Engraving Verses Cutting

Hello, I’ve been using the trace feature to cut multiple small parts. However the laser is going back and forth first (rastering?) and then finishing off with the vectoring cut. This is causing my prints to take close to an hour and also making them look charred along the edges. What can I do to solve this problem?
Thank you for any input.

Maybe if you took a picture of the thing you are trying to trace, we could give some input as to how to get the results you want. The trace function can be a little confusing at times and won’t always do everything you have in mind, but there is probably some way or another to get what you want.

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Set the engrave to Ignore in the left thumbnail column. (Click on the thumbnail, choose Ignore up at the top of the popout column.)

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Duh! Why didn’t I think of that? You people are miracle workers. I can’t wait to try it out tomorrow. I knew there were two identical boxes on the left but didn’t make the connection. Wow! I’m hoping this shortens my print time and also makes the edges much cleaner. This is great news because I am printing parts for 48 students and each one has been taking 40-60 minutes. Thank you so much.

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Thanks so much for the help, @Jules! Based on the details you provided, @jgreen1, this should definitely cut down on the printing time and avoid the charring effect you mentioned. Could you please let us know how it goes? If you’re still having trouble, you can provide a screenshot or photo as @cynd11 suggested and we’ll be happy to take a closer look.

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.