Did the Proofgrade settings change over the weekend?

I made keychains for all the adults attending a gathering last weekend. Afterward, I wished I had also made them for the teenagers that tagged along, so I got addresses from their parents and made a few more for them. I’m using a different board of the maple hardwood, but exactly the same settings.


(Sorry about the rotated photo - I’m not sure how to fix that.)

The one on the left was created a week ago; the one on the right this morning. Both used standard Proofgrade SD settings. Why are they so different?

3 Likes

Proofgrade settings almost never change (they do, but rarely). What does change is the state of your machine.

First thing I do whenever my stuff starts to look different on known materials is a thorough cleaning of the lens, windows, and mirror.

4 Likes

Hm. I cleaning certainly cannot hurt, and I will do that. But I don’t think anything was printed with the GF in between these two pieces, and that seems like a big change for two consecutive cuts. It does look like the maple on the right is a little darker, and I don’t know whether that changes the way it cuts at all.

Thanks for letting us know about this. I’m sorry your print didn’t turn out the way you expected.

I’m looking into it now, and I’ll be in touch as soon as I have more information.

Thanks! My GF is named “Maxim 59,” if you need that. I cut the second one this morning, and the previous one on July 18 (I think).

I had put it down to recent high humidity here in San Diego—but maybe not? I cut something from proof grade Medium Draftboard two days ago (using the automatic settings) and the laser failed to cut through the bottom paper backing completely. That has NEVER been a problem before—and I’ve cut a LOT of Medium Draftboard. I’ll guess try cleaning everything in the Glowforge laser path.

I’m having similar issues with cutting. It takes 3 cuts now even when using GF material. I have cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and it still hasn’t improved._

You should probably open a Support ticket for that.

But, if it’s taking 3 cuts - something is likely extremely dirty (but you’ve cleaned) - so aside from the dirty, it’s very possible you put the lens in backwards.

1 Like

thank you. Checked the lens, you were correct. I need to be better at looking at the details.

1 Like

We’ve made an update that should resolve the issue you were seeing. Could you try again and let me know if things are looking better?

It looks nice and dark in a way that it didn’t before. Thank you!

1 Like

Great! I’m so glad to hear that.

I’m going to close this topic. Please post a new one if you run into anything else.