@Jules Thank you so much for posting your tutorial! Despite your initial post dating back before I started my project, unfortunately I somehow missed it! That said, I’m happy to say I was able to reach most of the same conclusions and methods during my own “struggles”. As you’ve stated, I learned in my initial attempts that doing large batches and keeping them in register on the flip was going to be a problem. The more pieces I attempted to process all at once, the more alignment errors there were. Over time I would cut that number down and the ratio would get better, but it was still hit and miss and not a good ratio for any kind of “production”. While singular pieces had a better success rate, I felt that processing parts one at a time would be way to slow and time consuming to babysit. In my mind I felt like “it should just work!!!”, so I was adamant about doing them in smaller batches at the very least. In hindsight, I should have realized and/or accepted that this was a limitation of the GF and worked within that limitation rather than fighting against it. It would have required more hands on attention, but I may have had more successful pieces and far less scrap? Still, processing pieces one at a time isnt perfect either, at least in my experience. There would be times when the artwork in the UI would shift slightly after opening and closing the lid to flip a piece. More often than not, it would turn out fine if I proceeded with the second side, but not always. Which always left me hesitant and second guessing whether or not processing the second side would just be a huge waste of time? And sometimes it was.
Moving forward, I think I’ll try to come up with designs that don’t require a two sided engrave or just accept it will only be single sided. But odds are I’ll still want something two sided and so I’ll just have to proceed with greater patience and make them one at a time.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply and for sharing your great tutorial!!!