Chipping

Community Support
1

I printed all day yesterday just to find out everything on all materials has come out chipped.
None of the settings were changed and I have printed off these files MANY times. The machine has been cleaned, and I am aboluly stumped as to why this is happening.

I’m printing at full power on 1/8" acrylic and I have printed from these pieces of acrylic many times because my items are small. If I print at 90% it doesn’t even cut through. Help!

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I’m not from support, but I’m just curious…are you using Proofgrade materials? If you are, are you using the presets for PG acrylic? If you’re not using PG materials, support will not be able to assist you with this.

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Yeah I just found that out! I am using non-proofgrade.
Why would all of a sudden it not cut on the my acrylic cleanly? The files have not changed and I’ve had not issues with these exact sheets before? It’s just so odd!

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I wish I had an answer for you. Are all your lenses and mirrors clean? With wood, it can be several things, but usually acrylic is pretty straightforward in it’s manufacture. Thickness can vary slightly, so that’s the only thing I can suggest…is to measure your piece with calipers. Someone else may have other ideas, too. Good luck.

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I think I figured it out. I printed a lot, on many sheets but after giving it some thought all the sheets that were jacked were from the same seller. It’s a good one too and I’ve never had any issues with them. I printed on others sellers acrylic with the same files and they came out fine.

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This is more of a beyond the manual section kind of question, but acrylic can vary quite a bit (manufacturer tolerances). As much as 10-20%. If it’s chipping, it’s flashback from the crumb tray, which means too much power, or too slow of speed.

@evansd2 has a good reference to testing materials and getting the optimal speed and power solutions, I believe. Maybe he will post it here.

You went from full power to 90 power and it didn’t cut. Your answer then is somewhere in-between those two settings.

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It’s #6:

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Hi @corhoads. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been running into some trouble with recent prints chipping. It sounds like you were able to get this resolved, so I’ll go ahead and close this thread. Feel free to create a new thread, or write us at support@glowforge.com if you run into any other trouble. We’ll be here and happy to help. Thank you!