Feb 2017 Update

It’s possible to change the cutting order in the interface, but it apparently doesn’t have as much of an impact with lasers. (Coming from cutting paper and vinyl, I know what you’re talking about though. I had the same thought at first.)

Plan on getting the machine in either July or August, depending on when you placed your order. (@dan has said that the current schedule is still on track.)

If you get it before then, it’s gravy. If not, it’s not as much of a disappointment.

(We won’t know specifics until our unit has been built and we get the notice from Rita that it’s ready to ship.)

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I imagine the delightful combination of Sharpie® and Post-it®… all over Glowforge HQ.

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This totally made me snortle! :smile:
(I’ve appropriated your word Mark…it’s brilliant!)

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It can if you’re cutting lightweight materials and the air assist jostles them.

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You can change the order.

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So glad to find a group that appreciates my lexicon. I take a lot of heat for it at work. :smile:

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You’re welcome to order the operations however you prefer when you run the print.

You can plan around July (30-day campaign orders) or August (post-campaign). We may offer to ship it to you earlier, but you can choose to defer it to then regardless.

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Jira.

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Us too! It’s a solid choice

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Just a thought @dan, but might be something to offer to those of us more willing to be on the bleeding edge, is like the MS Windows pre-release program (separate from the whole pre-release program, I mean after ship) where those of us willing could get a jump-start on features. I knew I was too busy with an upcoming course of the whole current prerelease, but for individual features, like windows does, would be willing to participate.

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I’m just thinking out loud here, trying to wrap my head around some of the concepts. I’ve never been privileged to work with a CNC (bit based) machine before, so that may account for my ignorance here. When we start discussing the appropriate cut order, the standard seems to be, cut from inside moving outward. Makes sense, especially with a CNC where force is being exerted onto the material being cut. I can also see it being best practice where there is any kind of warpage of the materials being cut so that pieces fall out and move once cut. With a flat piece and a laser, however, I don’t see the same issue, necessarily (of course there’s always the problem if your material is light enough air assist might cause some movement) With a laser there should be no “force” applied to the material being cut (kinetic, anyway). Someone bail me out of this and educate me if I’m just totally missing it. :smile:

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You answered your own question.

Air assist on the machines most of us have worked on in the past will sometimes move lighter stuff like paper and mylar.

Then there’s the whole machine vibration effect.

I don’t worry too much about it with wood and acrylic but rather than have a separate process for paper, mylar, warped wood, etc. and one for dead flat machined stock, I just go with the inside out approach because that works for both.

I also tend to drop a magnet or two in the corners of light stock.

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There is also the fact that if your material is a bit domed the inner cuts will fall slightly. So for best precision cut the outlines last.

But the other consideration is that if you engrave first then you remove the masking film so when you do the outline cut you can add some staining to the engrave. So if you are sure it won’t move engrave first might be better.

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Less sophisticated software than GlowForge’s gets the order right automatically. It seems to me that (a) the default order should be inside out, (b) when you are doing a trace, as you are in this case, it shouldn’t require you to manually make changes to get the correct result.

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In response to @Jules comment that cutting order doesn’t make much of a difference on lasers, it depends on the materials and the support for the material. If a piece that’s been cut drops, shifts, or tilts, then the inner holes will be positioned incorrectly.

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Does it? Or do you have to design correctly to match the line work color in the drawing to the default programmed into the software? And if you design it incorrectly (or receive a file from an external source that used 112,23,200 as the internal cut color) then I would assume that you can order those in any way that you want within the software. If not, then I think that is poorly written software.

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I have seen some laser software do it (I don’t know the name of the software though). All cut lines were the same color and it reordered them. Manual ordering was also possible. I should have said “less user-friendly software” instead of “less sophisticated software” though. I think people are going to expect the GlowForge to do things like this automatically.

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You might find these helpful in addressing your concerns.
(Just posted today.)

Valentines Video

Question about cutting order in the video
Dan’s response

Or lasered pieces of Proofgrade!

Now you got me imagining laser-etched luggage tags with notes hanging all around the GF office! :smile: