Not cutting straight

Cutting a 4x6 square panel (1/8 thick laserable plastic material)

Can anyone from GF assist?

In order to get the best help you’re going to want to provide an example using a :proofgrade: material.

Either the material wasn’t perfectly flat on the crumb tray, or your crumb tray is not sitting properly in it’s notches to be perfectly flat.

I guess it could also be that the machine itself is not on a flat surface and could be twisted slightly.

I have cut many things that have been perfectly square.

Could also be the same issue I have - belt not aligned with the rails. I am on day 9 waiting for a reply from GF (day 25 if you count the fact that this is a replacement they sent me for my original unit, which developed an unrelated issue).

Yep, 2 days is too much for me… seem’s GlowForge is following the footsteps of Full Spectrump laser, I don’t have the patience for that. Selling my unit.

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I wish that were an option for me, but who is going to buy a broken laser cutter?

At the risk of giving you unwanted advice… You have been around long enough to know that the information given in this P&S post, or the one previous to that is nowhere near enough to determine the problem or solution. It might be a perfectly legitamate problem. But I have seen laser safe materials react weirdly to the laser and shrink at the edges. So it is fair for the company to ask you to repeat the cut using proofgrade and ask you to provide far more info. And you know they will do so.

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would love for anyone to ask (GF staff) … they have not.

This is good advice. Don’t let how GF is screwing me over impact you - go ahead and test, might be nothing wrong with your laser cutter.

I am just bitter and venting. Ignore.

Check the response times to others - they seem to be taking about 7 days to respond now - probably a holiday induced backlog.

Understand that. Just seems you want a faster answer. So I’m guessing you will eventually get them to ask you a question, you respond and a couple days later you will get another question or an answer. Why not cut out the middle time?

As far as the long response times, I’m not disagreeing but anything we can do to provide needed info would certainly help shorten the response times for everyone else.

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I understand your point, but we should not have to crawl and beg for support after waiting 2 years.

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Thank you for your patience, and for letting us know about this. I sincerely apologize for any frustration. Could you please do the following for me?

  • Turn off your Glowforge (this is important to avoid damage to your unit)

    • Check for small pieces of debris or dust
    • Check the lower door to make sure it closes all the way. It may require some force to open, but open it, wipe any dust off the edges, and close it all the way.
    • Remove the tray and clean any dust or debris from the surface underneath. Pay careful attention to remove all debris from the four dimples where the tray rests.
  • Check the lid to make sure it closes all the way. Small particles of material, such as dust or debris, can prevent it from closing completely.

  • Open the lid and, using both hands, gently roll the laser arm to the center of the bed, and then back and forth about 3 inches in each direction.

  • Continuing to use both hands, gently move the laser arm to underneath the lid camera

  • Gently move the head under the lid camera

  • Turn your Glowforge back on

  • We included an extra piece of Proofgrade Draftboard with your materials shipment for troubleshooting. Place Proofgrade Draftboard in the bed and print the same square you printed in your photo, in the same location

  • Send us a photo of the resulting print

Thank you in advance!

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Did all that. Still not cutting straight.

See proofgrade sample - simple square cut.

I was just wondering since that is a smaller piece of hardwood and not the larger draftboard, if that wasn’t possibly shifted slightly by the air assist? We’ve seen that happen once before when the fan was blowing hard enough to just fractionally nudge the smaller piece of wood.

(Don’t know of course, but I’d try a bigger piece of wood or tape it down to make sure it wasn’t moving. Those fans really put out.) :try_to_be_helpful_but_not_authoritative:

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thank you… but no, it’s doing the exact same thing with 1/8" & 1/4" thick acrylic.

and yes… everything is leveled, the machine was cleaned inside and out

On the PRU a few months back, while I was watching, a cut in clear acrylic did exactly what your picture shows. I saw the cut deviate. I was upset, as it was the final cut out after a successful engrave. I just used a cut line and trimmed the error off.
I reported it. It hasn’t happened again. I couldn’t count the number of cuts I have run in 8 months, more than 2,200, and I experienced a single instance.
If the issue were consistent, I would probably feel similar.

Saying “can’t cut a straight line” infers it never happens. In my opinion, single instance doesn’t qualify as “can’t”. If the machine indeed has a problem, why not get it resolved under your warranty instead of trying to sell it?

By the way, when a customer posts in problems and support looking for help, chiming in with a response of “eBay” betrays a vindictive frustration I don’t understand since you agreed to accept a product where the software is still in development.
Again, just my personal opinion.

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64 panels being miss cut is not a “single” instance. It continues to do it.

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I see.

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