Shouldn’t leave any adhesive behind on the surface of acrylic that hasn’t been engraved over. If a light engrave over an area that doesn’t obliterate the masking, then you might have some residue. I’ve not done any light engravings on acrylic so the masking has been totally engraved off. The masking peels away in bits that have been chopped up with cuts and scores though.
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Yeah - I noticed that too. I sent Support a suggestion they populate the list only with stuff I’ve actually recently used. (So initially the list will be blank.) It wasn’t until later that I used the search box just for grins as I was testing things and noticed all the materials there. I don’t know how they loaded the recent materials box but it’s easy for a user to assume since it scrolls that it’s got all the stuff they support and it’s not that at all. But it also isn’t what I’ve recently used either. (Although it is beginning to reflect my usage. Just wasn’t clear when my first entry into the app had it populated already.)
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So you look for it to focus on the surface or are you adjusting in the app to split the difference and focus in the center for better cuts?
As I have had this conversation before, the material height entered into the top left box is to get a surface spot to place the image accurately in relation to the camera when you don’t have Proofgrade. After that the autofocus kicks in during the operation, unless you have adjusted the focus for each operation in the separate spaces. But I still don’t quite grasp this because in any case, the focus height for each operation defaults to what you enter into the box any way so how does the autofocus fit in.
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When I spoke to Rita about it she said they were also making on-going adjustments to the focal point settings, so it’s one of those things that anything that we come up with now is likely to change.
I’ve noticed for instance that the listed default focal point for the PG maple ply is 0.130" in the system, but the actual thickness of the maple ply tends to 0.142" - 0.148" consistently.
Since we are having to over-ride the power and speed settings anyway on these machines, i have been manually setting the focal point at 0.07" and getting excellent results. Then again…leaving it at the default value of 0.130" also gives excellent results for the thinner 1/8" ply. Probably not enough difference to matter much. I see a little more variance in the kerfs on the 1/4" stuff I try to cut, but not much.
Do you know…I don’t think I’ve ever set that number? It might behoove me to actually do that one of these days.
One day I might actually figure out what I’m doing here.
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If the focus height is left at the default, it uses autofocus instead. If you change it, it doesn’t use the autofocus. (@Tony, correct me if I’m wrong).
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@dan what if you use a custom material, since it forces you to enter the height? We shouldn’t lose autofocus because of that…
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Hmmm…It seemed to improve (a lot) when I entered the real value. I wonder if that means I have a focus issue too then. Can @Tony confirm? I’ll do some tests and let Support know tonight.
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I love how my amateur, poorly executed engrave is turning into a discussion involving actual important questions and technical issues…this is great!
Learning so much, too…thank you to all…
Two more questions please that I’ve come up with…not sure if I should post in a separate thread or not, but here goes:
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Does anyone know if it is possible to set the thickness so that a thick enough piece of acrylic or glass can be engraved INSIDE, and only inside? Pretty sure I’ve seen glassware like that, in souvenir shops?
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I’ll ask you guys this before I maybe waste support’s time: Is it just me, or can you not currently add / work on more than one item from the GF design list at a time in the app? For example: Say I’ve chosen the medallion, and it’s been loaded up, and then from that screen I choose “add artwork” and upload one of my own files from my computer that I want to engrave onto it, and so far so good. I can add as many files from my computer as I’d like, actually. But then if I want to go back to the designs page to try to add another design from that page - whether it be a GF one or one of my own past traces or uploaded files - then it loads that new choice, but it also deletes the first two I had loaded (the medallion and my picture that i had added). This happens regardless of whether I use the back arrow of my browser, or if I click on the <- designs icon. I would think that there would / should be a way to add more than 1 design at a time from the main page list, no? Or maybe change your choice of design item without losing all the work you’ve done so far, right? So, am I doing something wrong, or is this possibly a bug that I should tell support about?
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Tell support. Even if you are doing it wrong, others will do so as well.
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Someone will correct me if I’m wrong but I think that requires a different kind of laser. (Not CO2).
It’s still just one at a time now.
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Good point!
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That’s not possible with a CO2 laser. Those blocks of acrylic you see with something engraved inside are done by different laser technology that focuses deep inside and the acrylic is transparent to the beam except at the focal point. Don’t recall if it’s a fiber or YaG laser but it’s definitely not a CO2 
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Aah, ok, so it’s a known thing. Shucks, thought I was gonna be helpful. lol
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GLOWFORGE 2.0!!!
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Holy Moly, check out how beautiful it came out now, using the svg file you made…
Compared to original junk:
I will update the OP with this…
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And that’s why we love vectors.
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Correct, you need something that sees the acrylic/crystal/glass as transparent, and you use two beams (one from top, one from side). Where they intersect one another there is an interaction (haven’t studied if it is a beat frequency or scattering) which releases energy at that point in the material, causing the “engrave” or whatever you would call it.
@nunzioc: The catalog issue you are describing sounds like Photoshop or other graphics programs where you can add a graphics file type and it inserts to the current document, or you can add a document file type and it opens as a new document only.
Maybe the catalog can offer in normal graphic format only for things which do not have multiple part layouts @dan? Or is this guess way off base?
This boils down to us dealing with pre-release again…IIRC they are working on allowing multiples, it just hasn’t been implemented yet for us.
We can import a raster image into one of their catalog offerings, or any other vector file that is opened in the interface.
But we cannot (currently) open a second vector file inside of one that is already open.
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Wouldn’t using lighter fluid or acetone liquids possibly make the acrylic brittle or prone to small cracks? I’d recommend goo gone to remove adhesive residue…
Edit: looks like lighter fluid may be safe - acetone products not so (nail polish remove, etc)