I am getting an uneven engrave depth on circular wooden pins with our logo.
I attached a screen shot of my Illustrator project and photos of the issue. I would greatly appreciate any tips on getting a nice, even engrave. I am using medium basswood hardwood the default settings.
Thank you in advance!
*The picture with 2 is medium maple plywood the others are medium basswood hardwood.
The way the uneven parts are consistent and laid out I strongly suspect the file is the issue, though I could be wrong. Do you have anything in the file that corresponds to the uneven area boundary? My initial suspicion is either a color issue that GF is reading as a less intense engrave or a double layer where one area is engraved twice.
Hey Steve;
Welcome to the community! My first guess would be that part of your “black” background is at 000001 causing that ridge. It’s possible that’s an artifact of the wood, but I’d double check your file first since that’s fixable.
Thank you for the response. It is a solid black fill #000000. Do the CMYK values all need to 100%? Thank you!
Thank you Deirdre I just responded to the above post with a screen shot. Please check it out and let me know! thank you!
You can’t guarantee a specific depth of burn on an engrave. You would probably be much better served by cutting a disc for the background. Paint it black. And then cut some veneer or something and glue it to the disc.
It is consistent on every piece of this design and I have done a few other designs where everything is even for every piece. I can’t figure out what the difference is in my file since its a solid black fill. It begins by engraving the desired depth and then about 45% of the way in it goes deeper, almost too deep that it’s a cut, for the remainder of the design. I am using the preset settings for the proof grade material I am using.
All going to be down to the wood. Not saying there’s not something else going on but I would never base my design specifically on the depth of cut on an engrave. You might get 20 pieces of wood mostly the same and then get a run that isn’t even close. Even proof-grade wood isn’t going to be the same consistency for certain. That said, if it didn’t turn out the way you intended, they may replace the piece of wood since it’s proofgrade.
Agree with every piece of wood being different but the fact that its such a drastic difference and consistent regardless of how I have them lined up on the wood seems like theres something else going on. Hopefully someone from Glowforge chimes in!
I’m presuming this is an .svg - but since it’s solely black and white, maybe save it as a raster?? It really does seem to be odd, and the issue-with-wood wouldn’t be repeatable :-/ Though, since you’re testing now - try running one rotated 90 degrees? If it still has the lip going across the grain than it’s definitely in the file. If it doesn’t have the lip that’ll prove wood-issue
This is Proofgrade, so this consistent line is almost certainly with your artwork. The Proofgrade plywood is an MDF core so it will be pretty even throughout. The hardwood would not provide this type of behavior as the grain would move the difference in engrave levels around the part.
We can see from the photo that the engraved areas between the legs of the note and in the bridge are shallower than the rest, which points to the way the image was made and not to material.
They will most likely want to take a look at the file that you uploaded to the machine. You can send that by email if it’s not suitable to post here directly.
It is an svg. I will try other files when I’m back at it! Any suggestion for which way? Thank you!
I own the trademark for the logo so I will try different file types and if that doesn’t work will upload my .ai when I’m back in the office! Thank you all.
BTW, it’s a beautiful logo 
You’re getting a lot of lines from uneven engraving in places as well. Is this Proofgrade Basswood or Maple plywood? PG Ply has an MDF core so it should be much more uniform. Also - which PG settings specifically? There are Draft, SD or HD graphic options.
The picture with 2 pins in it is the PG Maple Ply. The other pictures are the PG Basswood. I have been using the default SD settings. SVG uploaded thank you!
Well I just ran this on a scrap of Maple hardwood using PG Maple Hardwood settings and SD graphic. No issue with the file. The lines are grain in the wood. Overall size about that of a $0.25.
Wow. I was totally wrong. That is really interesting that the basswood varied that much in that pattern.
I don’t know… they said it was in the same place with the piece moved to different parts of the material. The fill is solid black - it’s one object (circle with “note” design cut out.)
Thinking about it, I would suggest rotating the design in the UI and running another print. If the “shallower” engrave still follows the base of the notes, then it’s a file processing (not file) issue.
