Hello our glowforge is having issues where it will go into cooling mode after only a matter of 2-3 mins of cutting,engraving, or scoring. once it goes into that mode it does not return to finishing the job just says cooling. we have let it sit for more than 20 mins with no progress. how or what do i look for to fix this issue? it is inside a building that is 72 degrees and outside it is about 85. please help!!!
Doesn’t matter what the room temperature is if the under lid temp has risen to warm the coolant. Can warm air come in through the exhaust hose? Is sunlight hitting the glass? Maybe just keep the lid open when not in use.
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Pro or basic?
The unit can definitely experience some temperature creep if left on, with the electronics warming things up inside.
You might also look at cleaning the exhaust. If it’s not exhausting well, it can keep heat inside of the machine.
https://glowforge.com/support/topic/cleaning-service-and-moving/cleaning#cleaning_exhaust
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basic and i thoroughly cleaned out the exhaust this weekend
Any chance that the outside air is entering the GF? Maybe it entered while the unit was off, and the GF is really 85* starting off?
I’m sure you checked this but be sure there is nothing around the perimeter that could be blocking the inlet of the cooling air.
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Thanks for reaching out to let us know about this. I extracted the logs from your Glowforge to investigate your report, and everything looks consistent with what we expect when your Glowforge pauses to cool.
Your Glowforge features a closed-loop liquid cooling system that uses the air from the room to remove heat. It is designed to be used between 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius) and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius). Learn more about the operating environment here. Printing outside these ranges may cause your unit to pause before starting, or to pause periodically during the print for cooling. This isn’t harmful, but it can make your print take a little longer.
You can try any of these things to improve warm-weather performance:
- Try printing with no material on the bed (so as not to generate smoke and fumes) and no exhaust hose attached. If this works, then the problem may be that your exhaust hose is constricting the flow of air out of the unit, preventing cooling.
- Examine the bottom-right side of your Glowforge. There are air intake vents, and if they become obstructed, it could make cooling less effective.
- Try pointing a fan at the right side of your Glowforge. If there is warm air around the intake, this could help it cool off.
- Power off your Glowforge and allow it to cool, then power it on and print immediately. When it sits idle, the fans are off, so heat can build up.
- Just wait. Your print may take a little longer when it’s warm, but your Glowforge will protect itself and make sure it cools enough to prevent any loss of power or damage. And it’s clever enough to pick up from exactly where it left off, even if it loses Wi-Fi during the print!
- If you are venting outdoors, ensure that changing conditions do not cause extreme temperatures or humidity to enter the Glowforge unit through the exhaust hose. Disconnect the hose from the outside air when the Glowforge is not in use.
- Turn your Glowforge off and open the lid for a few minutes before trying again.
If you are still running into trouble, please let us know the following so that we can investigate further:
- A description of the steps you took, what happened and what you expected
- The temperature of the room where you are currently using your Glowforge
- The date and time (including time zone) when you saw the button change color
- Photos of your exhaust setup
Thanks!
still having many issues i will get the information you need and report back later today. at this point day or night i can not use the glowforge to cut 1 piece of art work with out stopping, powering off, let it sit for 20 -30 min and then trying again. it is very frustrating
Did you try pointing a fan at the air intake? That seems to have helped a few folks with heat issues on the Basics. (Underside on the right of the machine.)
yea i have one pointing at it currently. i have been trying to cut a piece for the past hr and a half. original cut time 12 minutes but i have had to shut down, stop, and let cool multiple times. i cant even get 5 min out of the machine currently
Okay, how are you venting it? You’re in a building, are you on a top floor? (Hot air rises, is the hot air coming in from outside and up into the machine making it hotter inside the machine than inside the office? Maybe a flap arrangement on the vent outlet would help, I use one on mine that closes when the machine is not in use to cut down on hot air and critters getting in.)
Do you have sharp bends or U bends in the vent hose? They can restrict air flow out of the exhaust and that causes heat buildup inside…if you have to, you can tape the hose into a smoother path for the air to exit…you don’t want more than two 90° angles in the hose, and if you can smooth those out more it will improve the venting. (I like to use aluminum tape for that - it really stays put.)
Did you remove the hose and check for buildup of crud on the exhaust fan? Check the hose to make sure nothing is constricting air flow and that a pigeon didn’t build a nest in it? (ROFL! Sorry, the mental image on that was too good to pass up.)
There are a lot of ways for the exhaust to get blocked on these…usually there are other problems that happen more often, but once you have those knocked back you have to start digging into the more esoteric possibilities. (And yes, one fellow had a mouse starting a nest in the exhaust outlet. It can happen.) 
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I have this same problem. I received my Glowforge Basic less the 48 hours ago and on my second print I received the Cooling Alert message. The room where the machine sits is always between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I have tried every option I read in the community forums and nothing will bring the machine out of the cooling alert mode. There is nothing obstructing the vent and no sunlight coming into that room in the basement. I am very disappointed to use the machine for a couple hours, at most, and now it is locked up with no known fix to bring it back to life. The light is a solid yellow. The machine turns on and the fans run, but there is no movement (calibration) taking place. Very disturbing.
To make sure that Glowforge support contacts you about your problems with your machine adding onto a topic does not always work. You have to contact them directly or start a new topic in Problems and Support.
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Yes, @oryahn please start a new thread describing your problem in the Problems and Support category so that the support staff makes sure to see it. They don’t re-read old topics continually to find add-on posts, but a New Topic in this category will flag them and start a ticket for you.
Maybe they should start making a GlowFridge unit! 
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I’m using three fans…one next the the air conditioning vent to blow the cold air towards the forge then a huge fan in front of the forge and one behind it. It works good for Engraving but once it starts the cutting and the lasers on full that Is when I get the cooling warning. Since it 98 degrees in Philly, a box that took 30 min one night took 6 hrs…so no more day time lazering for this fellow until summer is far gone. Can’t find it at the moment but someone Jerry rigged a cardboard thing-a-ma-jig from his air conditioning vent right to his forge or small portable units.
Yeah, I’ve already contacted Support. Just waiting on a reply. I just don’t understand the problem with cooling. This should have been addressed during the design and something better done to avoid this. I have 2 other laser machines that have never given me any trouble. One is an Epilog and the other a $1500 generic Chinese laser machine. I loved everything the Glowforge is said to achieve and the format in which it is all done, but if the machine is going to lock up on so many people, then this is obviously a serious issue. When you buy a machine, you shouldn’t have to blow fans on it. That’s just ridiculous. I bought a more powerful laser for half the price and I’m sticking with it. 2 years with not a single problem. The only benefit I see now with the Glowforge is that you don’t have to place the material in the machine at a specific point because you can move the image to the area you want it to be cut, etched, or printed. But what good is that feature if the machine breaks down in less than 48 hours?
I had hoped by coming on here, I would find a fix for the problem that could be taken care of without having to wait for support to get back to me. They state that it could be 3 days or possibly longer before getting a reply. I’m sorry to all you die-hard Glowforge fans, but as someone who owns 2 other machines, this one can’t compete with them. Good luck to you all.
If your machine is experiencing a problem, the Glowforge team will address it - be sure to keep checking your emails and SPAM folder for the response and if they ask you to run tests, get back to them as soon as you can to speed up the resolution.
65°-70°F ambient is well within the operating temperature range for the Basic model…they will need to take a look at the data for your machine and get back to you about it.
It helps them to pinpoint your specific machine data if you tell them the date and time when the issue happened, so if you haven’t let them know that yet, send a reply to the automatically-generated email response for your ticket with the additional information that they need to diagnose the issue. That keeps it all in one thread and also speeds up resolution.
Thank you. I will do that. It shouldn’t be too hard to get the information. It happened the same day I received the machine. I only put about an hour to an hour and a half of total use in it before it got stuck in this cooling alert issue. Regardless of any response, this should not be an issue that is so widely happening in the Glowforge community. I’m a businessman, and this would never be acceptable with any product I put out. Like I mentioned before. I have 2 other machines that have never given me trouble in the same conditions. One of the machines is a generic Chinese laser machine that only cost $1500 and it runs better than the Glowforge. I know I seem to be a bit upset, but anyone who puts a significant amount of many into anything would expect that thing to operate properly for more than a couple hours. Mind you, that is not a couple hours straight. That is 2 jobs that were 5 minutes each with about 20 minutes between jobs and a 30 minute or slightly longer job. That is just unacceptable. Another issue is the 3 or more day wait they have on replying to a concern. That is another unacceptable business practice. Three days down with a brand new product? How does anyone seem to be okay with this?
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Hate to tell you this but there might be something wrong with your machine - manufacturing errors do occur. (Not very many of them, but it happens.)
There are thousands (literally) of these machines in use, we see a few dozen complaints here on the forum about people who have issues with cooling. Most of those are because they are trying to operate the machines outside of the operating temperature range. Very few of those are actually problems with the machines.
I know it’s hard to hang on to the excitement when something happens to squelch it right out of the box like this, but hang in there…most folks are not having the problem that you are having. The machine should operate in that temperature range.
Once support gets back to you they will do a remote analysis of the machine and if there is a problem with it that they can’t fix, they will replace it. It’s what they do.
Sorry you’re having to wait a bit longer, but don’t worry. Most of us love these machines. There’s a reason for that. 
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