Manual settings help

I need to know more about the manual settings. I created a Christmas ornament and it was supposed to be engraved with a name and the name did not engrave even after 4 passes??

Can you share a bit more info about the material and the settings you used as well as a picture? You could also search the forum (Beyond the Manual section) for examples other people have done in the same material.

GF won’t support anything but PG materials.

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I was using pg blue medium acrylic. I put text from a pdf file. Laser did not even get through the tape. Should I have increased the something in the manual settings. I have to be careful experimenting because the machine belongs to the school where I work. Is there a diagram or instructions on the manual settings somewhere?

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Here is some info on manual settings:

Is there a reason you’re wanting to use the manual settings on PG material? Or, are you wanting to use manual settings because your first attempt using PG settings didn’t mark?

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If you are using PG settings it should work. Can you look in the settings and make sure power wasn’t accidentally set to 1? That happens sometimes when you look in the manual settings for PG. It’s meant to be a safety thing, but it has caused a lot of confused people over time.

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I created a snowflake with a name on it. The snowflake cut out but the engraving did not.

What should it be?

Moved to Beyond the Manual for settings discussion.

To be fair, it’s actually a PG discussion. :slight_smile:

It will depend on the quality of the engrave , but it won’t be anywhere near 1. :wink: A quick glance at mine for medium blue acrylic showed 300 speed and 100 power. (but that’s just a ballpark, so it’s just to compare that your settings are in that basic vicinity)

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I have a suspicion. This can happen if you have copies of the text on top of one another. They effectively cancel out the areas where they overlap.

If you need some help finding it, you can post the file and probably get it sorted pretty quick.

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Yes, this. It’s always helpful in a situation like this to post the file and the settings you’re seeing. Troubleshooting goes a lot faster when we’ve got all the info up front. :slight_smile:

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What about the density. Would that make a difference?

I mean, the PG settings should work for PG acrylic regardless, especially with engraving. So it’s likely either disrupted settings or the doubled-up design. But without more info, it’s impossible to know.

Acrylic is really standardized. PG settings will work for anybody’s acrylic if the thickness is the within the standard.

Please, post your art, and a screenshot of your settings - It’s going to be one or the other

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I deleted it. The cut was good just name not engraved.

I think if might have been the depth of the name I wanted to engrave. Where do I check that. Is it the density setting?

The depth of the engrave is a function of the settings - but without your art we’ll never be able to help you answer your question.

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No, density is more about the quality of the engrave.

The basic PG settings should have given you a solid engrave. If they’re not, there’s something going on, but without the settings and/or the file, we can’t help you troubleshoot.

You can try looking at your file your self and make sure you don’t have two copies of the name right on top of each other, but it’s not always easy to troubleshoot.

Did you get a warning message? The Glowforge UI will not handle regular text.