I cut an item for a total of 4 hours on our GF plus. It has been on the cool down cycle for almost an hour since finishing cutting. Is this normal? It’s a week old machine and has had a few glitches since we opened it out of the box.
I have had some engraves that were long in duration, but I never had a cool down cycle that long. Try refreshing the browser. If no luck there, close a reopen the browser to your Glowforge. If these do not help, I would power cycle the Glowforge. In my humble opinion… it should not still be cooling down after an hour.
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What’s the temperature in the room it’s in? The closer that is to the upper range of operating temps, the longer it will take to cool. You can open the lid to help it cool faster, since your print is finished.
It is around 74 in the room right now.
From the tech specs page…
Recommended Operating Temperature: 60F-75F (16C-24C) Basic and Plus
Four hours of pumping heat into your GF’s cooling system can easily result in lengthy cool down periods. One thing to keep in mind is that it’s the cooling fluid temp, not the air temp inside or outside the GF that is being monitored. The fluid reservoir takes a long time to heat up and cool down.
Good luck!
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Yep, if your room temp is close to the upper end of the operating range, it’s very easy for long jobs to overheat the machine. You can try pointing a fan into the open bed to blow in cooler air to try to speed the process, but as @dwardio pointed out, you’re having to cool the fluid in the reservoir, and that can take a while.
I’ve been printing small runs (just over 4 minutes each) for a couple of hours. The temp alongside my machine is 75º F, the bed and other components measure 82º, and the laser tube envelope and coolant reservoir are 85º. My 390 CFM-rated vent fan has been running continuously the entire time.
Keep the lid open while it’s cooling.
I’m sorry you ran into trouble while printing. It’s great to see that you’ve already received some excellent advice from our other community members. Thanks folks!
Also, I extracted the logs from your unit and it looks like you’ve been able to get back up and printing. That’s great!
What they’ve shared is correct. The Glowforge Basic and Glowforge Plus printer has a closed-loop liquid cooling system that uses the air from the room to remove heat. The exhaust fan blows over the cooling block, sending excess heat out of the system. They’re designed for use between 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius) and 75°F (24°C).
If it’s too warm, your Glowforge will pause during the print to cool off, then finish the print. I’m going to close this thread. If you run into trouble again, or have any questions, please post a new topic here on the forum or email us at support@glowforge.com and we’ll be happy to help!