Glowforge won't cut through on right 5 inches of bed

[heathercrystalhall]

I have had a problem with my glowforge for awhile where the laser won’t cut through a proofgrade material on the right 5 inches or so of the bed. Everything cuts fine to the left (cuts go through), but on the left side, it just won’t, leading to a lot of waste.

Notes:

1. I have cleaned the laser per glowforge’s instructions using the zeiss wipes.
2. It doesn’t work with proofgrade materials and proofgrade settings.
3. The crumbtray is nested properly and no debris or anything is shimming up any corners.

What should I do? Is it broken? I’ve had the problem for awhile and I’ve just kind of dealt with it, but now that I’m cutting larger pieces, it’s becoming a huge issue.

[Jules]

Are you pinning it down flat? Even Proofgrade material can swell a little bit over time due to exposure to humidity, and warp just a hair, and that will keep the cuts from being complete. The warping becomes worse on partially cut sheets, since removing the interior material takes away part of the stabilizing support and the forces of nature really tend to twist it.

If it’s cutting almost all the way through, I’d look for warping as the culprit. (And it might look flat, but if you can press down on it and it moves, it isn’t flat enough.)

I use these honeycomb pins to pin the material down wherever possible…it has made a world of difference in the cuts.

Honeycomb bed holdown pins

the best laser results are achieved with flat (non warping materials) in order to maintain consistent focus. Also, when cutting light materials like paper, the exhaust turbulence can kick up the material and ruin your job or at worst… catch fire. (speaking of which, I hope you all keep a small fire extinguisher in easy reach, near your machine - safety FIRST) I hope you find these useful. I used to 3d print them for my other laser cutter but occasionally , they would see the wrath of the laser …

Oh, and if you want support to take a look at it, you’ll probably want to print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade material, flip it over, and take a photo or do a screen cap of the results so they can see it. Might save some time to have that ready.

[davidgal2]

After you have done what @Julesrecommended, be sure that your crumb tray is fully seated. It is possible to have something in the divots that the crumb tray sits in that can throw the alignment off. Good luck.

[stephen4]

Thank you for taking the time to do some initial troubleshooting.

Could you please do the following?

1. Turn off your Glowforge, then turn it back on
2. We included an extra piece of Proofgrade Draftboard with your materials shipment for troubleshooting. Place Proofgrade Draftboard in the bed and load the Gift of Good Measure design.
3. Set the score and engrave steps to ‘ignore.’ Print the Gift of Good measure using the default settings on the side of the bed you are having trouble with. Allow the print to finish.
4. When the print finishes, leave the lid closed and wait until the fans stop and the picture of the bed updates.
5. Check the completed print:
6. • If the Gift of Good Measure fails to cut, please let us know the date and time of the print and post a photo of the front and back of the print.

• If the Gift of Good Measure cuts successfully, please try another print of the design you saw the issue with, and let us know the results.

[vee]

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.