Me and my co-worker have been having issues with engraving a logo precisely on stainless utensils. The process is pretty simple, we mix marking powder with alcohol and then spread it onto the stainless object. Here is the problem, whenever we’d put the said object in the glowforge, the image would be distorded since the object is 3d therefore playing with our precision.
here is the before engraving. (i used tape there to not do it on the utensil itself)
And after: Screenshot - c575f3a0d562d9aaa7fb3b146eaea1aa - Gyazo
You can see the big difference as to where i put it initially and where it actually ends up going. The image only worsens the higher i go on the board so it gets extremely difficult to predict where i should be putting the logo. If anyone has ran into this trouble before, please let me know as to how you fixed it. Thanks for the help!
Edit: Before anyone asks, we’ve done a recalibration before trying to print onto the objects.
What looks like is happening is it’s missing the handle, so your camera view is way off.
You want to create a flat surface (out of cardboard or something) that surrounds the handle and that’s the level at which you want to mark the stainless. That way the laser has something of the correct height to measure even if it misses the actual handle.
You can verify that it’s hitting the handle by watching closely as it does it’s focusing - there will be a dot of light that appears where it’s measuring.
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Hi @morgan1, Thank you for reaching out to us. I’m sorry you’ve had some trouble with your prints not landing where you intended.
I reviewed the logs from your recent print attempts and @deirdrebeth is correct, the red laser dot that your Glowforge uses to take the material height measurement missed the handle of the utensil.
I do see that you ran the print again using Set Focus and that time the print was successful. Whenever you print on non-Proofgrade material, especially narrow material, you will always want to use Set Focus.
The Set Focus target allows you to select an area to take a precision measurement of the material’s height using the red dot in the printer head. When you use Set Focus, place the focus area on the material, so it’s not near an edge. Then watch to make sure the red dot hits the material. This should help resolve the trouble for you.
On a separate note, I also reviewed the calibration prints that you ran. It looks like you are using the same piece of wood over and over again to run your calibration prints, you will want to avoid doing that. The calibration print is intended to be run on material with no markings or stickers.
The reason for this is because your Glowforge takes a picture of the markings that are printed, so that it can take measurements of the material height in multiple locations to make your camera more accurate. When you use material that already has markings on it, the camera will not know which markings to focus on, so reusing the same material for your calibration print could be making your camera accuracy worse rather than better.
Please let me know how things go after using Set Focus for your next couple of print and if you have questions.
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Hey @morgan1, its been a few days since we heard from you, so I wanted to check in. Are you still having trouble with your prints turning out or has Set Focus been working for you?
It’s been a little while since I’ve seen any replies on this thread so I’m going to close it. If you still need help with this please either start a new thread or email support@glowforge.com.