Thick PG acrylic not cutting all the way through

Community Support
1

The forum suggests that I’m not the first person to experience a problem with Thick PG acrylic settings not being sufficient to cut through the material. At first I thought it was a fluke, but now that it has happened a few times, I think the settings might need to be adjusted. the cuts are deep enough to allow the material to be separated with a bit of force, but that leaves a dangerous, sharp, jagged edge.

The machine is clean a suggested, and I see no scratches, etc.

Please advise

Thanks!

2

have you measured the actual thickness vs. what it “thinks” the thickness is?

I noticed my PG was off by .010 according to my calipers

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3

@ca_worth: Did correcting the thickness fix the problem and make it burn through?

I’m having trouble burning through wood and I’ve noticed that the PG thickness doesn’t match the actual thickness.

4

Changing the thickness in the unknown material box will only change the camera image in the UI and will have no effect on cutting.

Changing the focus height in manual settings would change something, but would probably not fix anything because leaving it unchanged gives autofocus which will adjust for the thicker material.

No, noting it is thicker may just mean that the PG settings are perhaps insufficient and manual adjustment to go a little slower is required. But that’s also implied by the result of not cutting all the way through unless the material or the crumb tray are not flat.

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5

I have the same issue Since it’s hard to predict when it won’t go all the way through just run cuts twice without moving the acrylic :slight_smile: after wasting a few sheets I think it’s the best option for me, It only takes a little extra time and saves me allot of frustration, I do the Same with PG medium maple :slight_smile:

6

Does GF replace ruined PG sheets that are not properly cut with their proofgrade settings?

I would hope so. Does GF have the ability to verify settings? Bang they get an image from the camera and a Reddit of the settings to certify we are following their settings?

7

Yes. It’s in the machine logs. If you wait for the “cooling down” operation at the end of a job and for it to finish its things (meaning don’t immediately pop the lid open), it takes an after picture of a job as well.

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8

Many times, not cutting all the way through PG is due to dirty lens and windows. How long has it been since you cleaned yours?

9

They’ve been known to. However they aren’t obligated to by the warranty or any publicly published policy.

Glowforge Warranty Information | Glowforge. The Proofgrade warranty is at the bottom.

10

I keep everything clean. I wish this were he issue, as it would be a simple fix.

11

I’m so sorry we missed your post

I have a few questions:

  1. Has your unit had trouble cutting though other Proofgrade materials besides thick acrylic?
  2. Would you measure your thick acrylic and let us know how thick it is?

Thank you!

12

Jaz,

Thanks for the reply. I’ve experienced a very MINOR problem cutting through one piece of Proofgrade medium walnut, but that seemed to be an anomaly, so I didn’t worry about it too much. The Proofgrade thick acrylic; however, has happened several times. I measured my material, and it varied between .2370 and .2378 depending on the piece.

thanks again!

Jeff

13

Thanks for the update! I’ll continue to look into it.