Have a refurbished unit which was sent recently to replace a past unit. Has worked fine for a couple of weeks, but now it’s making a very loud fan noise as soon as it’s turned on, seems like maybe the air assist fan is in a constant on mode. Is there a hard reset I can do to try and get back to original settings?
Yes there is, but first I’d check to see if any of the fans (1 big, 2 small) are dirty - because they get loud when they’re dirty
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I’m so sorry to hear about the loud noise. I extracted the logs from your Glowforge and didn’t see anything unusual from our end.
Could you please post a video of when your printer makes the noise?
The forge is almost brand new, used maybe 15 times since it was first plugged in. And the noise came on suddenly. It very much seems that the air assist fan is simply stuck in an always on mode. I can feel it pushing air out at full pressure, even with lid open, not running a file. That’s abnormal, right?
Here is video of noise; noise is always present while forge is on, and we can feel air blowing from the air assist fan.
BTW, since we have 2 forges running, I should mention this is our forge labeled “living room”.
Not sure you mean the air assist fan?
The air assist fan is the small fan attached to the carriage place that the head snaps on to. It rides along underneath the laser tube. It doesn’t push any air out of the machine, it blows smoke away from the focal point of the laser as it cuts.
Unless you are saying you feel air blowing forwards from the head, not actually “out” of the machine?
The exhaust fan is on the back left of the machine. It is the primary way air is exhausted from the machine and can certainly be felt when running.
Air assist fan is exactly what I mean, Can feel air pushing from the small duct that points forward from under the carriage, pushing smoke away from the focal point. I can feel that pushing air all the time.
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That is definitely not normal, I can’t hear mine running (even when the machine is printing - my exhaust fan is disabled.)
It sounds like bad bearings but that wouldn’t cause it to keep running.
You could try checking and re-seating the white/grey cable that connects to the head, there have been problems with those not being completely connected. Obviously with the machine off.
Yeah, I did take the plate off and clean it/unplug-plug-back-in when I figured out what fan it was, but to no avail. The forge sounds fine when running a file, so I’m assuming that the fan is working properly, just not turning off when it’s supposed to.
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Thank you for posting that video. I’ve forwarded it and the logs from your printer to the team to review.
We will update you as soon as we have more information. Please let us know if you notice anything else unusual.
Thank you for your patience as we investigated your report.
Since you have two printers, could you try installing the carriage plate from your other Glowforge onto the one having trouble with the fan?
Please let us know if this resolves the issue or if the fan from the other unit is also staying on. Once we have the results of the test, we will follow up with the next steps.
I switched out the carriage plates, and the problem stayed with the forge, rather than following the carriage plate and fan. So despite switching the carriage plates, forge #1 is still running the air assist fan at all times.
That’s good info.
The fans for the air assist (and exhaust, but can’t speak to other two) are 4-wire PWM controlled, but if the speed signal is missing, they run at full speed as soon as power is applied.
So a broken wire or bad connection between the main control system and the carriage plate could easily explain this. Unfortunately, that ribbon cable is not easily replaced.
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Thank you for letting us know the results of the test. I’ve just followed up by email with the next steps to get this fixed.
We’re going to continue to work on this there, so I’m going to close this thread.