Grainy Acrylic Prints

Community Support
1

Evening All!

Not sure what’s going on with my last few Acrylic prints but the engravings are rather grainy.

PXL_20210202_001741047
PXL_20210202_001741047612×816 175 KB

PXL_20210202_001752031
PXL_20210202_001752031612×816 158 KB

I have not changed any print settings since I last ran Acrylic. I bumped up the lines per inch thinking perhaps that would help, but alas 4 failed attempts :rofl:
I have also tried different stock, incase it was a bad
material make up. But it’s happening regardless.
(Also, I’ve cleaned every mm inside & out)

Any assistance is greatly appreciated :call_me_hand:
~Kenneth

2

What were the settings you used in the past? Are you defocusing at all? Was this Proofgrade acrylic? Was it masked?

3

Screenshot_20210201-182810
Screenshot_20210201-182810680×734 49.6 KB

Not sure how I would tell if it’s defocusing. I’ve run on both GF Proofgrade & Houston Acrylic. And yes masked.

4

Many people purposefully defocus their acrylic engraves by inputting a height which is appreciably different than the actual height which results in the beam being more diffused when it strikes the material. Also, people often remove the masking before engraving acrylic to avoid the sticky residue.

Non of this addresses why you are experiencing different results, unfortunately. Final question - are these the images you used in previous engraves that weren’t grainy?

5

Got you :call_me_hand:
And no, the images are of grainy prints. I’ve always had smooth engraves before those.

6

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about your unexpected print result!

To investigate the trouble you’re experiencing further, could you provide me with the approximate date and time these two items were printed?

For our next steps, I’d like to have you perform a standardized print that helps us get a baseline for how your Glowforge is perform. At your earliest convenience, please perform the following test print.

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

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

  • If the Gift of Good Measure fails to print as expected, take a photo of the front and back of the print and attach these photos to your reply.

Let us know how it goes!

7

Hi @unlimitedreamworks. It’s been a while since Jeremy’s last response and I wanted to check-in to see if you were still having any trouble with engraving. If so, please feel free to print the Gift of Good Measure and we’ll be happy to review any photos to get this sorted. Thank you!

8

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.