I wonder why did I purchase a glowfart… Without the internet, you don’t have a laser cutter… I am in the Caribbean and I wish someone could afford to buy back the machine from me. waste of my time and money…
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Maybe. Maybe not. I have a red dot pointer on the Trotec but use their registration marks all day long because it’s the number one solution to accurate print and cut, and the only solution to correcting a myriad of problems like rotation and scale that can occur with a printer.
I really don’t see how reg marks are a hack; since I was talking about the Trotec Vision that uses reg marks - do you know what the retail cost of that system is? About $5,000. That’s a lot of money for a hack. And, it won’t align your engraves like the Glowforge software will, only your vector cuts.
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Snapmarks was never promised, and hadn’t even been conceived of at the time of the crowd funding – it came along later, as an offshoot of the development of the passthrough software. Dan made it clear from the moment it rolled out that it was a beta feature and could go away at any time, and that if it was offered permanently we might have to pay for it.
He’s stated several times already some of them in this thread) that pro passthrough will always be free.
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Accurate alignment via camera was promised, but proved to be technically difficult, so snapmarks came about to fix that since the dream of alignment without registration marks never happened. Don’t get me wrong, aligning by camera is great compared to when it was released, but it’s still not reliable.
In regards to the Trotec comment, I have a pro Glowforge, I paid that amount, but now I have to pay extra for basic registration marks. You actually helped illustrate why I have a problem with this. Could you imagine engraving a laptop (a feature in the original advertisement for crowd funding) and having it be slightly misaligned?
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That may be your perspective, but it is incorrect.
Snapmarks were strictly to help with developement of the passthrough alignment process, nothing more. They also led to the camera calibration process, which all owners can take advantage of.
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That’s not how Snapmarks came about.
Also, with the camera calibration and the set focus tool, you can get excellent visual alignment; mine is now more accurate than I could get even when I had Snapmarks.
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That’s what I always did. I hadn’t used my X-Carve in 6 months and when I went back to use it couldn’t find the Easel Pro limited use. Your comment made me check closer. Yep, it’s there for anyone that was an Easel user before 21 July 2020. Thanks. I certainly don’t use it enough for a subscription. Kind of in the same boat for the GF Premium service. Nice to have, but can’t justify the cost for how little I would need it, versus want it.
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Actually, there is a workaround that I have used more than Snapmarks as that is keeping the work parallel and Set Focus and Precision placement to precisely place the work. The only extra hassle is having to break up the design so you can work all of it.
@samrcawley , did you ever run the Calibration routine for your machine and use the Set Focus tool?
If not, give that a run…it corrects for a lot of fisheye distortions.
Correct. The Pro Passthrough Alignment software will come with your Pro. It was part of the original design plan for the machine. It will be released to everyone when the Beta on it is done. (But you can sign up for the Beta now if you want to get started using it.)
We were told as they were being developed that SnapMarks were slated for subscription service. They were a separate idea that resulted from the Pro Passthrough software development, and not included in the original design specs.
I also have a Pro, and I will be paying for the SnapMarks through the subscription. 
But it sounds like you might not have taken advantage of the Calibration routine or the Passthrough Beta yet. You ought to look into those.
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I missed this thread and announcement. Based on what I was seeing in FB user groups I was initially worried and based on how some were talking wondering if I needed to subscribe so take advantage of the basic features promised when I first bought my what is now called a “Pro” in the crowd funding.
I’m sure glad I found this thread because it put my concerns at ease.
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I am honestly asking this question: So how are you achieving such accuracy? Is that accuracy only on thin stock or does with work with thick stock where you have to take out the crumbtray?
I am doing everything correctly: calibrate the camera (and the laser hasn’t moved since calibration), set focus before aligning the vector, I have an outline of the shape to help align on the camera, I zoom in to check alignment, I have my wife double check everything and it is still off by .1" which has ruined hours of work to make something ready for engraving. I just need it to accurately work.
If you are having that much trouble…the closer you can get to “directly under the lid camera” the better results you’ll have. Or have you tried using a jig?
Jigs provide absolutely perfect results, anywhere on the bed, because the cut line and the engraving are included in the same file, and so their relationship relative to each other is 100% accurate every time. They are also very handy if you are needing to do multiple engraves on several objects that are the same shape and size.
The way a jig works is this…
- First you create the shape of the object as a cutline in Inkscape or AI. (Or Corel or Affinity or whatever you want to use. Say a box lid that is 6" x 4"…you just make a 6 x 4 rectangle.)
- Then in the same file, you align your artwork to be engraved inside the cutout. You can use the alignment tools in your drawing program to get it perfect.
- Save the file with both the cutline and the engraving in it.
Then the trick is:
- Put some material like thick cardboard or cheap MDF into the machine. (Try to get something that is about as thick as the box lid that you are engraving on.) Pin it down.
- Cut the rectangle shape out of the jig material. Take the center out.
- Put the box lid in the hole and do the Engrave part of the design.
As long as you do not shift either the material on the bed or the design on the screen it’s going to land perfectly centered on the lid, according to the original design. (One note: The jig material and lid need to be somewhat close in height or you will need to adjust the Engrave focal point to keep from getting blurry results.)
That might seem like more work to take it in two stages, but it works very well for precise placement, and you’ll waste less material. You can re-use the jig until you close the file, when it will need to be re-cut.
*(Or you can subscribe to Premium services because the SnapMarks do the same thing. They make re-usable jigs a reality. You only have to cut those once, the snapmarks can be used to align the design afterwards.)
*It’s been indicated that the SnapMarks will be a Premium feature when they are released.
Update: I saw your other post in Problems and Support and left you a much more specific set of instructions for your case. You have some special circumstances that you are going to need to make adjustments for.
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Off topic…Hi Tony. Hope you’ve been doing well. Nice to see you drop by, here.
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Thanks, life has been busy. Nice to see a lot of familiar people still here.
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Jigs, are definitely the best. Particularly for production runs. Optical alignment is quite amazing but slower than a jig since there is no figuring out time, it’s just load and go. I often tape the jig down to the tray sides or the bottom of the machine with blue painter’s tape off-cut, so the jig won’t move. it’s a little trickier if your object is weirdly shaped in Z like a spoon or something. Then you have to find sort of the perfect touch points for your jig so the spoon repeatably drops to the same spot. When I’ve done even short runs of stuff (like a dozen) I use a jig since who has time for all that figuring out stuff… that way text is always square, etc. also if your part needs th4 tray removed, you can of course build your jig as a 3D jig (yes, all jigs are 3D but you know what I mean) I mean if you’re doing 3 of something a 3D jigs is a lot of work, but if you’re doing 20, it’s a huge time saver. I’ve used jigs even with snap marks particularly for weird objects.
As an example of jigs, when I did the sweat scrapers at the barn last Christmas (they were spline curves) so needed something to hold them at the correct angle.
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I ran the calibration, which improved things a lot. When I need precise alignment, I place the target material in the center, where the camera correction is most accurate. I use a piece of 90º material to square my target to the front of the machine. In the GFUI, I use the Set Focus tool on the center of my material, then zoom in and place the artwork. So pretty much what you’re doing.
It’s been a while since I did anything that required removing the tray, but that shouldn’t matter as long as your material’s surface is within 0.5" of the head. If it’s below that, you’re not going to be able to visually align, because the lens correction will be off no matter what.
Since that’s not getting you precise alignment, then I’d recommend using a jig as @jules advised, or masking the material and running a very light score to check your placement before committing.
In @timjedwards Ancillary Mode Dial instructions he used an alignment method I haven’t seen before or since. I’ve never been able to wrap my brain around it completely, but it worked for me, so it’s maybe something you could try with the “light score” method for placement:
- Print the shape on a color printer.
…- Lightly etch the red guide lines near the target as displayed. Don’t get too close, you don’t want to hit the ring itself.
- After the view refreshes, zoom in and align the image with the etched guidelines. Now you’ll get an accurate cut!
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I have snapmarks, but use a jigs most of the time. I won’t be crying when they get taken away.
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I checked and double checked, but I must have missed it. Can you point to where he said it.
I saw this in regards kettlerbrian question to what happens to snapmarks after Novermber 3rd if you already have them:
Disabling snapmarks to those that already have them is an action and is something more than nothing. Doing nothing would mean nothing changes if you already have them. I understand this feature is planned to be turned on for every Premium member at some point in the future.
I hope this makes sense. If you already have Snapmarks and do not sign up for Premium, will the Snapmark function become disabled after November 3rd? A simple yes or no from Dan or Glowforge staff would clear this up.
Also, if the response is no and you are still not a Premium member, will the Snapmark function become disabled if you already have it when it is rolled out as a Premium feature?
Which part of “Premium will be required to access them” is unclear??
They will be removed if you are not a premium subscriber.
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(This was part of my post on an article on made on glowforge, someone asked me to post here)
I had some feedback on glowforge Premium:
1.) $15 a month seems high. $5/month seems more reasonable
2.) Has anyone noticed any speedup of jobs since premium started? or are we to expect the free jobs to start running way slower?
3.) While I LOVE that we can add fonts in the interface, we can not have those fonts follow a path, or even rotate letters, both features I would expect if you are paying $180/year for the software use.
I am wishy-washy on whether I want to spend the $15/month … I like the font selection better at dafont.com , much more choices, and the fonts are organized unlike glowforge interface.
But, it is quicker to not use inkscape to create fonts layed out the way I like.
I’m curious as to what others think?
As long as I am giving feedback, I was wondering, have they created a way for you to see how many hours of lasering you’ve done on your glowforge?
I saw it mentioned years ago as a desired feature, but have not seen it yet.
On more feature request for premium would be the “Repeat Last Job” option, so the Ultra Fast servers could just redo what I had just done on the previous 10 jobs. I laser cutting boards, Christmas ornaments, shot glasses, bottle openers and often need to repeat the last job. If processing a job is compute intensive, why redo it?
Or, could there be a way to process it on the local computer, and submit the processed job to the web interface? (Getting away from the need to keep increasing the glowforge server farm?)
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