GF Plus has stopped cutting through material and engravings appear blurry

I am having issues with my GF Plus. Have had it just over a year. Everything was working fine up until a few weeks ago. I am cutting some stuff on 3mm draftboard and on the cuts, the designs on the right side are cutting just fine, but the further left the cuts go I start hitting spots that are not cutting all the way through.

This is the same brand draft board I have been using since I got my machine over a year ago.

Also, I am engraving some text that up until a few weeks ago was engraving very sharp and clean and now there are spots where it almost looks blurry and out of focus.

I have cleaned all of the lenses and the fans. Lenses look clear as far as I can tell. Any help would be greatly welcome.

Double check that your lens went back in the correct side up? Your cut lines look rather wide.

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“Cup Side Up” perhaps make a sign for the wall behind the Glowforge?

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Yeah, the lens is installed correctly.

Were you able to find a solution to this problem? I am new to Glowforge and your description of the error that is occuring is exactly the problem I am having. Cuts fine on the right but on the left it will not cut through the proofgrade materials. I have checked the lens after speaking with GF support and that seems fine. If you found something maybe it will get me a step in the right direction. Thanks

One way to do it is either increase power or drop the speed a few notches. Experiment. Your wood may be slightly thicker due to humidity.

I have not, lowering the speed has help cutting through the material but I am still having issues with my engraved text being blurry

There have been occasional issues of machines where focusing suddenly failed to perform as it should. Unfortunately (for you) if that is the issue, it’s not common enough that there’s much you can do but wait for support to check the logs and provide suggestions/troubleshooting steps.

Someone recently posted images of their very clean lenses and mirrors - but the tube inside the head (where the lens goes up and down) was pretty filthy - check yours. Since it’s magnets moving the head to focus it’s possible a layer of grime could be slowing down that process.

Hello, I’m so sorry to hear that your prints aren’t turning out as expected. To start, could you please post a photo of the back of the print that didn’t cut through all the way, and if possible, the date and time that it occurred? I’d also love to have you try this test print on one of our standard designs, and with Proofgrade materials and default settings so that we can analyze the results next to standard results.

There are several things that need to be checked if the laser doesn’t cleanly cut through the material. We’ve discovered that photos don’t always come through well in emails, so I’ve included several links that will take you to reference instructions and photos. Please turn off your Glowforge and check the following:

Once all these things have been checked, please perform the following test print.

  • Print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade material, using Proofgrade settings.

  • When the print finishes, leave the lid closed and wait until the fans stop and the picture updates.

Check the completed print:

  • If the Gift of Good Measure fails to cut through, take a photo of the front and back of the print and attach these photos to your reply.
  • If the Gift of Good Measure cuts successfully, please try another print of the design you experienced the issue with, and let us know the results.

Melanie,
Hello I have checked off all the steps you listed and then I printed the gift of good measure on a piece of Proofgrade draftboard and you can see what I got. The text in a few spots appears to be a double image or something and this one did not cut all the way through.

i think a lot of forges are struggling with this the past few months never see a fix other than slowing down the cut

I’m sorry to hear you’re still experiencing trouble.

I’d like to review your optics for our next steps.

Please send photos of all your cleaned optical components, with special attention to any damage you might find:

  • Both windows
    • The printer head window, on the left hand side of the printer head
    • The laser window on the inside left of the Glowforge
  • The printer head lens
    • Both sides of the lens, top and bottom
  • The mirror inside the printer head
  • The bottom of the printer head

Once we have those pictures, we’ll follow up with next steps.

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.