Hi
Has anyone experienced uneven cutting? There was a slight flame while cutting on some parts and then the outcome of the cut was uneven. This is one whole file obviously with one setting. What could have caused this?
Thanks for any help.
Very common on non-Proofgrade materials due to glue plugs, graining, knots and voids in the material. I can see a plug in that piece, and the black patch is either a void inside the wood or a dense spot in the glue.
That’s what they look like when you try to burn through them.
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Oh really… oh no. Gonna be expensive importing material.
Funny though cuz from the same plank I had a really good cut too.
I’ve had pretty good luck with Baltic birch, still hit a knot now and then, but less than with other plywoods. There are good MDFs out there as well, depending on what’s in them.
PG is definitely the most consistent, but if you can’t get it, there are other things out there.
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Hi
Well I don’t know much about woods as you may have read on my other posts but I got birch plywood in 4 mm and seems like no one sells 3 mm. I tried getting 100% oak in thin sheets and hardly anyone does it. It cost me £50 for 230 x 800mm which although I’ve never bought it before seems like I got ripped off 
Birch plywood <> BALTIC birch plywood. Baltic birch is higher quality.
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I believe you can try to place things around the bad spots by shining a strong flashlight through it…you can spot the voids and dense spots in the material and then just place the design around them.
The rest of the board might be fine and you just hit a bad spot. (And I definitely sympathize…seems I always land on the bad spot and wind up having to recut.) 
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Ohh ok. See I did wonder whether there was a difference. Hmm… now I don’t know if I can find that around here either huh.
Ah it could also be the fact that I got bored of cleaning the gf hence the flame.
Yeah it’s such a pain if you have to recut and especially if you end up moving the design out of place anyway.
For a living hinge I have had better luck using a veneered MDF instead of a hardwood.
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Oh ok. I did consider that. When making bespoke products I do worry whether plywood or hardwood etc makes a big difference and although I know it does I see products from both materials selling at similar prices.
Would you know if Glowforge help with building business in anyway? Asking cuz I saw Glowforge referrals on Instagram
The referral program has been out for a while…it basically nets a spiff for the referrer and a discount for the purchaser. (Might be a USA only thing though.)
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I feel the homogeneous nature of MDF gives better flexibility then the grain of a hardwood.
I think any business could benefit from the ability to customize and personalize with laser engraving.
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Yeah that’s true.
Oh right ok. I didn’t know about it. Il look into it.
Thanks
But when I see laser cut bags I wonder if they and other similar items are made from hardwood faced mdf or just pure hardwood. You can’t really tell the difference and nor do they mention it, also if you do find out the material they are more often similar prices
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They are likely faced mdf. You have to be careful of the grain direction with hardwoods…it tends to split easily in one direction (and I’m sorry, I can’t remember if that’s with the grain or against it…it’s been a while since I ran any hardwood tests with hinges.)
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Since this problem is being seen on materials that were purchased from another company, we can’t offer support for prints that don’t come out as expected. Materials may vary widely from piece to piece, even if they’re created by the same manufacturer. I’m going to move it to Beyond the Manual so other folks here can help. Should this happen with a print on Proofgrade materials, please open a new ticket in Problems and Support and we’ll help you right away!
Ok yeah that must be the case.
Thanks