I printed my ruler as my first print - but it took three tries as the fan near the print head area would move so much air, my proofgrade would move.
Can I use regular masking tape to secure the edges to the crumbtray so the proofgrade does not move? I use a few small pieces of the masking from the failed prints to do this on the print that was successful once I realized what was going on?
If I can’t use regular masking tape or painters tape, is there some sort of a laser safe tape that I can use? Something that won’t gum up the tray but has enough hold for a print!
I’m concerned about the magnets disrupting the print head / board / gf in some way because these magnets can be quite powerful. Worst case scenario one gets loose and attaches to the nearby computer or somewhere inside the GF where I can’t get to it…
If that happens they might void the warranty if they wipe a board (?)
The honeycomb is ferrous; magnets stick to it with vigor. There is a pretty decent distance between the comb and the print head, so the magnets won’t move on you in normal use. The head is mostly pretty lightweight materials and very little of it is magnetic.
I’ve been using random cheap ceramic magnets covered in gaffers tape to hold down slightly warped 1/8" baltic birch plywood. As long as I remember to do the interior cuts before the whole piece cutout (grrr), it works great!
These big blocky magnets are good for holding a piece in place by placing them around the edges. That’s handy when you want to do a double sided piece by flipping the piece in place.
Though, I’ve also used them directly on the material itself.
The tape serves two purposes; if you drop the magnet and it cracks, it’ll keep shards out of the machine and it also makes it easier to pick up.
That almost 100% wont happen, as it has the bed to stick to. Also, magnets do not wipe information from chips, only from magnetic based disc drives which the gf does not have. Youll be fine using magnets, but tape or magnet levered hold-downs will work just fine. anything that isnt in the cut path should be good.
You can also use some pegs in the bed to keep it from shifting. Ive seen a few designs posted here
Sounds like you got a good fan in yours! (Just stick a piece of tape on it to keep it from shifting…easy on, easy to remove. Or you can align it against a larger piece of wood if you like - I keep a couple of 3 inch by 5 inch scraps for the purpose of squaring up small pieces in the center of the bed.)
Just try not to have the tape in an engrave or cut area. Incredibly, just the thickness of the tape can cause a variation in the look of the engrave where there are double layers. It can even cause it to not cut all the way through to the bottom of the material. Lasers are that precise.
Thanks for asking. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get to this.
We don’t recommend putting anything in your Glowforge unless it’s laser-compatible. We recommend using small scraps of Proofgrade material if you need to weight down the edges of your material.
