This is a problem that is coming up more and more often. A while back I had image shifting when printing an engrave. I was told to remove the head carriage and clean everything and reattach the belt and tighten the tension. That seemed to work for a while. I will do that again if necessary. What I do not understand is why does the engraving correct itself over time. I am posting an example. Is there something I can do to fix so it does not happen at all?
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That’s definitely not something that should be happen - and while we’ve definitely seen it, yours is the first instance I know of it happening repeatedly.
I would suggest pulling out the tension screws entirely and checking for wear on them - and then replacing any that show it. If they show none at all, possibly they need to be tightened more forcefully?
How old is your machine?
Starting off slipping then running straight suggests to me a portion of the belt is more worn than another. If you’ve been using the machine to make lots of large engraves like that, I would think that’s quite possible the belt is slipping in those areas and needs to be replaced.
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I don’t know the age of my machine. This machine is my third one. Glowforge replaced the first two machines and I had to send this one in for repairs about a year ago. I have had this machine for about two years.
OK, well that’s a decent age. How much is it used? All I was trying to determine is whether there’s a good chance there is wear in the belt. It would wear in the areas of most stress, and if you do a lot of large engraves similar to your pic, it’s swinging the head back and forth at the same point over and over.
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Oh no! I’m so sorry you’ve hit a snag.
To investigate further, could you please send us a photo of the pulley under the laser arm, like the example below?
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Attached is a photo of the pulley. I tighten the pulley and I redid the image I posted was shifting and it came out straight. I do not want to have to tighten the pulley every time. Some have have suggested I need a new belt. Do I need a new pulley and a new belt? Please advise.
Doug
I’ve just reached out by email with more information.
We’ll continue to work on this with you there, so this post will be closed.