Not cutting through near edges of cutting area

Glowforge Basic is not cutting all the way to the edge of the cutting area. 3" - 5" on either side are left cut only part of the way through.

I have thoroughly cleaned the machine per the recommended steps.

It’s not the file; It’s one I’ve cut MANY times with no issue; AND it happens on every cut, every file.

Not the material; As I’ve said, it’s consistently every cut, every time. Tried with 1/8" Baltic Birch, 1/8" MDF, 5mm MDF all tried and true settings, all with no issues other than along the outer edges.

I’ve had my glowforge for ALMOST a year, and I’ve never had issues. I do get some minor projects not cutting through, due to defects in the material (Baltic birch ply sometimes has voids/knots/glue buildup/etc that causes snags) but the last week or so, I’ve been having consistent issues. The file will cut through in the middle of the bed, but duplicated versions on the outer edges are left unfinished.

Are you pinning the material down flat each time? (Warping in the wood of even a mm can cause incomplete cut through.)

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I would run the calibration routine first, and then try using the set focus near where it is not cutting through.

If the machine calibration is just a hair off I can imagine the height being off. The easy workaround of course is to kick the speed down 5 or 10 at a time till everything cuts.

I just did the Calibration, i’ll see if that helps. I’ve tried turning down the speed a bit, but the slower I go, the more I get charring in the minor details. Hopefully the calibration was the step I was missing!

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Calibration is only for adjusting the lid camera image so that you can align the placement of your design on the material to within 1/4". It has no other effect on the machine.

The usual way support will diagnose a power issue is to print a known design on Proofgrade material (Gift of Good Measure on the spare Medium Draftboard they supply.)

From your description, the beam alignment may be off enough that as the tube or power supply have started to age, it’s not quite getting the power it needs at the edges of the bed using default/“usual” settings. You would need to show that it’s failing in those areas but not in the center, then you could send it in for repair.

I can see that you’ve also contacted support via email and that we have responded there. I’m going to go ahead and close this topic to avoid duplicate communication and expedite your process.