So, to make a really long story short, I had a fire in my GF and it only affected my lid. I have now bought brand new lids off of ebay (I know, but I did not want to send my GF back AND it is not under warranty – part of the long story). The lid camera literally unscrews (in both lids). I still have a problem centering and “no print head found” errors. There have been 2 occasions that I DID get the machine to find the print head, and when I went to print the pic of the material in the bed was incredibly blurry. This happened with the first new lid as well, and thinking it was something I had done, I ordered a second lid ($$ costs) but I really feel that that was the problem.
So I have more than one question and please refrain from criticizing my choice to order new parts off of ebay:
Are these “new lids” really old lids? Was there a time that GF actually had cameras in the lid that could be removed?
is it maybe an issue with an old “new” part not working with the newest GF? Can I buy a new lid directly from GF without having to send my machine back?
Is the camera the issue? Is it not focusing correctly and THAT is why it cannot find the printhead (I am leaning toward this rationale).
Can I buy JUST the camera and cables from GF?
PS: I have a new white cable already installed, and it is seated well on the print head. Also, something I noticed when it would try and center the print head, it never was really close to centering under the camera. It was always 3 inches or so off of center. I have cleaned everything until my fingers bleed (embellished that a little).
Thanks to all. I have researched this issue everywhere and I can find nothing about GF cameras that screw into the lid! They are all glued of course.
That is what everyone says. but I promise you this is a GF lid and the camera unscrews. I just want to buy a new lid with a glued camera OR just the camera part.
Thank you for responding
The camera does not unscrew, it is permanently attached to the lid. The lens can unscrew, however, if it was not properly secured once focus had been set at the factory or has been damaged - which appears to be the case with yours.
As stated above, once the camera has been focused, it would be secured. The lids you purchased were probably never installed on a Glowforge. For whatever reason, they were surplus parts that became available on ebay.
Focusing the camera is not something that most (if any) users would know how to do.
The lid camera is an essential component for centering the head during initial power-on calibration. If that cannot complete, I am pretty sure you will never get an image of the bed to be able to adjust the focus.
Agreed, but there has to be a way to make the camera focus like a factory reset. I just need to figure that out. Thank you so much for your input though!
It’s a proprietary factory process involving precision tools that average users don’t have; which makes it extremely unlikely that GF is going to share that information with the public.
If you want to get the camera in focus so you can use it, you’re just gonna have to twist it a little at a time and restart the machine over and over until you’ve, by chance, focused it enough for it to find the print head. At that point you can use the “refresh bed image” function to fine-tune the focus, then glue it in place so it doesn’t ever leave that position.
