I’ve been using the Glowforge for a few months and it had been working well. Starting last week I’ve started having an issue when lining up the image to cut in the app that I need some help with.
I load the design into the app.
Line it up on my work piece in the app.
Set my power settings and material.
Hit print.
Then when the preview loads it slides the image to the right by an 1/8th to a 1/4 of an inch.
If I continue the print then it did indeed slide on the work surface and mid cuts.
If I close the preview and readjust sometimes it stays where I want it to and sometimes I need to readjust it up to 4 times before it does.
Is there a setting off on my end? Was there a software update that messed it up a bit and I just need to wait it out for the next update? Has anyone else been having this issue? Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
If I read you correctly, this is a ‘normal’ behaviour for the Glowforge. Anything more than a displacement of 1/4" is more cause for concern.
The method that I have adopted is to place a piece of card on the honeycomb tray, do a light power cut , say maximum speed and power low, say 5. This will give you a location for your cut. Place your workpiece over the pattern and you have the cut where you want it.
Other methods for more critical positioning are out here in the forum.
John
Okay, no idea if this is relevant but I noticed a weird thing tonight as I was trying to print a ruler.
The marks were all the same distance apart but randomly when I reopened the app some of them no longer lined up with the rulers on the app UI (Mac, latest Chrome). So it was like some of them were 1" and some of them were >1" despite being the same distance. Reopened the app and it wasn’t that way anymore. Dinner and night routine here, and I’ll have about an hour to run some tests later.
Thanks for letting us know about this. Based on the details you’ve given, it sounds like you’re defining your material height and settings after you’ve placed your artwork, is that correct?
If so, this may be producing the shift in the print preview. When you open your Workspace in the Glowforge app, the camera on the lid of your Glowforge uses a wide angle lens to take a photo of the entire bed. Once you enter the material height, the software then uses the height of the material to correct the image so that what you see matches what’s in the bed. Settings can also impact artwork placement; the maximum printable area is reduced somewhat when the laser is set to operates at high speed, as it can take space for the laser to decelerate.
Could you please try the following for me, and let me know if this helps?
Open your artwork in the Glowforge app Workspace.
Enter your material height, and define the settings you wish to use. You should see the bed image update to reflect these changes.
I tried this, I made some difference but didn’t “solve” it.
Now I’m wondering if I’m actually having a focusing issue. Today I printed the leather and wood box that is from your catalog on proofgrade materials and there was a portion that it didn’t cut all the way through in the leather, I needed to finish it with a knife.
Which again, from what I can tell is new behavior at least on my machine. It has been flawless until the last few weeks,
I engraved text on non proofgrade wood and 1 print was a bit blurry, the second one with the exact same settings was crystal clear.
It’s more that it is being very inconsistent all of a sudden with the quality of output.
The other day I ran a cut on thick proofgrade acrylic and it only scored it. So I needed to run it again on a different piece.
Thanks for following up. I’m sorry you’re still running into trouble. We’ll keep looking into the design placement issue you reported.
Regarding the issues you’re experiencing with your prints not cutting through, I’m afraid I’ll need some more details so we can take a closer look.
To cut successfully, there are three important things to check. First, your material must lie flat. This requires a clean, properly installed crumb tray and flat materials. Second, there must be no obstructions, dirt, or damage preventing the laser light from reaching your material. Third, your design must be set up properly - for example, with lines that are fully on the material and that are set to cut. It’s hard to know which issue might be affecting your print, so please thoroughly inspect your unit and design according to the suggestions in our troubleshooter.
Once you’ve inspected and cleaned, please try another print. We included an extra piece of Proofgrade Draftboard with your materials shipment for troubleshooting. Please print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade Draftboard and let us know the result. If it doesn’t print well, please let us know the date and time of your print and send photos of the front and back of the print.
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.
