Problems Cutting... Mini 24

[brian fithian]

I have an Epilog Mini 24 and last week, all of a sudden, it quit cutting all the way through the material in the center and bottom row. I am cutting 1/8" acrylic laminated with 3M reflective material laminated to it. I have been cutting these same pieces for 6 years and never had a problem... The pieces are letters, 3 1/2" high by 3 1/4" wide. There are 3 rows of 7 on each piece of Acrylic. I thought my cutting table was the problem, it had a slight bow in it. So, I attached it to a piece of 3/4" plywood and screwed it to the plywood. it did help a little.... the top row (which hasnt been a problem) and the middle row (there was a problem with the middle of the middle row) cut through just fine but, the bottom row still wont cut through... I have about 600 of 3000 of these to cut and am a week behind... Can someone please help me figure this out... Seems like maybe some kind of focus problem to me but, I am stuck !!!!
P.S.
the 3M Material is laminated onto the acrylic and, i put this in the laser with the 3M material facing down... it is, for the most part cutting the acrylic but, on the bad spots it will not cut through the 3M material. ANY HELP would be much appreciated

[Mike Null]

While it is posssible that the tube is beginning to degrade my first inclination would be to check the laser alignment at various positions on your table. it is possible that your mirrors need adjusting. I would also confirm that the laser is in focus at several positions on the job, particularly where you're having the problem. You should have air flow under the cutting table but it sounds like the plywood may be preventing that.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Not too long ago I had a weird problem with engraving a file I had been engraving for years. While I keep my machine maintained, I still went through and did a thorough cleaning and I was still having the same problem. I did several reboots on both engraver and computer. I was starting think I had parts failing on my machine. I decided to try some more test engraves using copy paper and set up light engrave settings for the paper. Everything worked fine. I once again tried my engraving job and once again problems. I finally narrowed it down to somehow my saved print settings file for that job became corrupted. Once I created a new print settings file, everything worked perfect again.

[Joe Pelonio]

Dirty or scratched mirrors and lenses will also cause problems that look like a focus issue. More air assist pressure might also help.

[brian fithian]

I appreciate all of the help Fellows... I erased all the stored jobs, reloaded them and, still the same problem... It ended up the front part of the cutting table was unlevel by, about 3/16"... Got it all leveled back up and, is cutting good. Back in business. This happened all of a sudden so im thinking, my help may have done something or dropped one of my cutting tables onto the laser table... Not sure..