Certified Tubeologist

They are the same statement. Any user that wants to do the work themselves should be able to do it.

If that means that you can buy your own tube and install it, great.
If that means that you have to get “certified” before buying your own tube and installing it, great.

I think you are the one that is looking for things that aren’t there.

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I’m in for NJ/tri-state area.

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Yes Please! I’m in Vancouver :slight_smile: You got one customer already!!!

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I’m in. I’d love to get Certified! (some say I’m already certifiable :rolling_eyes: ) I’m in Olympia, WA, so I’d be happy to perform tubal-no-litigations in the South Puget Sound region (and/or out on the Olympic Peninsula).

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I agree with @dystracktd and I’m in the L.A. area. Let’s have a :glowforge: Glow-Con 2017 :glowforge: !!

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I’m not crazy about this option, but I’d certainly be willing to be certified in South Texas

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I already said I’m in. And for as big of an area as needed in the SE, I am new to laser cutters but I’ve worked on electro/mechanical devices all of my working life. I’m sure I’ve done quite a few things harder than this tube change. If allowed and they go that way I’d be full service with proofgrade in the van along with a few cards and servos etc.

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I keep wanting to say I’d be in for North Texas, but not sure I have the right skill set, so I may be travelling to you if this becomes an option.

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From the fact that the tube was originally designed to be replaced easily (and the units manufactured in quantity) it seems plausible that the big deal is working safely with the high-voltage supply lines. There is a discipline required in working with HV that can get you dead if you don’t follow it, and when you’re specifically selling to people who aren’t as technically minded and DIY-savvy as previous generations of laser users…
The liquid cooling is likely secondary but also significant.

Which is rotten, but I wouldn’t want to be GF’s lawyers when the first suit came in.

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And somehow the auto industry deals with this and doesn’t have to worry about people losing their hands trying to replace a radiator with the car running…

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Deep South checking in. SC, NC, GA, TN, and FL if I really have to…

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from ottawa and i would fly out or plan a trip to a center to get certified

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Same here, gladly do Ottawa, and Montreal to Toronto!

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I like the idea of having a Glowforge Jamboree, where there is a meeting of like minded people, that has quick design/ build contests, merchandise, new materials, design showcase, and of course, a tube replacement booth!

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All that is required is a bleed system in the PSU so that you can simply say unplug it from the mains and wait for X seconds. Then to be extra sure a shorting plug that grounds the anode feed during the replacement work.

Then plenty of warnings in the manual and lots of “Danger of Death” stickers near the HV connections.

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If this is the way GF is going to go, as an engineer myself, I’d be willing to get certified and help out with the MD NOVA crowd.

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I’d totally be willing to get certified – I was a computer programmer and desktop repair person for a major Ohio hospital in another life, and used to be responsible for repairing $80,000 systems (and no, I didn’t leave the industry because I broke one :wink:)

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Not being able to replace a tube sucks, and i don’t like the idea of packing up the GF and shipping it off.
If, in fact, the end product does require a certified engineer to replace a tube, traveling techs would seem to me to be the most sensible option.

Certified service techs are the standard for wide-format printer preventative maintenance and repair, and are generally dealer-based service agreements. If you are buying a wide-format printer, one the major purchasing decisions is how close you are to the dealer.
These are machines that are much larger than the glowforge, and much more expensive. I’ve been window shopping for a wide-format eco-solvent printer for a couple of years now, trying to figure out how best to pull the trigger.

This is a quote from an article that I was reading just a few minutes before I saw the latest update, and subsequent reactions, which seems relevant to me, especially for the folks who are saying that an HP printer doesn’t need to be shipped back for service or have a service tech come through at great expense, so why should GF? That made me laugh just a tiny bit (but also cry a little) because that only applies to the super-mass manufactured consumer desktop models that only make money from the sales of ink. For most of these things, it is cheaper to buy a new one than to pay for shipping and the time for someone to open it up and actually do anything to it.

Just for a bit of a different perspective, here is an example of the type of fun maintanence and upkeep costs you could have with any given wide-format printer (including those from HP)

As a service repair company, we receive calls everyday for repairs of wide-format (typically solvent) printers. Due to the industrial nature of this equipment and the inherent costs of operation and maintenance, many of these repairs can get quite expensive, as our bills attest. Although this is part of the cost of doing business, most people never plan on maintenance for their printers and typically only have work performed when the unit breaks. Often, they compensate for degrading print quality by slowing the printer down, manually perform more frequent maintenance cycles, or worse - deliver sub-standard work to their customers.

When you reach this point with your printer, you need to make that all-important decision: Do I fix it or do I replace the printer?

At the entry level of solvent printing, there are two main printhead technologies, each surrounded by different ink systems and sub systems. These printheads range in price from just under $1,000 to more than $2,500. Clearly, proper care of these printheads (many units have more than one) is paramount not only for optimum printer performance but also for reducing long-term maintenance costs.

Though the equipment sellers rarely, if ever, discuss service costs and intervals with their customers during the initial sales cycle, all such printers need periodic preventive maintenance (PM). Without any new printheads being part of the mix, the cost of standard PM can run from $1,000 to $2,000 for time and materials, plus the technician’s travel to their site. Typically PM will include parts such as dampers, pumps, capping/maintenance stations or individual caps, various belts and so on.

In fact a full bill of materials for PM may vary widely from model to model. However, we have seen that the overall maintenance costs are similar from model to model - for the $2,000 PM, the printheads are more expensive variety, but the PM often “holds” longer than for the $1,000 PM model before additional PM is required, and the heads tend to be more durable. The printheads are typically far more sensitive on the $1,000 PM machine and far more prone to damage and clogging if the printer is offline. Although some industry players say that these heads can be recovered, we have had far more success with more rugged industrial heads on the pricier PM units.

**Return on Investment **
In the end, so much about running a business and making important financial decisions comes down to return on investment (ROI). Here is a typical scenario when dealing with a repair or replace decision:

You have a printer that costs you around $30,000 initially. We often see four- to six-year-old printers in this price class now selling for around $5,000 if they are in less than stellar condition, which is likely why you are looking to have it repaired in the first place. Let’s say you have budgeted the same $30,000 for a new printer and will try to sell the old unit on your own. For the most part, dealers are burdened to take in used equipment on a trade, so the sale of your old printer will be on you.

That gives you a net cost of $25,000 for that new printer, which on a five-year lease will run around $580 per month plus tax and will put your monthly payments at around $625 per month (this rate will vary somewhat depending on your credit rating and other factors).

Now let’s factor in the costs of some of the preventive maintenance jobs mentioned above. Although most people wince at the $1,000-$2,000 price tag, as they have no choice they generally will jump in on these figures with little hesitation, but balk when installing new printheads enters the discussion. With new printheads in the mix, the bills can easily get into the $3,000-$4,000 range, and we have had some full system rebuilds with as many as four heads, bringing the final bill is $6,000 or more.

Going back to ROI, isn’t it informed decisions that make your business flow more smoothly and most importantly, profitably? The math is actually very simple - for the $3,000 fix, your ROI is less than five months; for a $4,000 fix, less than seven months. Remember, should you choose to purchase new equipment, you will still be on the hook for the rest of the five-year lease term, but with the repair you are done and can begin to “fill the hole” immediately and will be ahead of the game in a relatively short period of time.

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I’d consider getting certified for northern New England/northern NY with 25 years of IT support and a dozen or so industry certifications.

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Being certified would be the best option for me in this new scenario, considering that apparently I’m the only GF user in Chile… so lonely :sweat_smile:

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