Today I unboxed my To be clear I’m the second owner, but the original owner never removed it from the box. Never even ran a job. This unit is brand new. Well after spending a couple thousand I open the lid and I didn’t initially notice anything. But when I went to close the lid after removing all the foam, plastic orange pieces, the door was significantly separated from the hinge. To be honest, I’m flabbergasted. You expect electronic issues from time to time, but such a complete failure on a door hinge is concerning. I know that the leveling of the unit and the top camera being perfect is very important, but when I finally got the lid closed the right side is slightly lifted up so I know that I basically have a $2k brick now. Not sure if glowforge can run the serial # to see there has never been a single cut on this thing, and that it’s brand new, but I’m telling you this thing is spotless, perfect condition, other than the door hinge. I guess my question is does glowforge have a fix for this? I can’t be the only one with this defect. Since they used poor craftsmanship others have to be effected. Thanks
We’ve seen a handful of reports of this on this forum, and as they’ve only sold 18,000 or so machines, I guess this is a true indication of poor craftsmanship.
As you’ve posted in the support forum, someone from GF support should be along to help you. Meanwhile, you can use the search function to find the other threads on this, most of which discuss the solution.
Thank you. I will find the search function and see what I can find. I appreciate your help. 18,000 isn’t many, so maybe they are still working through the bugs. But it is tough when you happen to be one of the unfortunate ones. If this turns out to be a brick, I’m going to have to get a second job to offset my losses as this was supposed to help me with a side business. I saved for 8 months to buy this one, so looks like I may be starting all over 
It’s quick and easy to fix, if you decide to take that path.
Are you under warranty or no?
jb, since I’m the second owner I do not believe the warranty transfers, and I wouldn’t expect it too, despite this being brand new.
The warranty will transfer, if any remaining, to second owners.
It doesn’t say this in the warranty terms (it actually says nothing about transfer either way), but this page does explicitly say the warranty transfers:
thank you JB
That really stinks to get a machine that off the bat has issues. Very hard to trace this down. Back in the first year of production machines, there was a rash of lid separations. Doesn’t seem an issue with new machines now much. Some older ones have had a separation and did self repairs and it turned out ok.
In fairness to everyone, leaving something in a box doesn’t necessarily mean that it has been protected from abuse or damage. Needed to have a good environment too. Not too hot, not too cold. Perhaps they did receive it and stowed it in a safe place with nothing around to interfere with it. But even then, it could have been a shipping issue. It’s been a constant battle to keep upgrading packing solutions to keep up with the creative ways delivery companies find to toss these around.
In any case, you will get this machine going. The Glowforge has some amazing capabilities.
I tell you what, after I noticed the hinge detaching on one side, I very carefully opened the lid and about half way in made a really loud popping sound. Sounded like a gun shot. Next thing I know I’m holding the lid in my hands. It was kind of shocking. I’m gonna try some things to fix it. At Walmart now, my local Lowe’s is closed already 20191118_203601|287x500
It needs to be pretty good glue if that’s what your are looking for. This post might help.
so, I detached the hinges by the bolts which was very easy to do. I bought E6000 epoxy, spread thiat across the hinge and then used 4 small clamps to clamp the hinge to the glass. I left it sit for about 42 hours and it seems to be very secure now. I just reattached the lid and it goes up and down smoothly and is perfectly aligned. Thank you for your help
kudos to you for fixing it, hope to see what you start making in the future.
I’m so glad you were able to repair it! Hope you’re able to get online quickly and do your first recommended prints. Welcome to the forum!
I’m so sorry to hear about the trouble with the lid. That is good to hear that you were able to glue it successfully.
You may want to try recalibrating the camera in your Glowforge.
You’ll need a 12” x 20” piece of Proofgrade material with no markings or stickers. The feature was designed to be used with a flat piece of medium Proofgrade Draftboard, used upside-down (with the QR code side down). It may work with other materials that are the same size and use the same print settings as well, like Proofgrade plywood.
It prints a grid of markings, takes a picture, then measures its height in multiple locations. This data is used to make your camera more accurate for future prints.
To get started, click on this link: Launch the Camera Recalibrator
Since the lid separation has been resolved, I’m going to close this thread. If you run into any more trouble, please start a new thread or reach out at support@glowforge.com