Does the clicking sound after the fan shuts down indicate that the Glowforge has adequately cooled down?
My Glowforge is in the basement and my computer is upstairs. I usually hang out downstairs during the job and hate to run back upstairs to check the cooling down period on my computer before removing my object.
It would be nice if the engineers could make the ready button flash a quick triple flash during the cooling down operation to remove all doubt.
Yes, it does. After the cooldown has finished, you get the little click-click-click and the button will flash once when the data for the post print picture is sent to the cloud. You can open it up after that.
2 Likes
Thanks, that will save some leg work.
K
1 Like
The company dual purposes a lot of words. Cooling in this case seems to be allowing the material to cool for a few seconds. Not to be confused with the lengthy cooling period required after an overheat.
Then there is the word “Scanning” used for both a material height check or taking a new lid camera image.
The error pop-ups are often the same for many things. Maybe vowels cost too much in memory.
BTW: the clicking sound is the head lens motor. Consensus seems to be that it is homing the lens
position after a print.
3 Likes
I guess that I have a similar question and perhaps a suggestion for the GlowForge Gang.
I have had my GF for a few months. First one was replaced wonderfully. No issues or complaints from me.
After getting my second one everything was working great and still is. My question is, there was a time that post printing everything would happen as normal and then go quiet followed by a short blast of the fan. I figured that was either for cooling or for possible smoke clearance. I wasn’t concerned. After not using my GF for several weeks I now find that it now longer does that. I suspect that whereas the machine is updatable from the internet that a modification may have been made and then another one reversing the first.
So, for anyone here who has more direct contact with GlowForge I would ask that you consider passing on this suggestion to them:
If there are changes in the “operating system” of the units already out in public, please find a direct way (don’t rely on a forum or other social networking platform) to let owners know of changes. Otherwise we have no idea if our machines are doing something strange or just acting normal.
Respectfully offered.
Peter Halle
1 Like
Yep, you caught that right. Sometimes they make improvements or test things like running the fan for a brief spell after the print to clear the smoke out a little bit better, and then they might or might not decide it’s effective and turn it off. That fan blurp did happen for a brief while, and doesn’t happen now.
They are making changes to the software behind the scenes on a fairly regular basis, but most of the things we don’t notice until much later. They deal with improved temperature ranges on the Pro models and increases in LPI on the engraves. If there are large changes that impact everyone and are considered permanent, they do tend to announce it in the “Latest Improvement” section on the Dashboard.
(I kind of liked the fan blurp. Might not have been terribly effective at clearing residual smoke, but it made a nice audible signal that the print was done.)
Anyway, there are a lot of changes and improvements going on behind the scenes all the time. It’s kind of fun to try to spot them.
And also let me know that the fan was still working at all. I was having a very hit or miss if the fan was moving at all and not until it was cutting could you know till the last time, and now do not know when the next time will be.
Pouring hand cleaner into the fan while the Glowforge was turned off but the vacuum cleaner was pulling everything through the fan outlet and continuing for half an hour probably dissolved whatever gunk buildup was keeping it from spinning at all. (The blades are still all bubbly so I want to replace it, but at least it is now spinning most of the time)
However as the crossbeam needs to be pretty far forward to see if the fan is moving at all so it was at least a signal that it was still alive
2 Likes
(And I’m scared to hit it with spray electronic cleaner.)
I knew that the hand cleaner was a good solvent of the brown tar from the wood and that it was probably that which was making the fan hard to turn even just shoving the blades.
I had been exercising the blades with the vacuum cleaner trying to get them moving and it would work for a bit and then seize up again. I also knew from extended use that the hand cleaner was designed to evaporate without a trace.
Therefore as I knew there was another fan being shipped and that I really could not operate with no fan except perhaps etching tiles, I pumped quite a bit into the back of the fan and the let the vacuum cleaner run pulling air through the fan for half an hour when I figured all of the cleaner still there and not immediately sucked through would have evaporated.
I then left the lid open for a few hours more before starting the machine.
I was concerned that I could short out the fan (I was concerned that the heat had already shorted it out but the fact I could not move it easily mechanically indicated otherwise) That the machine was completely off and the vacuum cleaner was operating the fan lessened the chance that the hand cleaner would short the fan out.
1 Like