True Baltic birch plywood in 3mm (approx 1/8”)
Other than Purebond, all the other ply at HD or big box stores is utter garbage for lasercutting as they’re full of fillers and voids.
Just because you don’t like the Proof Grade options doesn’t mean they weren’t engineered to be laser ready. Asking any laser manufacturer to support any material that could possibly go into the machine is utter nonsense.
This is extremely helpful thank you! I will go grab some of this and see how it cuts!
That isn’t what I’m asking for, what I am asking for is for Glowforge to provided assistance or troubleshooting instead of a standard we can’t provide support unless its proof grade.
How could they possibly provide support for a material that they’ve never tested?
Plenty of people are making plenty of great things - some with Proofgrade and many using other materials. If you look through the Gallery https://glowforge.com/discover/wood and read through Beyond the Manual you will get lots of inspiration and plenty of posts about non Proofgrade materials.
Very Easily…
What depth is the material?
What speed are you cutting at?
What power are you using?
What is it that isn’t working for you and what is your intended goal?
We haven’t used that material but we would recommend this…
Seriously?
My 10,000 sewing machine offers trouble shooting for any kind of material under the sun!!
Another user generously provided link with photos to lots of different materials and settings for non Proofgrade materials. You can see it here, and the file with the settings is shared at the end of the post.
Also, share a photo of your charred work and someone could offer a better guess at what may be wrong.
So this was my first project and had not a problem except towards the end.
Now starting on a new project its doing the same thing. All the same material. Definitely going to go run and grab some birch right now.
That is a great sign! You will be able to make many more successful projects like this if you get better material. The flare in the E above is undoubtedly the result of a void in the wood, not a problem with the Glowforge.
Get Baltic Birch. That’s a cabinet grade material with a defined manufacturing specification. It generally lasers well and reliably. You’ll find it at places like Woodcraft. A full sheet is 5’x5’ so if someone tells you it’s Baltic Birch and it’s 4x8’ you’re going to want to see the manufacturer’s paperwork (there is some 4x8 BB but it’s not common and fairly expensive).
Regular Birch plywood from somewhere like Home Depot or Lowes is birch veneered over an unknown core that is not the same from run to run from a manufacturer much less from different manufacturers. The typical issues you’ll find will be voids (empty areas within one of more plies, incompatible glues (lots of resins and glues won’t laser) or fillers (like automotive Bondo body filler) which won’t laser.
Thank You!!!
That flare was for a second pass but I stopped it as I saw what a mess it was making. But as you can see the rest of the letters cut out but those two did not. It happens on almost every sheet hence my frustration.
Shine a strong flashlight through the wood from behind to check for voids and dense spots…then place the design to avoid them.
I won’t touch Home Depot plywood…it’s complete crap. (For lasering.)
It is terribly frustrating to ruin material and waste time and money. We all get that. What I hope is that you can get better material and have great success. You obviously have talent.
I’ve been through this pain as well, I think everyone here will have.
If you aren’t willing to at least cut the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade material with Proofgrade settings, then you really aren’t trying very hard to find out what the issue really is. It literally only takes a few minutes to find out.
It seems she doesn’t have any proofgrade…as she deems it ‘subpar’.
Ah, a sewist, my kind of language 
Sew, just like how in fabrics, not all denim is the same, this is also true for all materials such as woods. If I asked my husband to go pick me up suede at Joann he would probably get that cheap Alova stuff. I actually just asked him what he would pick up and he said ‘whatever is cheapest’…which is Sew Classics Alova and only useful for me if I was making fringe with it lol.
There are so many more properties to materials and your settings have to dial into that specific property. One reason why proofgrade is what GF support covers is because its a material set they know is safe. There are plenty of other safe materials and the proofgrade list is expanding but lasers is a relatively newer technology compared to that of the sewing machine. The most ‘dangerous’ sewing machine I have is a Sailrite (walking foot industrial machine) and that machine could pull my finger under its foot and drive a needle through it without skipping a stich. Although that would be really painful, its not as potentially dangerous the wrong material can be in the glowforge. Also, sewing machines have so much customization you do to tailor to the specific fabric. You can change your needle, food, thread, stick length, etc. on a sewing machine. If I was sewing 10oz sailcloth then I would probably use my sailrite and throw the monster balance wheel on it to have better control. That is completely different then the setup I would do on chiffon lol.
So basically, just how complex materials are for sewing, they are still just as complex for glowforging yet sewing machines have far more options to tailor to the material than the glowforge, which is a much newer technology than sewing machines.
However, the glowforge community has lots of SMEs of various skills and so you are on the right path to reach out to users. It looks like you already have a lot of great tips on cutting wood now. Hang in there because learning how to best tailor to materials is possible and there are lots of resources to help get there
You’ll get there! I felt the same in the beginning. It does take some time and I hope you’ll stick around the forum, there are lots of knowledgeable folks who are very open with technique and willing to point to more information. I really like your sign and I am looking forward to see what you do next.
Is it happening in the same place on every sign? I’ve been caught by path problems in Illustrator more than once.
If you decide to sell. Let me know. I love my glowforge pro. But. I clean my lens after each use. Even the one on the
Lid.
Hope you well with your journey. It’s a learning curve. I learn something daily
Carolyn.
Hi @nicole.balestrere I’m sorry to hear that you ran into some trouble with recent prints receiving excessive char. I would love to help you get this troubleshooted and resolved. If you’d like to troubleshoot this, it can help to have you run out Gift of Good Measure test print as other users have mentioned.
Print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade material, using Proofgrade settings. If you’re out of Proofgrade, we can work with you to get some more.
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 cut through, take a photo of the front and back of the print and attach these photos to your reply.
Both windows
The printer head window, on the left hand side of the printer head
The laser window on the inside left of the Glowforge
The printer head lens
Both sides of the lens, top and bottom
The mirror inside the printer head
The bottom of the printer head with the lens installed
Now this spoke to me!!! Thank you!
