Hi All,
any thoughts on why my Glowforge would refuse to cut these random 10 keychains? This was the third sheet, and on the first two it did not do this. Pretty weird, right?
Here’s the cut sheet:
To the best of my knowledge I made no changes during the cut, though I did login to the new app on my iPhone during the third sheet. Could that have caused the problem?
Thanks!
Beyond loading the file initially, the Glowforge is also processing the SVG in the background. For a file with a lot of components, it can sometimes take a minute or so for the whole thing to be “processed” in the background. Unfortunately, it allows you to hit print before everything is fully processed. The things that haven’t been processed, won’t print.
I’m not saying that’s what happened, but it’s very possible.
Also - Did you let the job fully complete/finish printing, or did you stop it at some point after seeing the missing keychains? Sometimes it goes back and randomly fills things in afterwards.
Unfortunately this bug (or usability issue, if you prefer) is approaching its first birthday, if we count from the day the first Basic was delivered.
Nope, I waited until it stopped and turned off the fan. I think I must not have let it think about things long enough before I started the job. I thought I had - I waited until all the outlines were pink - but I guess it wanted more time.
Thanks!
If you know the failed job time (include your time zone) Support can verify if it was that or something else.
it’s ridiculous that they haven’t fixed this.
I’ve had this happen myself. It’s a pain to go back and try to just print that section.
I wonder how they can “fix it” if our internet connections just take that long to download all of the instructions on complex files? Would everyone prefer to see a blank screen until it has completed downloading? I don’t think I would.
I actually prefer to watch the motion pattern as it develops. Occasionally I’ll make a change based on what I see popping up, if I don’t want to wait for the whole thing to load up first. I’ll frequently shift a print by a step or two if it looks too close on the preview. Another thing that I’ve done is modify a design if it was taking too long to load - there are usually ways to split it up or change some colors if the interface is having too much trouble with it, that wind up saving time in the long run.
An example was the sybaritic hilbert curve that was shared - I split that up into colors and processed one section at a time.
Made for convenient bathroom/lunch breaks. I’d hate to lose that functionality. 
I only ever had a job fail to fully load once. After that I knew to wait until it loaded on complex designs. Just doesn’t seem like a big value added adjustment to me, and might actually remove some of the features that I use when I’m designing.
I can’t answer as to the how but Support has mentioned that putting a large rectangle around the design and then setting that to ignore will process the design as a whole instead of piece by piece.
If I were looking for a quick fix, I would inject a rectangle server-side into the code just below the SVG header. Our files are being modified anyways. But that’s just first idea that pops into my head. And I’m sure it would have ramifications somehow.
I don’t think that it’s really our internet connection having to download stuff. Though one could probably get an idea by watching network activity. I think it’s more that they might be trying to shorten the time “rendering appears”. Again, that’s just I think. No basis in reality.
Easiest thing is to enable the Print Button light as the last instruction after the motion plan has been completely downloaded. Right now it come on and suggests you to press it before the instructions are fully downloaded.
I don’t always do everything I’m told to do. Especially by a machine. 
Come on guys, it’s easy enough to just say no. 
^this^. it doesn’t seem like rocket science to me. you shouldn’t be able to push the print button until… i don’t know… the whole file is ready to print? i’m trying not to sound snarky here, but it’s really hard.
afaik, no other laser cutter has this problem. i can’t imagine any proper user interface that would allow you to start job that wasn’t ready to start yet. this is UI 101 kind of stuff. i’m hard pressed to find this bug defensible.
Ditto.
Lately I feel like I have been doing nothing but complaining on the forum, which isn’t my intent. Issues like this really get my goat, though, especially when we see new users get bit every week. Every week, someone wastes money or at least time due to this bug. This is a crummy secret handshake to get into the cool kids club. 
I usually wait until i have watched the prints screen go through the entire process of engraving and etching and cutting (the sweep through each graphic for each stage) before I push print. This way I am sure it has it all correct before I proceed.
I’m so sorry your print didn’t include all the pieces you expected.
I extracted the logs to investigate the problem you reported, and there are a few ways to resolve this:
Wait for the entire design to load before pressing print
In the past, this issue has occurred when people pressed “Print” in the app before the design had fully loaded. To avoid this in the future, make sure to wait until you see all the elements of your design appear in pink before pressing “Print.”
The following actions can help the design to load more quickly:
-or-
If these options don’t take care of the issue or if you have another question, please let us know.
Thanks, @pip. Funny thing is, I really thought I had waited until they were all pink. I suppose I must not have. Oh well, now I know to make sure. I’ll try the box trick in the future.
Thanks all for the help!
Wouldn’t it make more sense to avoid telling us to press the Print button until it’s ready?!
this deserves to be quoted and reposted. UI101 basic stuff here.
“I’m doing my part.”
@pip, can you ask them to at least add some warning text near the print button? Text is cheap.
I’ve had this same thing happen before - engraving my URL onto the backs of coasters. It skipped the same coaster on every run, and it was 250 coasters (10/run).
It was weird but I didn’t care enough to spend time troubleshooting it and it hasn’t happened since. But I guarantee that on 25 runs in a row I didn’t wait long enough to hit the print button when it was just 10 pieces of 8pt text. 
