Same exact design, same exact proofgrade material, not same results

I need help please! I used a medium maple hardwood to make a combined engraved and cut ornament. It tunred out fine. I used the same exact design, same exact material/same piece and the engraving came out ok but it would not cut through. What am I doing wrong??? Thank you in advance.

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I have had similar problem and more often than not, it’s dirty optics. Try cleaning everything and try it again. I usually make sure that everything is clean before I start a project. If it’s going to be a long day with the machine, I clean everything more than once and everything turns out fine.

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Yup - and depending on the material and number of cuts, you may need to clean optics more frequently as you do multiple sheets. Cleaning optics usually solves this issue.

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Thank you! I’m a little nervous cleaning the laser lens but I think that is the issue.

Thank you! I just hope I don’t goof anything up as I am cleaning.

It’s not hard at all! Once you do it, it will get easier from there. Keeping lenses and fans clean will pay for itsely in aggrivation.

Also check to make sure the material is flat against the tray. Are you using hold-down pins to keep the material flat? Not cutting all the way through can also be caused by the material being ever so slightly warped - it can seem to be flat, but is slightly raised in another area if not using the hold-down pins or something similar.

Just in case you haven’t seen these, cut some out of scraps and keep them handy:

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It’s best to keep all of the optics clean, After a while, the fog of smoke on them will actually give the beam a place to deposit the energy and you will burn the optics. Two windows, the mirror in the top of the head, and the actual lens are involved.

This^^ A good work habit. You should also use lens wipes.

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It’s pretty easy. Go slowly. Put a towel inside the machine so if you drop something it doesn’t hit the metal grid.

I had been lazy and not cleaned the main lens in FOREVER. Over the years I kept having to increase my cut power a little bit… I’d drop speed 5 here, 10 there. Finally I cleaned the lens in the print head and even though I could not see any problem with it, the machine started working like new. It does not take a lot of schmutz to cause cut problems.

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