When we bought it the first thing I did after the tutorial was to make a test burn and cut board to get a good handle on settings and what they do.
So on that board it’s 1/16th plywood non proof grade but about as close as it comes a speed of 500 and a power of 80 was blowing right threw the wood on a cut cleanly with very little burning soot.
3 weeks later to get a clean cut I have had to progressively increase that power so now I’m at 250 speed full power on the exact same wood Infact had a spot left on the test board just to be positive.
Now the only thing I can possibly figure is
either something is wrong with the machine,
I’ve missed cleaning a lense But I’ve Checked the how to video several times.
The detail of the cut basically a squiggly line takes twice the power as a straight line
Or just something I’m missing all together
I’m just lost at this point as to what to try next. At this setting I was cutting threw 1/8th a week ago making a box.
Lastly it did t happen all at once seems to be progressing Infact for a specific project I had saved settings I ran it again yesterday and pretty much ruined a board when nothing fell or would snap out.
Again thanks for any suggestions I’m hoping it’s something stupid I’m doing wrong. Would be great if someone just told me I’m being dumb and forgot to do something simple.
Two options: (1) machine is duff and support will tell you whether that is the case
(2) you’ve missed cleaning something. On the print head clean the window on the left, the lens with the lens remover tool, the mirror in the top (lift off the top). Also clean the window underneath the left hand side cover at the end of the gantry.
You’ve either got a lump of muck somewhere or a more fundamental problem.
Whenever cuts are not expected, there are usual suspects to investigate. 1) you are using non proofgrade material so Glowforge support cannot address this specific problem 2) optics are not clean 3) fans are not clean and 4) the material is not perfectly flat.
As suggested above, you will need to print a known file (Gift of Good Measure) on Proofgrade material using Proofgrade settings to evaluate the performance of your Glowforge. We are not to discuss settings for non Proofgrade material anywhere in the forum but Beyond the Manual.
If the Gift of Good Measure does not print perfectly, post pictures (front and back) along with the date and time of the failed print. If files print on proofgrade materials as expected, the problem is probably the material.
k so great news!! it’s me apparently. Much rather it be me than the machine for sure.
Still have issues but it’s me and settings not cleaning or anything else.
Whats going on is straight and circles cut fine like the gift of good measure it’s the small squiggly for lack of a better term but small squiggly parts dont cut threw so i’m not sure what to do there if I need to make those parts of a design separate and cut more powerful and slower or cut the entire cuts on all slower which seems to give me flashback.
It’s a learning curve the basics seem to go fast but it’s the little bits and pieces that I’m struggling with making things just so but I’ll get it.
thanks for all the help and I apologize for taking up time.
@allen-deckard I’m glad you resolved it! Thank you everyone for your advice. I’m going to close this thread. If you run into any other trouble, please start a new topic, or email us at support@glowforge.com. We’re here to help!