I’ve started noticing this intermittently lately and not sure why. And if I cut several of the same shape it will do this with one but not others in the same print job. It doesn’t happen with each cut, only maybe one. I just did a print job of 4 of these cut shapes out of one board and it did it with one but not the others.
These are not imported svgs. These are simple shapes I am choosing from inside the GFUI shapes tool.
I already did a recent alignment last week so thats not it. The optics were recently cleaned and a brand new lens installed. I don’t have issues with any other shapes cutting or the laser completing a cut path on other things so I have no explanation why this is happening. I can only figure its some kind of system glitch?
I use the built in shapes tool because its easier to create custom sized shapes inside the gfui without needing to create and import svgs.
(Ignore the char in the photo, this is typical char for cutting unisub board.)
There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to this happening randomly during print jobs but it is really frustrating because it kind of renders that particular cut useless and scrap.
That looks like the head is hitting something, the part is moving, or the belts are loose. Watch the head movement and check the belt tension per the instructions in the help pages.
It really depends on what is happening. I can’t see your machine, can’t watch what it is doing, and can’t inspect it, so I have to work from what you have shown and said, which points to the three problems listed. Once you can provide more information or have been able to watch this particular issue occur and can eliminate one of those issues a different answer may come up.
Just tried it again. Same situation. The one on the right cut first and did this. One on the left cut second and was fine.
I watched the print head, no obstruction.
Checked the belts and they seem totally normal to me? I push on the top of the belt and there is no movement on the bottom part of the belt so the tension appears fine from my layman’s expertise
For shiz and giggles I cut a bunch of large simple shapes from the GFUI shape tool, including the rounded squares from before and they all cut normally.
So I just don’t know why this is happening so randomly and only when I try cutting these rounded squares from the shape tool.
Are you pinning those small shapes down before you cut? Sometimes smaller pieces can be shifted slightly by the strong air assist breeze hitting it just right at an edge. That will result in exactly what you’re showing.
I’m so sorry that your print didn’t turn out as expected.
I extracted the logs from your print that had the gap and took a look at the images from your lid camera. This is the same image that is displayed on the screen in the Glowforge App. I noticed the that the material had shifted slightly during the print. I think @jules is correct here. Your Glowforge has a small but powerful fan called the Air Assist Fan that’s directed right where the laser contacts your material. It’s under the Laser Arm, behind the Printer Head. The fan pushes smoke away from the print area to give you cleaner prints.
When you are printing on a small piece of material, it can also shift the material. I would recommending trying a hold down pin, such as the link @jules posted above. Please let us know if you are still having trouble with your prints after pinning your material. I can extract the new logs and follow up with more information.
Hi there! I wanted to check back in and see if you were able to get better results with the advice from @chelsea and @Jules? Let us know how it went, and we’ll be happy to keep investigating if needed.
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 either start a new thread or email support@glowforge.com.
