Caution: Dirty Pictures....or...How I Cleaned the Exhaust Fan 🤔

Glowforge Tips and Tricks
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I’m genuinely jealous of how clean and lovely that is.

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You really need to fix that!

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So if you are wrong about being right, and right about being wrong then does that make you always right?

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No, because I was wrong about not being right. Wrong is wrong! :wink:

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Thanks for taking the time to share all of these important details!

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@Jules Can’t thank you enough for this! I previously went through a warranty replacement on my first Pro for the same noise and vibration, and was gearing up to have to do it again on my newer machine. While awkward, yes, this worked out great. I do envy the easy access those without the Pro have! Let’s hope future models have better access to clean or replace the Pro fans.

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I want to point our a key element of cleaning the fan that in my opinion made all the difference.

I was getting more and more smoke coming out through the machine and after tearing my ventilation system apart and rebuilding it I was frustrated to still see smoke pouring out the machine when I ran any cut.

After eliminating the ventilation as the issue, I cleaned the fan (thankfully on the basic unit so fairly easy) with some iso alcohol and a cloth and it was clean and spinning correctly but still after testing with a low power cut and the exhaust hose off I found the volume of air being pushed out by the machine was not what it should be.

I ran a shop vac inside and out of the fan and while the fan spun cleanly I noticed when looking into the exhaust port that some of the holes in the honey comb grid between the fan and the hose were blocked and running the vac over them was not making a difference.

I poked at the holes with a pen and when I did the compacted dust that was packed inside each broke apart and was able to be sucked up by the vac. I spent about 5 mins doing this to all the holes and after reconnecting everything and running an engrave - I found the exhaust system to work great again and I could cut again with no smell or smoke or fumes. The air quality monitor I use sitting on top of the glowforge did not even register a difference when it was turned on.

Its working so well again that I cancelled the 200CFm inline booster fan that I had just ordered in the hopes of solving my issue.

So moral of the story is make sure those honeycomb holes in the grid between the fan and the exhaust outlet are cleaned regularly

Hope that helps someone

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It does…that’s an important one to keep up with too.

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I put one in when my exhaust fan stopped working at all in spite of being able to spin freely and more to the point when the Glowforge is not cutting anything it pulls fresh air through the machine keeping it from heating up from just being on. it also exercises the exhaust fan when the Gllwgorge is not running and I think helps when it does go on.

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On the Basic this is really easy - no heatsink in the way.

Mine was abslutely full of crud and was making a horrible grinding noise on startup. SO glad I found this.

I scratched mine mostly clean with a bamboo stick and it has made a huge difference to noise and to air flow.

Will be doing a proper clean with wet Q-tip next.

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So after seeing this thread referenced on another thread, and after having just spent an hour cleaning my GF, I’ll add this to the monthly chore (ordered the camera - that will come in handy for a LOT of other things!).

But it makes me think about a few things.

  1. Design - This seems like poor design to me if it’s a part that may affect how the unit runs / performs. Certainly GF doesn’t want people shipping back their units for a busted fan from build up. Why not just make the exhaust ring on the back removable to get at the fan easier? Granted the Basic users can get to theirs, the Pro users (myself included) should have a way to get at the fan to get it clean or easily replaced. I get the case has the duct molded in, but this seems like a poor design.

  2. Design again - WTF is up with all of the wires / connections / stuff that other build up is affecting?!?! That should at the very least be shielded from debris hitting it with a simple piece of plastic. Granted not everything would be protected, at least it’d save it from SOME debris buildup.

  3. Cleaning technique - thanks Jules for outlining this. You’d think on some level GF would want to cover this, but yes it’s pretty dicey getting in there and doing this so not something the average user would do. I’m the kind of guy who rips apart appliances, washers / dryers, to fix / clean stuff so I’m not afraid, but you’d think they’d want to make this easier?

Kind of a rant, I just don’t want Zippy breaking down. And now something ELSE to do other than cutting / engraving. :slight_smile:

EDIT - didn’t see this thread:

Should have put my comments there!

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While looking into my own unit, I’ve noticed there is no heat sink! Is this something that’s changed in later models, or is my unit not quite right?

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The heatsink is only in the Pro version.

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Love the pass through. and extra power and cooling but I do wish they had put the heatsink nearer the intake than the exhaust.

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So I bought the pro and have used it for about a month. I only used it with the fan on for one cut, though, as I also invested in the $1000 filter. But after finding out the cost of replacement filters for that thing, I invested the same amount in a 6" inline fan and will be venting it out the window. Since I only have really ever run this thing with the “Air Filter Attached” mode, how often do I need to do this. Because, seriously, where I have it, this might be easier than taking it outside. But if I am not really “using” that fan, does it matter?

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Yes. The fan is still in the airflow, and the airborne debris will accumulate on it.

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I used their recommended way with the idea that I could suck the fumes out as moving it outside is not possible. There were still a lot of fumes but worse the stuff dissolved all the gunk and then evaporated leaving a sheet of plastic around the bottom of the fan, encasing it like ice on a pond. destroying the fan trying to remove that and had to send it back to the Mothership.

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That made my day! I also have a Basic and was dreading working around everything as I don’t have the smallest of hands.

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What’s in the vinegar solution? Water?

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Yep. Half vinegar, half water. :slightly_smiling_face:

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