"We're sorry, an error occurred while preparing this print" 100% of the time with non-proofgrade materials

(I’ve already emailed support about this, but I’m hoping that someone else has encountered this issue and knows if there’s a simple solution)

I got my glowforge last week, and since then I’ve been able to make a couple of things from the proofgrade materials. But, whenever I try to use non-proofgrade materials, I get a big error overlay “We’re sorry…”. My glowforge then goes to “calibrating the head” mode, and gets stuck there until I power cycle it. (Seriously, it was there for 20-30 minutes before I gave up last time)

Has anyone else seen this problem? Any ideas about how I could resolve it?

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Just spitballing here but you have entered the hight of the non pg right?

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Without following you step by step it’s pretty hard to provide a suggestion.

Logical steps are always best. Try it on the PG first. If you can print a design on PG then use exactly that design for your non-Proofgrade test.

Need to enter material thickness in the top left material entry area.
Enter Cut settings and/or engrave settings for non-PG
Make sure the design is completely within the allowed area.
Lots of other stuff to make sure it’s something other than the design.

The only thing I know for sure is that if it enters calibration and doesn’t complete within about 4 minutes, just power off, move the head under the camera and power back up.

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@markevans36301 Yeah, entered the height, set power/speed settings. Hit print in the app, and this error happens.

@rpegg Yep, I’ve done all that + set the head under the camera many many times, and it still bails out.

It will also fail if I put in PG materials without the QR code.

Sounds like they need to push you firmware but I’m not an expert on their architecture.

Having a hard time matching the calibration step and the non-PG issue. Seems like two different things but still thinking.

edit: I can think of one possibility but it’s not something you can adjust or fix. So I’ll let support help. Otherwise a possibility becomes a fact in forum gossip.

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They may not be related from a software/hardware standpoint. But they happen at the same time and since the error message is super-generic and there’s no error logs I can look at…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sidenote to glowforge staff: reveal and document publicly error codes and what they mean. at least console.log them

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When you enter the material height for non-PG, is that number also populating the manual cut and engrave settings as a focus height?

As such, this thread will likely be closed with a “I see you’ve already e-mailed support about this so we’re closing it here.”

Before they do, I’ll say this…

I’ve had the error happen, for sure. But on :proofgrade: as well. So I’m thinking it might be coincidence for you. But what I’ve been able to do when that happens is to go back Home, and try it again, and it works.

As for your re-calibration, I wonder if it’s a WiFi issue. If you can move you WiFi router and Glowforge closer to each other, that’s where I’d start.

I’m gonna second the excellent earlier advice. Check the design first by testing it to see if it will process on Proofgrade material. If it does (you don’t have to send it to print once it processes, just cancel before hitting the button) then you can open the lid and put in your other material, adjust the height if it is significantly different from the PG you used and then hit Print again. It sounds like it might be an issue with the design.

There are many things that will cause a design to not process. Check in on PG first and you can eliminate that as a factor.

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I thought calibration was done at startup. Are you saying yours does it when you press print?

@rpegg I’ll have to check that tonight when I get home.

@Jules here’s a weird edge case to this: when I put in PG material without the qr code, the above happens. I had cut a part out of a proofgrade sheet, and was running a second job (engrave) on it. I put the smaller piece in, picked the specific type of proofgrade I was using, had my settings configured - error. I put the sheet of PG back in (that had the QR code) and the cut out piece where it was originally - engrave successful.

@palmercr The flow is: power on, calibration happens. When that’s done, I put material in the forge and prepare my job (height, settings). It scans, and at some point before I can push the blue glowing button, the error happens. I dismiss the overlay, and the app ui goes to “calibrating the head mode” and gets stuck there.

One of the other users just discovered something that might pertain in this case - if you are reloading a piece, the Focal Point slot might not be repopulating unless you put the Unknown Materials thickness in first, followed by updating the Manual Engrave settings.

You might try opening the Manual Engrave settings and checking the Focal Point value to make sure that there is something in there. It can’t process without a Focal Point setting.

Just something to check.

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Interesting, I’ll take a look later tonight.

One other thing you might check - if you are running anything that doesn’t have a QR code on it, like a piece of PG material without one - make it your very first step to enter the Material Thickness in the Unknown Slot. (Or choose from a Proofgrade setting there.)

The lid camera calibration routine seems to depend on that value (or some value) being in there to speed up. It can do it after a long period of time without it, but entering a thickness is usually the first thing I do. I’m not sure the thickness information is always retained.

See if that helps too. :slightly_smiling_face:

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It does happen at startup. However I’ve also seen it re-calibrate after certain errors.

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Since you’ve got Support on the case, I’ll leave them to figure out the “why”. But in the meantime, if you want to keep working, grab a QR code that matches your material from your code pile (you are cutting out the square QR codes & saving them aren’t you?) or peel one off a piece of PG and put that in the machine with your other material. It will see the code and if that’s the issue, it should let you carry on.

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Thank you for the ideas everyone. @davethegr8, I’ve followed up with more detailed information through email; however, it appears we need to replace your printer.

I’m going to close this thread, but please reach out to us if you have any other questions!

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