left edge of the honeycomb tray so the cut will reach across the whole piece and some tape to let me know how far to slide the piece in. Then it’s simply a matter of using a line to cut and sending it to the cloud over & over. The waiting on the sending & prepping & final ready to go really makes you wish for a repeat-last-job feature.

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I use the back passthru myself. A bit more attention, but the majority of the weight ends up inside and is less likely to move. Also, I often buy the 18x24 sheets and just use what I need and not have a 12" x 4" piece of scrap hanging about.

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Good idea. I have a LOT of 12x24 in my shop because that’s the size my old machine used, but I’ll remember your 18x24 advice for the future.

Thanks,
Ed

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The “repeat last job” would be a God-send!

Cheers,
Ed

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9

But if you go in from the front and use the uppermost limit to where you can put a line to cut, you’ll have 4" past the cut towards the back plus 12ish" (11" usable plus an inch plus from the bottom to the door before it exits the slot. That puts only 2 1/2" hanging out the front.

That’s easier to deal with vs pulling the GF away from the wall a couple+ feet and pulling it from the back (with the cutline 4" from the front door). You’d need to nudge it through the front slot in addition to the rear to do better than a couple inches of unsupported material.

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The great thing about the pro is the ability to feed odd large sizes. With even the 12 x 20 there is often a large area of scrap, so having the ability to reach every part of the material.

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My Glowforge now sits a couple feet from the wall permanently for just that reason.

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Thanks for all of the answer from other users! These are all right. Also, @enewbold, thanks for the suggestions! I’ll make sure the team gets them. I’m going to close this thread - if you have any other questions, go ahead and post a new topic. Thanks for the discussion!