Glowforge will not cut through on the left side both vertical and horizontal axis close to power button

I am having severe issues with the right side of the printer bed cutting through material. I tried several test rectangles and just pass the halfway on the horizontal (moving to the right) and the far right vertical cut. It’s almost as if the laser is losing power. I have tried several passes, adjusted the pass speed as well as being on full power. Etching and scoring work great but getting clean cuts on the right side of the bed is not happening. I have also cleaned the lenses and the bottom tray. both squeaky clean. Anyone have issues like this, please help! I have already gone through over 100 dollars worth of material trying to resolve this issue.



3 Likes

Welcome to the forum.

Before going through another 100 dollars of materials you need to make sure the material is completely flat against the honeycomb tray. You must make sure all of the optics and fans are clean. The window on the left side of the machine is often missed.

Proofgrade materials are guaranteed to cut with Proofgrade settings. Print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade material using Proofgrade settings on the part of the bed that doesn’t seem to cut properly. If it doesn’t cut perfectly, post pictures front and back along with the date and date of the print. Support can then look at your machine logs and troubleshoot.

3 Likes

I’m sorry your having issues. :slightly_frowning_face: The laser beam has to travel the furthers to get to the right side of the bed, so not cutting on that side is often an issue with a dirty lens or mirror because the dirt weakens the beam. If it was an issue with the tube losing power, I think it would impact all cuts and not just on one side. (I could be wrong though, and hopefully an expert will correct me if I’m wrong.) I know you cleaned them and it could be something else, but just to make sure, which lenses have you cleaned and did you check the mirror as well? (And FWIW, a dirty tray wouldn’t impact the cuts at all.)

I cleaned the mirror on the top of the head (removing the magnetic top and little blue holder, wiped it down, cleaned the two lenses on the underside of the head, removed the center lens and wiped clean with the removal tool, I even checked the levelness of the machine all around, thinking that the liquid in the tube would be the cause if it wasn’t level. I am at a loss here. I have maybe 12 hours total printing since getting the machine.

1 Like

Hi there, I tried printing the Gift of Good Measure with Proofgrade material using the proofgrade settings, and no dice the right side of the the printing bed didn’t even go through. I sure hope there is someone over there that can help.

1 Like

There are windows on the side of the printhead and also inside the machine on the left side.

2 Likes

Post photos along with the time and date.

1 Like

Yes sir, wiped that one down as well, zeis wipes used. I watched the video as well and did all that was listed. I am at a loss.










These are just some of the prints I tried to do.

Is it just the photo, or is the mirror really that cloudy?

No the mirror is spotless, just the photo. I am at a loss

Have you made sure that your crumb tray is fully seated in the dimples on the bottom of your machine and that there are no tiny bits of material clinging to the feet? It wouldn’t take much to tilt your crumb tray enough to cause that problem.

That Window hiding under the Left side…


is the primary cause of a difference between a good cut on the left and a bad cut on the right.

It is easy to not know it is even there but the slightest bit of fuzz will still work on the left but as the head gets further and further away the effect of that tiny bit of fuzz gets greater and greater, making it cut much less on the right. It might be so little you can barely see it, but that result is almost prescriptive. :slightly_smiling_face:

You need post a picture of that :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

1 Like

We’ve seen other people with this problem and unfortunately support always closes the thread before we get any sort of answer. So we owners don’t have much in the way of concrete information other than cleaning… But I also have a theory and that is alignment. I think that the further to the right, the further you get deviation if the laser/mirrors are out of alignment. You can see this on the chinese lasers that you have to manually adjust all of the mirrors to make sure they are perfectly aligned. Unfortunately this isn’t something you can do yourself and I think that’s why when we see this, generally they close the thread and it’s likely a trip for your glowforge back to the mothership for replacement.

1 Like

Thank you I have been losing my mind. The cuts on the left are perfect. As soon as the cut proceeds just to right of the camera, it is as if the laser reduces power. Etching and scoring on the right side are fine, it only seems to be the cutting through all material that is affected. I had pretty much relegated myself to the idea it needs to go back. For I have done all I can. The crummy thing about all of this is that I have only had the printer since May, and my computer died, so while waiting to build a new one I haven’t had the chance to use it. Now I have a computer and the printer doesn’t work. SMH Thank you again

2 Likes

@biffle.eric Thank you so much for all of your information. We spoke during our chat and it looks like you sent us an email regarding this issue. I’m going to go ahead and close this forum post and follow up with you there.