I see several posts that are now closed related to Alert Cooling. It seemed to focus on air flow and weird ways to cool the device. My air flow appears to be fine. And, I don’t think I should have to jerry rig something to make this very expensive device work. I have a box fan that I was running to help with the lingering smoke/smell upon open. But that doesn’t appear to have helped the cooling.
I just cut something that took ~6 minutes and waited over 3 hours for the Alert Cooling and finally gave up and went to bed. It was clear the next morning. 1. This occurred in the evening where it was ~75F outside. 2. FYI. I don’t even run my house at 75F. Ever. My wife would leave me if it were that cold inside.
This seems like an unreasonable temperature expectation. I wish I had seen it before I bought this. Also, why is the Pro a different setting than the Basic. Very disappointed that I have barely used this thing and now it is basically unusable after a brief wood engrave. This seems like an ineffective cooling design.
I opened a ticket with support so we will see what they come up with. But basically at the end of almost every other post, it was tough, those are the settings. Hoping for a little more than that.
The Pro has a higher upper temperature range because it uses a Thermoelectric (peltier cooler).
Not sure what to tell you otherwise. The power and consistency falls off quickly as the temperature increases. With an all-in-one design, compromises are made. One of which is cooling.
CO2 lasers generate a lot of heat when they are firing. Glowforge uses a coolant that is circulated through the tube into a small tank. As you use the laser this coolant heats up - if it gets too warm then the life of the tube is drastically reduced. The pro model uses a peltier electric system to help cool the coolant, the basic does not have this extra cooling.
The temperature ranges have always been in the specifications.
Thanks for the technical details. A little buyers remorse I guess. It’s a lot of money for me to have overlooked that nice little specs setting. Also, I do not recall the cooling mechanism or temperature range as a comparison of the Pro vs. Basic anywhere. I feel like I would have to have been specifically looking for that. As just a hobbyist, it isn’t something that I was specifically looking for.
An alternative option that a few people are considering is a portable AC unit just for that room. Might be something to look into, and let you keep your wife.
You can also cool it slightly faster by directing a fan under the right side of the machine at the air intake.
Worth a try anyway, and cheaper than a Pro model when push comes to shove.
We have had some vigorous discussion about the operating temperature parameters. This limitation, along with camera placement accuracy, what auto kerf adjustment means, usable bed area, noise, and exhaust are all significant issues that the original marketing video seem to make trivial. Big clash between expectations and reality. My overall satisfaction is 100% of what I hoped to accomplish with the laser, but I also had a long time to adjust expectations during the build out reading along in the forum.
While the Glowforge has some excellent capabilities, these limitations are significant for many folks. It sure has been a learning experience for me. I spent a lot more time trying to understand the limitations of FDM 3D printing technology before I finally bought one. A lot more time than I usually do because I realize there were so many unknown unkowns for me that I had to deal with.
temp warnings are significant issues. I hope you can come up with a good solution.
