Is it my imagination, or is camera alignment much better now?

Everything Else
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Is it my imagination, or is camera alignment much better now? These days my cuts all seem to go where the camera shows the preview, within a mm or so, which is much better than a month ago. Is anyone else seeing this?

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Nope, not your imagination. They’ve been rolling out improvements behind the scenes for a while now. :wink:

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Not your imagination, mine has been spot on!!!

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Mine had been within 1 mm, too. All. Day. Long. :squee:

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I’m not seeing it. If anything, my GF is noticeably farther off than when I first received it. Was within 1/8" ± initially, now pushing up againstg 1/4" pretty consistently regardless of bed placement.

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I wonder if it’s a per-machine calibration. For example, when my lid is solidly closed, there’s a bowing on the right side, which would mean that the camera is slightly tilted to the right when the lid is closed, which GF would need to figure out and correct for. Someone else’s GF might have slightly different camera positioning, based on assembly, or where it’s positioned, or how they close the lid


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Grab a level and make sure the case is level. The slightest difference, not closing the lid completely, having a slight bend in the case (those rubber feet tend to stick and the case has a slight amount of flex in it) having the crumb tray not sitting down in the dimples
all of those can throw off the placement. (Not entering the correct height of the material can throw it off a LOT, so make sure to always enter the height for Unknown Materials.)

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The printer is level, and on a level surface. There’s a slight bow in the right side of the lid, which appears to be built in - it’s there when the lid is open, too. The front is closed securely on both sides, and the back is the hinge which is fixed in place. I’ve seen others report the same ‘issue’ - it doesn’t seem to affect printing, and it’s only a small bow - less than 1/16th inch. So I don’t think it’s a problem, just a slight difference between GlowForge’s that they might need to correct for in camera alignment.

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Yeah, the lid glass on mine appears to show the same bow on the right.

My understanding is it’s actually not the lid glass, but the side panels that are set just a little low when that happens. That’s why I suggested a level - it’s the only way to check that the actual center section where the camera is, is level. (My right side is sunken by about 2.5 mm. Just a hair on the left.)

But you’re right, it doesn’t affect processing if the center is level. My print placements tend to be right on the money.

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I took two levels to mine and once leveled out via shims under the feet
the lid rubbed on open and closing
so it “unleveled” it back. :confused:

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When my Pro first arrived it was dead on. Then it was off to the right, but not up or down. Then it was dead on again. Then same right - left issue. I never really know how precise it will be, but it’s never as bad as the 1/4" some people have to live with. This weekend it was back to being off on the x-axis again.

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This sounds like material variation - remember if the material is even a tiny fraction higher or lower than “expected”, the preview will be off. That means bowed material, material that’s sitting on a small piece of debris, any material when the tray’s got debris underneat, non-PG material that’s not the thickness entered in the UI, etc.