I’d check it with a bubble level too - one of those torpedo types should fit in there.
They should be getting to this one today or tomorrow at the latest. Otherwise it will be time for an email (which gets an initial autoresponder that it might take 3 more days but generally doesn’t).
I took measurements and the attached photos show what I see. Everything appears to be level with the exception of the middle. The middle section appears to be of 1/32" ~ 1/16" of an inch off.
But my measurements appear to be ok. Although I only did measure across the center of the crumb tray. Maybe I need more of a sample size of the crumb tray.
I believe it does the focus adjustment in the middle of the bed. If that’s not the same as the sides, it’ll be off. Not sure why you’re not seeing an issue over on the left side though but if the center of the bed is a different height than the sides and your material is flattened on it (using magnets or whatever) then you’re actually changing material heights across the bed and have the same issues as warping would cause.
If you have a steel ruler - one of those 18" ones you can place it across the bed to see where any high or low spots occur pretty easily. If the bed isn’t whacked then there’s something wrong with the head travel as it’s clearly different heights in the center than the sides from your pictures.
So I only had a 15" inch straight edge in my tool bag and used it to probe the flatness of the crumb tray. There does seem to be a slight bowl shape towards the center of the crumb tray but how does that account for my inability to cut the material along the right side?
If your material dips then the focus it gets when it scans the center will be different. If it doesn’t dip then you really don’t have flat material (flat being relative to the bed). If you tap the material in the center it should sound hollow.
If it scans the bed when calibrating without any material on it then the calibration will be lower (it takes the measurement from the center) than it really is over most of the bed.
That would make sense on smaller pieces of material when calibrating but I used Medium Draft board and Medium Walnut ply both of which are 20" inches wide and sit on the entire crumb tray. Both materials are rigid and I would agree that they may have a warp even if I am only securing them with magnets from the left and right edges. Taking that into consideration, the wood becomes a bridge over the slight (1/32" ~ 1/16") bowl in the middle of the crumb tray, and if what you say is correct why would I only be able to cut the left side and not the right if the calibration took place in the center of the material?
I would agree that the focus is going wrong somewhere but where and why are the questions. I am also partial to thinking the full laser power is not being fully delivered to the laser head the further it gets from the secondary mirror on the left (Maybe)?.
I will continue to test checking the flatness of the material but it sucks that I have to do this wasting material to find the issue.
That would happen if the mirrors are out of alignment. If this was any other laser you could put paper in front of the mirror and do a test pulse and see if the hole is in the middle.
So I did more testing tonight and I definitely need GF Support to look into this.
I made three cuts in one go. One on the left, one in the middle and one on the right and I continue to have issues along the right side not cutting all the way through. Photos for the records:
The last image represents what was cut all the way through. The right cut is not going through. I made sure everything was level as noted in my previous posts. Notice the right cut image has barely any scorch marks when compared to the other two. This could mean nothing or maybe it does?
@jaz I never heard back from you tonight so I’m going to shut off the forge for today. Please let me know tomorrow what I need to do. I have a large project that is on hold and I really need a resolution to this issue. Again, I greatly appreciate your time on this matter.
@jaz No, I only cleaned the Head Window and the Laser window. I’m currently cutting a project now. Once it is complete I will take the head apart and clean the internal lens as you have outlined in that link. I’ll report back once complete.
@jaz ok. I cleaned all lenses as instructed in that how to guide you provided and proceeded to do a test cut along the right side of my material. I am still running into the same issue. The laser is not cutting all the way through on any design along the right side of my material (This time Medium Maple Plywood). I have been using the forge all day today but I am restricted to only cutting along the left side.