Hello, i’m having problems engraving and cutting. I’m using proofgrade medium maple and am often (as of this week) getting a lot of distorted prints. I have cleaned everything with the lens wipes to make sure it wasn’t an issue with the camera or dust in the machine.
Check out my design / what was printed examples below:
To rule out possible causes, is there any chance that the material shifted slightly during the run? I have had small pieces of material of all kinds shift due to the power of the air assist. Maybe try taping it down or using a magnet.
I was printing on 12 x 20" plywood that had nothing else cut out of it. I was also watching, Ive never had this material shift during printing. The weird thing is that if im printing multiple, sometimes it turns out ok and sometimes the text gets distorted like in the picture with the two integrity buttons that were printed right next to each other.
Inertia? That’s a very small block of text - if it is being engraved or scored at a really high speed, you might have some head inertia going on …try slowing the speed down, and reduce the power as well if you don’t want it to get really blackened.
Is it possible anything is getting the way mechanically?
(ie: the ribbon cable is getting hung up or the gantry is shifting?)
Are you printing in the lower right front corner? (There have been a couple of issues lately with printing in that corner of the bed.)
Are you printing really close to the front of the bed? (Try moving the material back just a bit.)
Those are some other things to rule out that I can think of.
I’m sorry to hear that your print didn’t turn out beautifully. Could you please do the following?
Turn off your Glowforge
Check the surface your Glowforge is on to make sure it’s flat. Ensure it is not twisted slightly and that there is no debris propping up one side of the machine
Turn your Glowforge back on
Place draftboard or another Proofgrade™ material in the center of the bed and print the Gift of Good Measure using the default settings
Take a photo of the finished print
Send us the photo along with the date and time of the print, and we’ll investigate
I will try this out tomorrow after work and post the result here! Thanks for the response. Much of the proofgrade maple plywood material I have received has been warped and I wonder if that’s caused an issue at all, I try fixing it by laying heavy things on top of the wood for a night or two before printing.
It’s been a little while since I’ve heard back from you. I hope that’s because everything worked out! Are you still having trouble with this? If so, let me know and I’ll be happy to look into it.