Proofgrade not cutting all the way through

I have been having repeated issues with PG maple plywood not cutting all the way through. Lenses cleaned, sheet held flat with magnets. Is there something wrong with my machine or is something wrong with the PG?
I also had a glitch that caused random numbers and letters to disappear, but I’ve had multiple other projects that have had no glitches, but still didn’t cut through all the way in some spots.

Been having the same problem, as well as a couple other people I’ve seen on the forum.

I just followed the steps from that first link and I’m waiting to hear back.

I’m having the cut-through problem, and so are a lot of other people. The volume of people with “can’t cut through PG” seems to have significantly increased this month.

I’ve sent an email to support asking them if their December code change (https://glowforge.com/latest-improvements/new-engravings) made the cutting power more conservative.

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Yes, the fact that it is exhibited across many machines suggests it is an issue with the settings instead of hardware. I would wager there are staff dialing in new settings as I type this.
I suspect it is a result of material manufacturing changes in density of the core. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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except…

Ouch.

Or environmental. Temp and humidity swings like are common in winter can definitely impact wood and its water content. Cold temps can also have an impact on output power.

And you also have more and more machines out in the wild.

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I’ve been having this issue too, but only with one sheet of proofgrade plywood maple. Almost everything I printed from that sheet came out funky – either didn’t cut all the way through or the layers became separated. I’m chalking it up to a bad PG sheet. All my other cuts have been fine.

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Definitely let support know with an email or a separate post in Community Support (each new thread acts as its own trouble ticket), especially if it delaminated.

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I’m sorry I’m slow to respond. Thanks for letting us know.

There are three important things that allow your Glowforge to cut successfully:

  1. Your material must lie flat. This requires a clean, properly installed crumb tray and flat materials.
  2. There must be no obstructions, dirt, or damage preventing the laser light from reaching your material.
  3. Your design must be set up properly - for example, with lines that are fully on the material and that are set to cut.

It’s hard to know which issue might be affecting your print. Please thoroughly inspect your unit and design according to the suggestions in our troubleshooter, making sure you’ve cleaned everything listed there and checked your crumb tray for debris.

Once you’ve inspected and cleaned, please try another print. We included an extra piece of Proofgrade Draftboard with your materials shipment for troubleshooting. Please print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade Draftboard and let us know the result. If it doesn’t print well, please let us know the date and time of your print and send photos of the front and back of the print.

Thank you!

I’ve been having this issue too, but only with one sheet of proofgrade plywood maple. Almost everything I printed from that sheet came out funky – either didn’t cut all the way through or the layers became separated. I’m chalking it up to a bad PG sheet. All my other cuts have been fine.

@sybaritic
Like @jbmanning5 said, we try to keep to one topic per post in the Problems and Support section. If you haven’t already, can you create a new post with this question?

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen any replies on this thread so I’m going to close it. If you still need help with this please post a new topic or email support@glowforge.com.