I have engraved three non-proof grade beechwood cutting boards. Boards are flat and I used the recommended settings of 1000/100/225. Board is 0.5" thick. I am consistently getting the white line in exact same place on engrave. First pic is unmasked. The second is masked and now has a score line. Not from space in masking. Mask was placed vertically, not horizontally. Could it be issue with set focus distance?
I think your pics didn’t finished uploading.
HI. It won’t upload for some reason.
Try just dragging them into the reply window and wait until they show up in the preview before hitting the button.
Thank you! So the first picture is actually the second one that I did and was masked, but it was masked vertically, not horizontally, so I know there was not a space nor would it have been going the right direction anyway. The second picture is my first cut and it was unmasked, but still the white line. I am stumped. Focus distance maybe? Another member checked the file and he said it was fine.
Well you are at the very limit heightwise on the crumb tray. Some people can’t even get a full .5". Personally, I don’t like cutting it that close and would take the tray out so it wasn’t so tight. If you do a forum search on “cutting without crumb tray” there’s lots of helpful tips on how to go about that.
Looking at the photos tho, it looks to me more like a weird variation in your wood. I know you said it’s in the exact same spot - it looks like the line is higher on the dog’s belly in one pic than the other. If you turn the artwork 90 degrees and or move it to a different spot in the bed does it still happen?
It is different.
Thank you for helping me! I haven’t tried that yet. Obviously I have some scraps now, so I can try turning it. And, good point. It just appeared to me that they are in the same spot. I have a flip side that is in the same spot, so probably just coincidence. Anyway, thanks for the tip about the height. The head did drag at one point and freaked me out. This is only the 3rd thing that I have cut as I just got the Glowforge. I was so frustrated I had to stop for the evening! I will try taking the crumb tray out and see how that goes. Thank you!
That would freak me out, too! And any kind of bumping the head like that tends to mess up alignment. If you haven’t already done so, turn your GF off and gently push the head and gantry to either the far back left corner starting position or directly under the lid camera before turning it on again so it can recalibrate itself.
Thank you so much. I think you hit the nail on the head. The boards are just too thick. I am going to try it tomorrow without the crumb tray. I have been reading a couple of tutorials on how best to do it. Do you think that I will need anything to hold the board in place while cutting? Is there even a solution for that? lol
You’re so welcome.
Nope, cutting boards are plenty heavy. You will need to stack something underneath to lift it up so that the surface is in focus range tho, search for the “no math focus ruler” - it’s super helpful for that.
It’s great to see that you’ve already received excellent advice from our other community members. Thanks folks!
@ekla is right that our community has developed some great Tips and Tricks, and this illustrated guide that they referenced about how to raise up your material might be just what you need.
Let us know how it goes!
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