Question about material thicknesses

I have a question about material thickness. I am cutting something and if I use medium maple it is too charred. If I use thin maple it is less charred but seems to not cut all my cuts. My material is only 1/32"

If I could get in the middle of the 2 issues it would most likely be perfect.

Can someone please give me some pointers?

Welcome to the world of manual mode! If you haven’t gone through the instructions on the support site regarding Manual Mode, I’d suggest starting there.

Once you have, the test setup that @evansd2 set up is a great way to narrow down exactly what settings you’re looking for.

5 Likes

Welcome to the forum.

The laser needs to focus on the material to cut properly, and changing the settings from medium to thin does not actually change the focus of the Glowforge unless you are manually entering a focus height. You are assuming that more power is needed to cut medium rather than thinner material, which is not how laser cutting works. The Proofgrade cut settings for my pro are 168 full power for medium maple plywood, and the thin maple veneer setting is 290 full power. Both materials are cutting at full power, but the speed is different.

As already suggested, you need to read through the information regarding manual settings and you need to do some testing. I suggest you select the thin maple material and slow the speed slightly as a place to start your tests.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.