Good morning! My son and I have been working on the Catan board and we are hitting some snags. I’m not sure if it’s my machine or the files. We have tried the files with both the zig zag edge as well as the flat edge. Both are not lining up. Once we put the 3rd piece with the other 2 there is a gap. I have recalibrated the camera (printed the gift of good measure), I have cleaned all of the lenses, I have tightened and cleaned the belts, and cleaned the entire inside of the glow forge. (I have also double checked that the machine is leveled… the lid closes all the way) I am attaching a couple of pictures to see if anyone has any advice. I have attached the two files that I have used - scored on draft board to try to see if they would work.
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I pasted your image into inkscape and overlaid a hexagon on top. Assuming all those are copies of one then your image is not exact on all sides.
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Thank you for doing that! I generally use Illustrator… I am going to go in and do the same… not sure why I didn’t even think of that. I should have created my own hexagons to begin with. 
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Welp, adding my own hexagon didn’t fix my issue. I figured creating a hexagon right in the Glowforge App would keep them exactly the same (copy/paste). I also double checked them in illustrator and the hexagon overlaid exactly.
Not sure what is going on… I tried to print the snowman globe ornament that is available for glow forge members and the bottoms of the snow globe didn’t line up either even after resetting the design.
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It is possible your machine is out of square. You could try cutting some squares and measure the sides to confirm that they really are square. If not, you may need to realign your gantry and clean the rails. Failing that, you probably need to contact support.
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thank you! There is a slight difference in the square. I will try this fix and see if it works.
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I bet your gantry is a tiny bit off. too much slack, or some funk on the belt or rails.
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I didn’t have it in me to tackle squaring the machine yesterday. This morning I realized that all of our squares are either way too big for the glowforge or the next size down is only a 6" square. I was reading through the directions on how to square the laser arm and they are using a 12" square. Do you know if this will work with just a 6"? Honestly I am petrified to pull it off the track
I did submit a ticket with support also now that I am realizing this is probably a machine issue. I checked all the wheels and belts. All of them are in perfect condition and they are all clean.
Thank you for helping… I’m not really sure what’s going on. At the moment I am contemplating squaring the machine, but honestly I am petrified to pull it off the track like the directions say. I cleaned all the belts and wheels and the assist fan and tightened everything up… still seems to be having the issue. It’s strange though because it looks like it cuts everything correctly, but when you try to line things up then they are off.
What about what you have it sitting on? have you moved it? put it on a different table/cabinet?
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I would think the larger square would make it easier to see and adjust the machine than the smaller square. You could certainly try it with the smaller square.
I haven’t done this to my machine. Mine is off square by a very small amount (less than a millimeter of skew on a 20cm square). I ordered but, don’t have a 12” square currently.
Mine has been visibly askew before. I was able to push the gantry to the back of the machine on both sides to get it realigned.
@ca_worth ’s suggestions about making sure it is on a flat, level surface are also worth checking. The body of the machine has some give and, distortion could also cause that.
I understand feeling timid about making adjustments to the hardware. Unfortunately, despite being relatively low maintenance, these machines still need some intervention on occasion.
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I have kept this on the same table for 2 years now and when I first got it I had to place some paper under the left side to adjust it to sit level. It hasn’t moved since I got it though. However, I am attaching a photo to see what anyone thinks about the lid… should it close more?
I am still waiting to hear back from support.
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Thanks! I am going to try to adjust it later today with our smaller square and if it doesn’t work then we’ll head out to get the 12”.
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I am just not sure other than what support says at this point.
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Thank you! I am waiting to hear back.
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It’s not a metal square - but you likely have pieces of wood that are square and 12"…
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Welp, so far no luck. The only option that support has had so far is to order a new carriage plate. I did that and tried the new plate this morning. That was not the issue. I have squared the laser arm, still not the issue. At this point I’m not sure what’s going on. I am still not able to cut exact squares or hexagons.
Frustrating!
Looking at the SVG in your original post, I note that the hexagons are not quite perfectly hexagonal. I made a generated hexagon in Inkscape and, overlaid it. Here is the alignment at the top:
… and the alignment at the bottom:
You can also see the hex wobble if you rotate it in 60º increments against a reference (e.g., a guideline snapped to the top point). A perfect hexagon won’t be different if rotated 60º.
It’s not a huge skew but, it would compound when trying to stack the hexagons.
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This is so strange… I have done a hexagon in both the glowforge… basically clicked on the place it on the screen button (selected the number of sides) and then copy pasted. I have also created a hexagon in illustrator and did the same. I’m not sure why it would be out of whack.
I just created another hexagon within the glowforge app… if you have time would you be able to see if the new hexagon (the larger one on this file) has the same edge alignment?
I appreciate you taking the time to help troubleshoot.
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I just checked it against an inkscape hexagon and yours is not accurate.
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