Printable bed area seems to be shrinking - not acceptable size any more

Problems and Support
#1

Recently, the printable area of the bed has shrunk. I put a piece of proofgrade material - say a full size draftboard - in and go to position something for a cut, and I am down to slightly less than 18" x 11". The camera sees the whole bed, but the prohibited bands keep getting wider and wider.

An 18" part that formerly printed just fine now no longer prints. I can’t fit it in the printable area, I keep getting “No Artwork.”

Guys, c’mon. That’s not cool.

What do I need to do to get back to my former print area?

3 Likes
#2

You’ll want to make sure you have the appropriate material (thickness), speed, and power set. If you set them the same as the last time you used it, it will likely work.

#3

It’s proofgrade draftboard.

(edit: I also made sure the tray was level and the divots for the feet were clean and the lid doesn’t have any obstructions)

#4

The latest wasn’t an engrave perchance? Engrave has a smaller area due to needing an area to accelerate and deaccelerate.

3 Likes
#5

As Mark said, you will notice that the area available to you changes with the type of operation.

1 Like
#6

Hmmm, thanks! I hadn’t selected cut or engrave yet, I just loaded it up and tried to position it. Switched to cut and I have more room. That’s not what I remember from the last time I printed this. Width (12" direction) still seems smaller than it used to be…

And the UI for settings is totally different. I am not a fan of the UI changing underneath me like this.

Well, I may be back in business, not sure yet. Thanks Mark and, ah, can I call you Print?

2 Likes
#7

Any rasters or filled vector shapes will be automatically interpreted as engraves, even if you haven’t selected engrave yet. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#8

Right… That’s what I was getting at when I said

:slight_smile:

#9

Bear in mind that the engraving area will be smaller than the cutting/scoring area due to the space the laser head needs to slow down and go back to the other side when engraving!

:slight_smile:

#10

I am 100% with you on changing the UI for the sake of changing the UI. However, this UI change implemented the ability to create named, custom settings, and I am all for that so I forgive the error.

9 Likes
#11

That is something useful.

#12

It does point out a nasty side effect of PG settings: if glowforge makes a major change to the engraving settings whereby the speeds are increased it may make some previously engravable jobs no longer possible using the PG setting.

Manual settings ftw.

1 Like
#13

Thanks for the help in this thread, everyone. I’m glad that helped.

The maximum printable area on your Glowforge is 11 x 19.5”, and it’s reduced somewhat when the laser operates at high speed, as it can take space for the laser to decelerate (as others have mentioned). If you believe your printable area has changed, could you please do the following to help us investigate further?

  • Create a file including a rectangle with a stroke and no fill that’s 10.5" by 19". (If you’d like instructions on how to do that, just let us know.)

  • Place Proofgrade Draftboard in the center of the bed.

  • Upload your file, and center it over the Proofgrade Draftboard.

  • Take a screenshot of the workspace to show us the placement of the rectangle. Make sure to include the rulers in your screenshot and show as much of the bed as possible.

    • Mac: Press Shift-Command-4 and click and drag a box around your image. You’ll find the screenshot file saved on your desktop.
    • Windows: Click on the Start Menu and search for the Snipping Tool. Open the Snipping Tool > New then click and drag a box around your image. Click the Save icon and name and save your file.

  • Send us the screenshot and we’ll investigate.

1 Like
About cutting area
#14

On cut settings for proofgrade draftboard (medium), it looks like I do get 11 x 19.5. Engrave is considerably smaller. I am pretty certain I was able to - some months ago, cut closer to 11.5 wide. I do not recall the no-go area being as wide at the front (near the door) as I see it now (in fact, I remember it not being there at all), but I don’t have screen shots from back then to actually confirm that. Looking through some of my scrap, I do have several pieces of plywood that I was able to cut within a quarter inch of the front of the tray at one point, so I’m pretty certain the inch that I see now as not printable was not always the case.

#15

I’ve checked with the team and I can confirm that in the time you’ve had your Glowforge the available print area hasn’t changed in size.

2 Likes
#16

Hmmm, has it shifted in position? Well, doesn’t much matter. It is what it is now.

#17