Ok. Ive been digging through all the closed posts on this error. I have replaced the fan, AND the white cable (what a project!). Not sure what triggered this but everything was working fine.
I did notice that one of the connector pins is no longer springy. I can pull it out with tweezers. It doesnt feel gunked up, I got some alcohol in there. it pulls out just fine and it stays out unless I mess with it. When I put it on, and take it off (the head) it’s still out. But if I push it in, it doesnt come back out. So weird. Here’s the weird thing though. I thought I’d try a “New Print Head Setup” - when I did, it started printing the test patern just fine. What is the world is happening!?
I havent seen any discussions about fixing the pin connector, if that’s even the problem.
I cant fathom needing a $600 print head replacement over a tiny pin. Why would it print a test print?
I suggest that you contact Wiregrass Technologies as I have read in other forums that they can repair the pins on the printhead. https://www.wiregrassmade.com/
If that pin is fully pushed in, it can cause trouble when it tries to reach the contact plate on the carriage plate. That is part of the communication between the printer head and the air-assist fan. The fan in the photos looks fine, but you mentioned it had been replaced. Based on that, it sounds like you’re still able to print with that workaround.
I know that purchasing a new printer head is not a desired expense, and @dklgood mentioned a potential resolution path. If the fan alerts get worse over time, replacing that printer head may be needed. However, I would first reach out to the support team to take a look at this and confirm any necessary next steps.
I wish I could still print! I guess I just got lucky the one time I tried to setup a new print head and it started burning the “X’s” on the draftboard. Unless you meant “your still not able to print with that workaround…” When I tried to engrave a small test graphic, it throws the error again. Is there a way to use some sort of conductive adhesiveto keep the pin in the extended position? Although it might damage the contact plate connector point then, maybe?
Intermittent errors are the most maddening. It is a good thing to have found it. If I understand where the problem is, the pin has to press down to make the electrical contact and if it is a tiny fraction of a millimeter away there is no electrical contact.
I haven’t played with it much, but my impression was that there was some sort of spring pushing it down. I can see that the slightest amount of smoke gunk could keep the spring from pushing properly.
I use hand sanitizer a lot, but there is enough water in there to cause a short, so extreme care would be needed, still a Q-tip damp with hand sanitizer might dissolve the gunk and remove it freeing up the spring to do its job but replacing gunk with a cotton fiber will not help, and I would give it overnight to be sure the last molecule of the sanitizer had evaporated.
There are a lot of ways it might go wrong, but if it worked it would solve the problem, and as a last-ditch alternative might be worth it.
I’d use Deoxit instead. It’s designed to clean electrical contacts. Much less risky that some hand sanitizer doesn’t evaporated or cotton fibers from the q-tip gets stuck in there. The Deoxit is a spray.
I appreciate the added clarification of the failures. To avoid other issues with self-repair, I can only suggest what is covered in the Glowforge manuals and the Help and Learning Center. This isn’t intended to say we cannot help, but it looks like some fellow users posted additional suggestions recently.
If it continues, feel free to post an update and we can figure out the best path to get this sorted out.
