Where do you place the material on the bed?

Community Support
1

I’m a little confused on where to place the material on the bed.

The image I see in the app is a little confusing. If I put a piece of pg all the way against the top of the GF - there is an area that shows the crumb tray at the bottom and does not allow me to use all of my PG…

There is now also a “safe zone” that if the artwork is in it at all - the app tells me there is no artwork loaded. So are we getting the full cut area or less than advertised?

On a 12 x 20 sheet, hope I can get at least 11.5 x 19.5 out of the material…

Thanks!

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2

To maximize space on the full sheet, place the corner of the material in the front right corner of the grid area of the tray.

(And you’ll get just shy of 11" x 19.5" currently.)

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3

I have made a small mark in my crumb tray that shows the top of the material usable area. I just align the right edge of the material with the right edge of the grid and the top of the material to the mark.

4

Make an 11.5 X 19.5 rectangle, throw some cardboard in there, cut it out. That’s your max print area.
ta da

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Do you get 11x19.5 when engraving, or just cutting? My area seems to be significantly smaller with graphic engraves.

6

Yeah, the cutting area is 19.5 x 11. The engrave area is smaller at higher speeds - the head needs room to decelerate.

The available area for engraves does vary based on the speeds used. If you slow it down, you get more area. But you also have to reduce the power in order to keep from charring your material, so if you want to do it, it helps to do some experimenting. :slightly_smiling_face:

7

Thanks @Jules, that’s correct.

@ntl Your Glowforge can currently print up to 11 x 19.5 in. Engravings take extra room to speed up and slow down, so the area may be a bit smaller. We’re working on software improvements that will increase the printable area as well as the camera’s field of view.