I’m trying to engrave, score and cut a medium draftboard that has several layers of paint on each side along with frog tape on each side.
Happy.
I can imagine that layers of paint and tape definitely make a difference in PG settings not working, when I can see that even the color of printer ink makes a difference when I’m dialing in settings and on the threshold of “perfect”.
Whatever combination of blue, yellow and black is being distributed - dark greens are the hardest to get through.
Can well imagine that the settings would have to be tweaked-- PG settings are for “as-is” PG. Cutting through two layers of frog tape, especially so.
(Moving to “beyond the manual” since we don’t recommend using different settings for PG material)
Be sure to clean your optics!
https://glowforge.com/support/topic/cleaning-service-and-moving/cleaning#things-that-need-wiping
Especially if you’re cutting Draftboard - it tends to cause issues in less than 40 hours of use. If you run too long with dirty optics, you’ll damage them permanently. (We do sell replacements in the shop, though).
I’ve started cleaning everything once a week. I don’t run it over 40 hours in any week…usually. 
@dan. I’m sure someone else has suggested but I couldn’t find it. Runtime so that we have an idea of when the gf has been in operation for 40 hours would be a great thing to have on the dashboard. Right now, we are guessing and this information is easy to gather on your end because of the app. Hope the dashboard (along with other upgrades and new products, etc) is coming soon.
I do a minor cleaning every “end of day” of GF use. I find that if I am doing a lot of MDF cored cutting I have to clean about twice the OEM recommended or it will effect parts of my design not cutting all the way through. I always opt to clean before increasing power on anything PG. I have also found that a slight warp in a PG board can effect cutting all the way through. ‘Honycomb Pins’ are a GFers best friend.
I clean it when the camera view is noticeably fogged. I figure if the camera is dirty, everything else is too.
Make sure your paint is completely dry through and though, as dampness in the cutting material seems to affect cutting speed.
In the hopper!
Unofficially I use how dirty my tube is for a hint of when to clean the lens. Wipe the tube, wipe the lens. I don’t actually know if this is a good idea or not but it seems to track.
This is actually a good practice, and is what Epilog Laser recommends for their units.
It’s nothing to invest that few minutes every week, and even if you were running the unit in a production shop you’re still unlikely to hit 40 hours use every week.
I think this had more to do with the mirror being misaligned, which became a huge issue more recently. Having fixed the mirror issue it is now cutting through easily.