I’m new, how do I cut, engrave, score on 0.2 mm thin metal?
I don’t have premiun, for this reason glowforge won’t allow me to do even the simplest task on its app, which I think is very weird. When I use materials not from glowforge and without their qr code I can manually add the thickness of the material, but with the thin metal the app says that the diesign is not there, even though it is! when I go to manually change the setting the ‘print’ button becomes active, and if I press it it would work, but not with this metal.
Please I need help! I’m very frustrated with the app and the whole process!
Update:
I would like to thank you all the people that gave me good and proper directions!
Now I know that GlowForge can’t cut metals (though some users had contrary posts in the forum), but it can etch on metals, provided they have some kind of coating (paint, etc).
I had issues with the app where it didn’t recognize the artwork, and it was not because I didn’t figure out how to place the artwork on top of the material; I think the reason was that I didn’t specify the power in the manual settings (again - thank you for those that prompted me to change the setting for power), the power was on 1 and that’s probably the reason that the ‘print’ button was not active; today I changed the settings for power (see images below), that was the only change I did, and the ‘print’ button became active, and the app didn’t say that there is no artwork, and I was able to follow through with the print - the only thing that didn’t happen - and you guessed it right - it didn’t cut the metal on the outline.
You can easily use the Glowforge without the premium subscription.
Which machine do you have - Aura/Spark or performance printer? Neither type of laser can cut metal. You can mark some metals using products like CerMark.
Have you worked through the Glowforge tutorials to become familiar with using the machine?
I think since you are new, you must go through the tutorials introducing yourself with the machine and interface.
When it says no artwork, it usually means that your artwork is placed outside of the area it can print for the settings you chose. If you click your artwork, you can see a gray box surrounding the machine bed in the interface, this is a boundry box, your work needs to be inside of it. That box size will change depending on the speed and operation your laser is performing (fast engrave vs cut, etc).
Usually, when it says the design isn’t there, it is just outside the printable area for the settings you have used. Unless I have some engraving areas close to the edges (requires more of a “margin”), I usually place the upper right corner of my designs at X=0.1 and Y=0.1 (using ctrl-A and then clicking the little ruler symbol and entering those exact coordinates.) If you still see a “dotted line” for your design, it still needs to be moved. Usually, it is the X coordinate that is the problem, so just ctrl-A and scootch it to the right until the line becomes solid.
Yes, I saw how the print area shrunk, but I think I was still inside the area, and manually input the thickness of the metal as 0.2 mm, my design was on top of the metal, but the app still said there is not design, but when I click to manually change the settings the print button became active and I was able to print on another material.
Please check out the following screenshot: I have a credit card sized metal material (aluminum?); it’s the green rectangle in the image; then I have a design (artwork) on top of it; I can see the gray area - that is a no-print-zone I assume, but the print button is still not active and it says ‘no artwork’.
What am I doing wrong?
You have not selected a material. Until you do, it will always show “no artwork”…
Read the tutorials. You were directed to them when you set up your machine, but they are always available by clicking on the Support link at the top of every page on the Glowforge site.
I finished all the tutorials, but there was nothing answering my questions that I posed here.
I see that the power was on 1, what does that mean?
What number should I use for the printer to work?
When you select “uncertified material” you must then select speed/power/lpi settings because the machine cannot guess what you are cutting or engraving. For every part of your file, you set whether or not to cut/score/engrave. You also set the speed and power and, in the case of an engrave, lpi (lines per inch).
Well, I thought that somebody will tell me what the power should be set on to be able to engrave or score on 0.2 mm thin metal material. I understand that full power means that it will probably cut, now I know that 1 will not do anything, but at what point it will start doing anything?