I’m making keychains for an event. I finally got everything dialed in, saved my settings, and went to do a whole board. All the settings are exactly the same and the material is the same. What’s the difference? I’ve been messing with it for hours and cannot get it to look like the original one I made. Any thoughts?
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Usually it is the wood. Even on that same board much less different boards from the same tree or species the wood can vary a lot. Look also to the wind from the fan. an obstacle like even a hold-down pin can change what happens when the laser hits wood.
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you’re probably not properly focused in the second one. that engrave looks out of focus in general.
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I hit set focus before starting either but I felt the same way. I even tried it on my second machine and got the same result. It’s driving me crazy.
hmmm… have you tried manually setting focus?
there’s almost no doubt in my mind that the difference between the top and bottom engraves area focus issue. this is exactly what it would look like if you defocused to an extreme.
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hi @amandashun. I’m sorry to see that your design is being printed inconsistently. I saw some great tips regarding focusing on the focus to accommodate and resolve this. One thing I would like to check is the material being used. There are differences with the wood grain that can affect the print results. Wood can vary, even when they are from the same batch, or similarly named.
Also, since you are doing a heavy amount of engraving, which tends to create more dust and build up throughout the machine. It could help check the lenses, including the focus windows on the bottom of the printer head, do not have any debris or residue.
Lastly, if can help to rule out any material related trouble if you are able to try the design on any Proofgrade material. With Proofgrade materials, masking is a big factor in accommodate any trouble if the wood grain has heavy variance. I wasn’t able to see any masking on the material being used, so this test can help us rule out factors that my contribute to the end result. Thank you!