Air assist error (RANT)

Nah, pure chance.

The version I heard was that it was put into the standard design template that was used for all drawings, and discovered by someone much later. This was over 25 years ago…

I resemble that comment. :slightly_smiling_face: Didn’t get in trouble and wasn’t a rant, but I did hide micro-sized comments in the title block of drawings. When we were still working on the board, I placed cartoons around assembly drawings, lightly sketched so they did not show up when printed, but noticeable if you looked closely at the velum.

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Used to do something similar with code. Probably every programmer has done that :grin: Lots of Hanna-Barbera references in my code. Some of it required the assembly of inactive code blocks across the system so things that wouldn’t be obvious only became so if you were very clever at seeing patterns.

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I think that to fully understand the original allusion to the annoyed CAD drafter you need to remember pen plotters. I can just picture that plotter grumbling away in seemingly the same spot long enough to wear out the paper there. Today’s wide carriage inkjet printer would just print a dot equivalent to the size of the scaled down mischief and carry on. I’d be pretty annoyed if the plotter pen, or the platen were messed up!

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I love how almost every thread in this community evolves into an epic story at some point (not sarcasm) . The rabbit trails we’ve gone down in our time here is something to behold :slight_smile:
There were definitely times when I found it slightly annoying, but there are several of you that have grown on me…like fungus :crazy_face:

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Evolves is right! Ahh? What kind of fungus?

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I used to hide Heinlein quotes in the comment lines within my codes.

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Thinking a bit like this:

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also, back on topic (I know, I’m sorry), I waited for the board to flatten a bit and removed every last single magnet (even though they were no where near the work area), and it ran all the way through! I’m now making some of those awesome t-pins that @eljefe4 posted. It’ll work for some situations, but not everything. I still need to be able to decrease the bow in the middle of the sheets, and if I can’t use magnets anymore…

are you using raw magnets? i’ve been really happy w/the HDD magnets that have the plates on the backs to dissipate the magnetism on the top side. if you flip them upside down, plate to the honeycomb, they don’t stick at all. but magnet down, good solid rare earth connection.

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Well this is a terrible oversight. Somethings cant be held down by pins. I use magnets almost exclusively. I really hope I dont see this error because of it

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I have a bunch of magnets. My original set doesn’t trip it. My stronger second set always does. Whomp. I’ve debated attaching shielding film to the magnets or the fan but never got to it.

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on a lot of other lasers, magnets aren’t even an option. Universals all have aluminum honeycomb beds. i’ve beaten ours up a bit with the pins, too, since aluminum bends. we’ll eventually have to spend a few hundred to replace the honeycomb portion. to be fair, the whole tray is huge compared to the GF. not just the bed size, but it’s also a lot deeper. it’s pretty heavy even with aluminum. but i wish it was a magnetic metal.

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Solid tungsten weights. :rofl:

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:smiley: I’ve got the shielding. I’ve got the magnets. I still use the magnets. Haven’t gotten around to attaching the shielding to the magnets yet. It just sits on the table mocking me. But I haven’t gotten the fan error in months or longer.

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:rofl: a true procrastinator. Like me.

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Well, if we’re comparing lasers here, I have a whole room full of different brands, and for the most part all of my other lasers have air assist that points straight down, and doesn’t blow lighter materials down the bed towards the door. They also allow me to turn the air assist off whenever I want. So in that regard, magnets are way more important on the glowforge than on any of my other lasers, especially when im dealing with thin materials.

My large format trotec has a magnetic honeycomb bed, but that was custom made. Regardless, having something turn off an engrave without some sort of user-override isnt very customer friendly in my opinion.

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Back in my first (pre-PC) college days I used to hang out in the EE grad students’ office a lot because they had their own mainframe to work on and sometimes I got to play with it. The command to create a new file was “MAKE [filename].” One of them was starting on a new routine one day and typed in “MAKE love” at the prompt, and the interface responded, “Not war?”

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You just need to dissipate the magnetism on the top. A metal plate should do it. I keep mentioning hdd magnets because they do this well if you leave the metal plates on.

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