Lines cutting too fat, losing fine detail

Hi there. I am having trouble figuring out cut settings that will cut through my 1/4" maple ply and keep the fine details. The lines are all cutting fine at 130 speed full power, but they are cutting slightly too fat and I am losing detail. I have tried reducing the speed and the power simultaneously and it generally will not cut through. Also worth noting is the bottom side of the print (the wood that is resting on the crumb tray) retains more detail than the up side that is getting cut. Any suggestions on how to reduce the fat cut lines and keep my fine details?

You’re seeing the effect of the kerf profile on thicker material. The burn profile doesn’t run straight up and down, it slants slightly the further away from the focal point that you get, as the power decreases. (Wider at the top near the focal point, narrower at the bottom.)

Sometimes it’s possible to change the kerf profile slightly by using a faster cut and two passes. But you would need to experiment with it to hit the right speed to use to preserve your details.

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We can only discuss settings for non Proofgrade materials in the Beyond the Manual section of the forum. That being said, perhaps try using the Proofgrade thick maple ply settings for your project.

Can you post a picture of your project? A few things can cause fat lines and it’s hard to know what it might be without seeing it. And have you taken out the lens in the head to clean it lately? Putting it in upside down will cause fat line.

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Thank you. I moved my question to the appropriate section. you can see it here Lines cutting too thick, losing fine detail

Thanks for the suggestion. I will play around with it and see what happens. I moved this discussion to the beyond the manual section of the forum. I had not realized that I was posting in the wrong place. The link is here

Here is a picture of an example of what is happening. The image on the left is what I want it to look like, the image on the right is what I am currently cutting. I did clean the machine about a month or so ago and took the lens out. I will check and make sure I put it in correctly. Screen Shot 2020-12-22 at 5.37.20 PM

Also, I didn’t realize that I was posting in the wrong section. I reposted my question in the appropriate section

Lines cutting too thick, losing fine detail

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Since this problem is being seen on materials that were purchased from another company, we can’t offer support for prints that don’t come out as expected. Materials may vary widely from piece to piece, even if they’re created by the same manufacturer. I’m going to move it to Beyond the Manual so other folks here can help. Should this happen with a print on Proofgrade materials, please open a new ticket in Problems and Support and we’ll help you right away!

For cuts spaced that closely together you are going to want to offset the design slightly to compensate for kerf…especially on thicker cuts. (It’s not going to be as bad on thinner material.)

There are several discussions on kerf here in the forum, or you can find a discussion of how to adjust for kerf in a couple of the major design programs below:

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