I am wondering if it is normal to the machine to need breaks for cooling during a 30 min print job? And how to best help the unit stay cool even though it is a relatively cool day (mid 60’s).
My glowforge just spent over 30 min “cooling” during a <30min print (1/8" ply: cut and score). It started up again after I set up a box fan pointing right at it and then it paused again.
This is the third print this unit has done and only the second one this afternoon (following a 17min 1/8" ply: cut and score). The ventilation tube has less than the two 90degree angles and it is currently 64F inside. The air intake area is clear and seems to be moving good amount of air. The box fan seemed to help briefly, but not for long.
What else should I be doing to help with cooling? How long should the machine be able to cut before needing cooling breaks when operating within recommended ambient temperatures?
I’ve had it cut for hours without a pause as long as the ambient temp was under 80F (for a Pro unit). It would seem that 64F is well within the range even for a Basic which is relying on convective air cooling (vs the Peltier cooler on the Pro). My PRU was a Basic and it could do hours as long as the room was in the low 70s.
Seems like something Support will need to look into for you.
Mid 60s doesn’t sound like it should be causing issues, but I could be wrong…what matters is the temperature inside the tube, so the ambient temp is only an approximation.
It looks like you’ve tried the things I would have, so we’ll have to wait for @staff (or somebody smarter than me!) to weigh in, but in the meantime, you might find some other cooling suggestions in the Beyond the Manual section to help you keep cutting while you wait.
Mid 60s would not cause a pause in my Basic. Do you have a small thermometer near the front right of the machine? I sometimes need to point a fan just to keep the air moving.
Just a Basic, but its good to hear that others are getting more cut time regularly before heating up too much. Thanks for the link, I’ll try to set one of these up for tomorrow.
If the unit is dirty–especially the exhaust fan and vents, it can adversely affect the unit’s ability to cool itself. Or could be as simple as the exhaust hose is kinked, so the exhaust airflow is constricted?
There were some other threads about cleaning the exhaust port & fan.
This^^
All of the corrugations in that flex tube create turbulence. That’s the only reason I can think of to cause that at those temps. I’ve done several thousand tokens with room temperatures in the mid 70’s. No problems at all with a basic.
Thanks for the help in this thread, everyone. @EMS, thanks for reaching out. I’ve extracted the logs from your Glowforge during a few recent prints, and the data from times when the unit needed to pause for cooling is consistent with slight overheating.
You may have already found the following on our support pages and in the community, but I’d like to make sure you have the most complete information about our recommendations regarding this:
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 when the temperature next to your Glowforge is between 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius) and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius). To check, put a room thermometer next to the right hand side of the Glowforge; it draws in air from underneath, on the right.
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, and ensure that there is no fabric or other flexible material underneath it, like a tablecloth. There are air intake vents, and if they become obstructed, it makes 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 when you are not using it. When your Glowforge 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. It’s clever enough to pick up from exactly where it left off, even if it needs to pause to cool down during the print!
Ensure that the sun isn’t shining on the lid. This could cause the inside of your Glowforge to heat up.
If you are venting outdoors, ensure that extreme temperatures or humidity do not 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. It’s possible for the air in your Glowforge to heat up, just like a car in the sun on a hot day, opening the lid will help that warm air to escape and your Glowforge to cool down.
If you are still running into trouble, could you please take a picture of the exhaust hose behind your Glowforge that includes the part where it connects to your Glowforge, and the part where it exits the room? If you would rather not post the photo here, you can send it to support@glowforge.com, and we’ll continue to troubleshoot there.
Sounds good. Thanks for all the tips and advice. The temp near the air intake was still mid 60’s and the vent outflow was strong and no vent kinks were present. It looks like we will have to pause longer and open the lid for “cooling/ airing out” between prints. We tried again today with these changes and only had one short bit of pause for cooling, much improved from the 30min+ of cooling before. : )