For Glowforge support - technical questions

Hello Glowforge… So far, so good… Loving it. But I have some questions that I just can’t find an answer to…

How do I change the depth of an engrave using Proofgrade material? In other words, which setting creates the deepest and the lightest depth? SD Graphic? HD Graphic? 3D Graphic… etc. Just looking for literature on what the different settings are and how I can take advantage of them.

What DPI of a bitmap graphic should be used to ensure a 1:1 cut?

Can I turn off the computer or otherwise close the browser window after the job has been sent to the GF? In other words, does the entire job spool internally to the GF or is it being fed as it goes?

Why won’t it let me place artwork up to the edge, or right next to it. It seems to want to cut off about an inch all the way around, effectively reducing the total bed size?

Is there going to be future support for different file types, such as .dwg? .ai ?

Is there going to be some more error handling if the file isn’t right? So, I get a more detailed message rather than “it didn’t work.” ?

For the Basic Glowforge, why can’t I just cut out the front part so I can have an oversize piece come out the front? And have the bottom be completely removable so I can just set the GF on something and laser away?

I have about a million more questions, but I’ll save those for a later date.

Thank,
-Erich

This is in part dependent on your file or design. The glowforge will engrave based on a greyscale meaning light areas will be the lightest up to black being the darkest. If when you put your image file in, and change any setting from the default to manual you will see the settings it would have used. For example sd engrave will use full power, 1000 speed, 225lpi and it will “vary power” which is where the greyscale thing comes into play. The very power is another variable you can change. I’ll let someone go more in depth, but this is a basic explanation. SD engrave will be darker than HD engrave, and 3D I believe is a blend depending again on the file.

Yes, you can. You can actually reopen the gfui on another device and see the status of the print as well. What you would do is login after closing the window, and then where the glowforge name is at the top right, it will show the timer on your current print. If you click on that it will reopen the current project, and this is the case on the project screen as well if you clicked out of the progression window and it disappeared. Click the countdown and it will reappear.

I’m sure others will come along and add to this as the forum has a plethora of amazing members who are willing to help when and where they can. Good luck in the future with your stuff!

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The potential reflection of the laser beam through that opening would make the laser a totally different classification and requires all kinds of extra safety precautions. Right now the Glowforge is set up to never let the beam escape into the wild. The Pro with the small slot has features to ensure that the beam is handled correctly, hence the safety glasses.

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Depth of engrave is determined by the power applied to the material. More power, deeper engrave.

You get more power by increasing the power setting until you hit Full. You can also increase the power hitting the material by slowing it down so the laser spends more time on the material. You can also increase the delivered power by increasing the LPI setting - higher settings will result in the beam sweeping closer to an area that already has been lasered as it overlaps the previous pass.

The last way is to do another pass - more passes result in effectively delivering more power to the material.

So it’s all about experimenting to find what settings you need for a desired effect.

With PG you can pick a PG setting like SD and then select Manual Engrave and then adjust the PG settings as you’d like.

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Thanks for the answers everyone!

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen any replies on this thread so I’m going to close it. Also, we try to keep to one topic per post in the Problems and Support section. If you would like answers to some of the remaining questions that were unanswered, can you create a new post with this question? You can also email support@glowforge.com and we’ll be happy to help.