Misalignment [SOLVED]

[marc.simon1]

Hi,

I have alignement issues. As in many of posts, I tried to turn off and try again but it seems that it’s not solved.

First, I put a cardboard with some crosses writed on. I try to score squares approximately centered on crosses.

And here is the result:

Some squares are quite aligned but some are not.

So I try to turn off and repeat the same operation without moving anything. And exactly the same result. It is repeatable but with no good alignement.

Do I do something wrong?

[Jules]

No, you have done nothing wrong.

The alignment using the camera can be off by up to 6 mm in any direction right now. Glowforge is still making improvements to the alignment software behind the scenes.

There are tutorials that can help you to create designs in external drawing software (like Illustrator or Inkscape) that will very much improve the alignment between the parts of the design. (Even now, while Glowforge is finishing the work on it.)

I will put some links to the tutorials below. One thing that you can do now is to put your design in the center of the screen, right under the lid camera. There is less distortion there.

Laser Design Basics

Laser Design Basics.pdf (770.3 KB) dl488 9/6/17

Glowforge Interface - Tips & Tricks for Using the App

The Dashboard: Sign in to app.glowforge.com [dashboard] Keyboard Shortcuts and Maneuvering in the Interface: Copy (Select item)… CTRL/CMD + C Paste (Select item)… CTRL/CMD + V Undo … CTRL/CMD + Z Delete (Select item) … Press the Delete key on the keyboard. Update on Delete: _After the Autosave Settings Saver migration on 01/08/2018, if you delete a part or item from your file it will stay gone when you close it. The next time you open the file, it will not be there. If yo…

Glowforge Interface - How to Align a Double Sided Engrave

I’m going to demo an alignment process below using my (ancient) version of Adobe Illustrator, but the process is the same for Inkscape or CorelDraw or Affinity Designer. Whichever one you like to use, you’ll do the same things, with the tools in that program. (I’m also going to give you the thought process that goes into creating a design with 2D Design software, to keep from having to write another one up, so if you can slog through it, you’ll pick up some stuff you need to know to make thing…

Glowforge Interface - Vector Files Made Easy

It’s soooooo easy to create files easily in programs like Illustrator, Inkscape, CorelDraw and Affinity Designer if you understand what the Glowforge interface sees when it looks at your file. (Think of this as a last batch of Tips and Tricks, then I’ll quit bugging you.) I’m going to demo in Illustrator again, but the same things will be done in whatever program you choose to use for your designs. If you have questions about specifics for other kinds of drawing and modeling software, …

Glowforge Interface - Correctly Save a File as an SVG for the GFUI

For All Programs: If you want to engrave a bitmap (raster) style image and include it inside a vector SVG file, you need to Embed the image in the file if you want it to stay aligned inside the SVG file. Otherwise you will need to re-load the raster file and use the camera to align it visually. (That’s fine, but you will completely lose the benefit of more accurate alignment that you get from the design software.) There are instructions for how to Embed raster images for some of the main 2D…

Hopefully those will help.

[jbmanning5]

Are you putting the exact material height into the unknown material box on the upper left?

[rpegg]

Yeah, the way the errors are equally worse left on left side, right on right side, up and down above and below center looks like an incorrect material height entry.

[marc.simon1]

Thanks. I will verify that and domy tests again to see if there is any change. I will post the results.

[mad_macs]

Yah I’m going to agree with the others. Material height is likely the culprit. Did you measure the material with a set of calipers? Is the misalignment the same with proofgrade? Proofgrades thickness is very consistent which is one of the reasons they have you run tests with it. Getting the material height correct by accurately measuring the material, checking the crumb tray is clean and seated in the divots properly, and making sure the lid is closed will all help.

[Rita]

Thanks @jules and @jbmanning5! I’ll leave this open for your reply @marc.simon1

[marc.simon1]

Thanks to all. Rita, you can close. I have tried again with a new sheet of cardboard very flat and with double check for the height and the result is quite better. So I don’t know if it was the bad flatness or the bad height but it was one of these which causes the bad result.

The community is very helpful!!

[Rita]

Thanks for letting us know. And yes, I am very grateful to agree, the community is VERY helpful.