I've never seen wood flake while engrave like this, non issue or?

Everything Else
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I just got my glowforge replacement and when engraving it’s doing this weird thing. I’m unsure if it’s just the wood, the file I’m editing, or the laser.
Any cause for concern?
Engraving at 1000, 90%

20210615_183645
20210615_183645424×1176 67.6 KB

20210615_183649
20210615_183649424×1176 72.8 KB

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Is this Proofgrade wood?

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No, and I’ve never used PG before but never had this occurrence until now

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It is unlikely Glowforge support will respond as this is not their material and therefore not their problem. I will move this to Everything Else. If I had to guess, and I am, I would say it is the material not the file or laser causing this.

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That is pretty weird. Have you tested it on another material to see if it repeats? It also could be something with the files. You could load it here and I could check it for you if you like.

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Many fibrous woods will do this. I did a lot of oak at one time and there was so much fiber like that that when I cleaned the exhaust there was so much fiber that it looked like a mouse nest.

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I’m sure it was just the wood, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything wrong like a laserhead not firing enough or incorrectly or something causing slight hairs from intermittent firing or something

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The water transport within the tree takes more to burn than the rest of the wood so it is kicked out the cut as soon as it is not supported by the easier to burn wood. It does not look like the oak. What wood were you cutting?

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regular birch plywood

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Hello @whickmant I am so sorry you are getting wood flakes while engraving on your Glowforge printer. I’d like to get a better understanding on how your Glowforge printer is performing so that I can best assist you.

I’d like to have you print the Gift of Good Measure on any wood Proofgrade. The Gift of Good Measure uses known settings and on known material which provides me with a good baseline on your Glowforge printer.

Could you please do the following?

  1. Turn off your Glowforge, then turn it back on
  2. Please use any extra piece of Proofgrade wood material you have. Place Proofgrade material in the bed and load the Gift of Good Measure design.
  3. Print the Gift of Good measure using the default settings. Allow the print to finish.
  4. When the print finishes, leave the lid closed and wait until the fans stop and the picture of the bed updates.
  5. Check the completed print:
    • If the Gift of Good Measure engraving has flakes, please let us know the date and time of the print. Please also take a photo of the results.
  • If the Gift of Good Measure engraving has no flakes, please try another print of the design you saw the issue with, and let us know the results.
  1. If the issue still occurs, please let us know the date and time of the finished print.

One I have your results I will be able to follow up with next steps.

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Hi @whickmant - 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.