My pass through has been struggling to line up nicely like it has before. I’ve made sure to clean my lenses. Could it be a lighting issue that could cause it to be off?
The passthrough function is still in Beta so keep that in mind. I recommend reading over this:
There are some other helpful articles on the forums you can search for and see what fixes (if possible) have been used by others. Here is one like yours: Pass through works like crap - #3 by ben1
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Awesome, thank you for directing me in a helpful direction! I really appreciate it.
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No problem! Feel free to report back how it went for you. The pass through has always been hit or miss for me personally 
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It came out of beta in November 2020. The screenshot in the documentation that shows (BETA) next to the toggle is outdated. It’s no longer there in the app. Glowforge Support will provide help with using the passthrough feature 
One piece of advice I can give is to advance your material just a few inches at a time, so there’s a good 4+ inches of the already cut part in view for the camera to use to align the next step.
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The passthrough functionality uses the camera in the print head to precisely locate a couple of points to align with the next step, and continue the print.
It does not re-scale the image, although it can rotate it slightly as necessary.
So the fact that your image shows one alignment location that is almost perfect, but others that are way off, suggests to me that your material is not flat, i.e. was bowed. This can happen once you have completed one step of the print, and tensions in the material have been “released” (or, of course, if the material was not flat to begin with.)
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Yes, not saying “beta” next to it in the app officially makes it not beta
IMO, it’s still a work in progress function.
The recommendation I gave was the same staff has been giving, which is to try the test print and see how the GF preforms.
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As stated above, it was taken out of Beta in November. Dan announced it.
It is, however, like virtually all features, constantly under development. There’s always room for improvement. I’ve personally never had any issue with about 20 passthrough prints, with the exception of once not masking a dark piece of material (hardboard) prior to printing.
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Yes, not saying “beta” next to it in the app officially makes it not beta
IMO, it’s still a work in progress function.
The recommendation I gave was the same staff has been giving, which is to try the test print and see how the GF preforms.
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I guess you missed the part where Dan formally announced it was no longer in Beta.
Reading can be tough.
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Yes, not saying “beta” next to it in the app officially makes it not beta
IMO, it’s still a work in progress function.
The recommendation I gave was the same staff has been giving, which is to try the test print and see how the GF preforms.
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In certain settings, when I feel someone is not tracking what I am saying and they appear to be pugnacious in character, I restate myself. This tactic often helps shed light on what the other party is interpreting my statement as. This was successful in this case because I now understand you believe my saying that “Yes, not saying “beta” next to it in the app officially makes it not beta” means that I do not believe the pass-through function is in beta.
I fully admit that I was under the impression the pass-through was in beta still in my first reply on this thread and that is my misunderstanding. The intended value of the first post was to provide the original poster with information that the staff also often refer to and the post appears to be of help. I fully admit I was not correct in that first statement of pass-through being in beta and thank you for informing me. However, I am glad the post was still helpful for the user.
My comment of “Yes, not saying “beta” next to it in the app officially makes it not beta” was not me trying to argue with the fact of the software not being in beta anymore. I was intending it to be a comment towards how companies get to determine their exit criteria when leaving beta. Best practices is to have showstopper bugs closed out. The software maturity will grow with each release but at that point, post beta; it is still relatively lower in maturity level. I admit I could have been clearer in my intent for my second reply and addressing my incorrect assumption that it was still in beta.
@eflyguy @dan84
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Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about the trouble with your Passthrough prints.
While we investigate the circumstances around the error, would you perform a test print for us?
The design we use has some known dimensions built into it and it will help me extract logs afterward to take a closer look.
Here are the steps for the test:
Load a sheet of material into the Pro Passthrough slot and ensure that the portion sticking out of the printer is supported so the material lies flat on the crumb tray inside the printer.
Double-check that the material is completely flat against the crumb tray. A quick way to do this is to press gently on the material where it rests on the tray and feel if it moves. If not, you’re good.
It can help to use pins to hold the material flat against the tray. For example, a lot of customers use small pieces of scrap to print these pins available in the free laser design section.
Open the Smooth Curves Stencil from your design library.
Turn on the Pro Passthrough feature in the menu bar.
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Select the entire design, and arrange it so that the dotted line at the top of the work area is at the tips of the arrows in the design
Click Print and run the first section of the design.
After the first section completes, move your material through the Pro Passthrough slot so the printed area is more than 3 inches away from the front of the Glowforge.
Follow the prompts and run the 2nd portion of the test print.
Photos of the front and back of the finished print.
The date and time you ran the test along with your time zone.
A photo of the bottom of your print head showing the lens and both windows.
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lol. I have PTSD from my one experience with the pass through. Never again!!!
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Lol I tend to just use the magnet hack and rarely use the pass through software. The software failed me on my Texas skyline jeans and so I figured I would give it a little more time before I try again.
What experience did you have?! I’m curious now
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I was just cutting out a 32 inch dog bone. Simple cut that would take five minutes with a jigsaw.
It took a very long time at least 30 minutes because the camera is constantly taking pictures. It was a slow process.
I also had to move my machine and Eric had the hold the wood at the back of the machine.
After it was all finished it was not a complete cut—- I still had to use the jigsaw.
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