Burned circuit board

Recently my camera stopped taking pictures, so i ordered a new camera cable off the glowforge website. it got here quickly which made me absolutely thrilled as my business cam to a complete halt waiting. I carefully changed the cable accordingly to instructions. flicked it on and noticed the lights werent turning on on one side of the lid so i gave the cable a gentle press to make sure it was in all the way and then bam, the circuit board caught fire sparked and smoked. this is a glowforge replacement cable, why on earth is this happening !!! ive had my machine for only 14 months.

im so upset. I know shipping it back would be so difficult given the size and weight of this. I would love to just replace the part or get a replacement machine somehow given this was a faulty cable that destroyed my very expensive machine …

Yikes!
I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I think you’ll need to reach out to Glowforge support about repair options :-/
https://support.glowforge.com/

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I am sorry this happened to you, but the cable was not faulty. The installation was not done correctly. You will probably have to get a replacement machine.

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See how close those tiny little pins are? Some of them carry power, and the slightest misalignment can cause the metal on the cable to short out pins that are not supposed have 12 volts on them, with the result you experienced. It is unlikely that the cable itself was defective, it was probably not “in all the way” as you said, and moving it around with the power turned on made it go poof.

That circuit board is technically replaceable, and I think a few people have managed to get Glowforge to sell them one, but it’s rather difficult to install.

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It actually was fully in, i poked it so gently and it should not make it catch literal fire. if its that much of a hazard they shouldn’t sell parts at all. The lines we perfectly lined up thats why i was confused as to why this was happening in the first place.

i did! but im not getting any replies. i messaged yesterday.

You may have to be patient. GF support doesn’t have the best reputation for being fast :-/

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Those connectors are not designed to be serviced, they are a poor choice and have caused issues for several owners. They are generally used in delicate electronics such as laptops, for one-time assembly by machine.

I am sorry for your issue.

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I sent a message over a week ago and have had no reply. Their support can be extremely slow, especially considering that they don’t actually stock parts or service/assemble machines - it is all outsourced.

yes im trying to be, :frowning: just i took so many orders for easter and im so afraid im going to have to issue refunds now, it was unexpected and its my full time job, how i feed my kids. so stressed out

thank you !! i have even tried looking into other lasers but im so attached to how user friendly their software is, and the camera in the bed, im surprised to see alot of other lasers dont have that feature

Have you checked for other GF users in your area that could help you out? We have some at our local libraries.

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That stinks. GF has really tried to walk the line between adding some user-serviceable parts and doing it all themselves. This is the downside to allowing user replacement. The upset is not having to send in the whole machine. I hope you’re able to get it all sorted out quickly.

The truth is that the camera is a bit of a pain, honestly. Many other lasers use a pointer to show you where they are going to cut and, although it doesn’t seem as swanky, can be more accurate.

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