CAUTION: Lens Removal + Replacement

Be careful…
The magnet of the Removal tool stayed attached to the lens and removed itself from the tool!

Seems I almost left part of the Removal tool attached to the Lens when I cleaned it…
Luckily I “always check for all your tools before closing the patient!”

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Seems a fairly common problem. That magnetic ring is fragile. Ours cracked and came loose from the tool, remaining stuck to the lens. Took me twenty minutes to figure out why our Glowforge wouldn’t run.

I have a spare removal tool. (Long story, nothing wrong with the one I got with the machine.)

But you can get them back out of there with a small neodymium magnet wrapped in a thin cloth if necessary.

Neodiddlium magnets are very, very fragile.

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But extremely skookum.

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I super glued the ring back on, I’ll test it tomorrow and see how it does w/ other magnets (not going to test it w/ the lens! :slight_smile: )

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Thanks for letting us know about this. I’m glad you were able to get your lens tool working again. Will you let us know how your test goes?

I wonder why they went with the fragile ring magnet? Instead of a solid, off the shelf one.

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I think my ring came off the third or fourth time I cleaned the lens. It was a bit of a surprise but fortunately I noticed it before I reinstalled the lens.

a little super glue seems to have fixed that problem :slight_smile:

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I went and dug mine out of the shipping box. I’m… guessing it’s not supposed to look like this? :grimacing: Must have dropped it during unpacking.

I’m debating whether to epoxy the bits back on or just make my own from magnets embedded in a plywood disc mounted on a stick. I’m not thrilled about spending $15 plus shipping for another one with the same design issues.

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oh wow, Nope. that’s not good.

There is very little pull required to remove and replace the lens. If you can glue or epoxy the pieces together it will work just fine.

Oh, but noticed it’s in four pieces. Too much of a pain.

The bits went back together pretty easily but I’m worried about specks of magnet dust sticking to the lens housing or inside the head, hence the idea of potting the whole thing in epoxy… But I’m leaning towards wedging a few of the little magnets I have on hand into a bit of plywood. Less sticky goop to worry about.

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With this many broken magnets I think you can call it poor design. Nobody should be paying for a replacement.

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Mine looked exactly the same. I have been so usy with the twins recently though that I have not had time to do anything about it. These should be replaced by GF at no cost.

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You should post that picture in a new post here to generate a support ticket. I’m sure support will credit the cost and replace it for you.
The magnets are brittle, but the number of broken lens tools we have seen here represent a tiny fraction of delivered units. Shipping damage happens.

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I’m glad to hear your solution worked, @Houdini7!

@dave_hayden, please reach out to support@glowforge.com and we’ll be sure to make it right.