Engraving without the bed

[Eric.H]

I have seem to hit an issue when engraving items without the bed installed.
I have a board that is 3/4" thick, so I removed the trey and when I attempt to print I get the “scanning your material” window then just just stops and I can start the print.

The file itself is just a few squares tests a few different speeds and powers. I have noticed when I change the material thickness it keeps reverting to 0.433. Is there a setting or trick I do know about to print things deeper than 1/2"?

Thanks for any help

[BSheremeto]

you need to put something under the material to get it in the slightly less than 1/2" focal range. So, throw a piece of 1/2" material under it

[rpegg]

I know it’s overly complicated but here is a Tips and Tricks link explaining the process in detail. Basically the top of your material must be somewhere between 0" and 0.433" above where the crumbtray top was. The crumbtray is the 0.0" reference for material height. So the material height needs to be set somewhere in that range.

Tutorial: How to cut without the Crumb Tray (Honeycomb)

Tutorial: How to cut objects too thick to have the honeycomb in place The GlowForge has a maximum material thickness it can cut through, but there is a maximum thickness you can even put on the honeycomb (crumb tray) even if you are surface engraving as the laser has a limited focus range of 0.01" - 0.4" *** above the surface of the honeycomb at the time of this tutorial. But let’s say you wanted to engrave something thicker that fits quite nicely inside the GlowForge but not with the crumb tray…

[Tom_A]

Both of the above are the correct answer. I typically use a 1/2" little block of wood. However I’ve often thought of using LEGO­­ bricks instead so I’d have an easily-variable platform. But I’ve gotta say, I haven’t run into a case where my stupid 1/2" block of wood hasn’t worked for, so…

[dwardio]

@newbies_234 posted a great little calculator that complements @henryhbk 's tutorial…

https://community.glowforge.com/t/tray-removed-calculator/10927?source_topic_id=13933

[jaz]

Thanks for all of your help.

If you have another question, please post a new topic.

Good luck with your print!