Just unboxed and set up the Glowforge printers but am encountering messages that indicate the printer needs to cool down before starting print. Is this typical? I waited about 15 minutes and it’s still ‘cooling’. Why is this happening?
What’s your room temp? Also, how hot is it outside?
On the truck it got as hot as outside as the UPS truck isn’t air conditioned in the back. It has to be either under 75 (Basic) or 81 (Pro) and the closer to those temps the air is the longer it will take to cool down. If over those temps it’s not going to cool and you have to wait for the room to cool off.
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Yeah, for summer deliveries you might need to let them acclimate to room temps overnight. They’ve been sitting in a hot truck for a few days.
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Thank you. We temporarily moved it into AC with the filter shooting outside. It’s working. Now we have to figure out a better solution because being in Hawaii, we don’t often get weather below 73 degrees.
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Some kind of spot cooling, the question is in the details. Maybe cold blankets? But you also probably have to worry about condensation.
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There are a few cooling hacks posted elsewhere in the forum, including things like DIY chillers, wacky ducting from an AC unit kept elsewhere, etc.
…as for me, I use a Bluetooth sensor probe right at the laser intake that tells me when it’s cool enough to get to work. Since my unit is in my garage, during this time of year I can only run the laser until about 10 in the morning, and then not again until about 9 or 10 at night. The sensor probe also gives me assurance that I’m not putting the laser outside the recommended storage temps (I’ve got an alarm set on the probe so my phone will freak out if it gets too hot/cold in the area of the laser).
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I live on the north shore of Oahu, so I feel your pain! I got my first machine in October of last year, and even in the rainy season I was dealing with cooling messages. I was so obsessed with making new stuff that I would put my large fan in the bed of the laser to cool it down, this year we invested in a portable A/C which works well if I’ve been running it for a while with our bedroom door shut. My wife is also pregnant this summer, so she tends to spend most of her home time in the air conditioned room with the laser 
Like others have said, your best bet will either be running it earlier in the day (which is barely an option since I know even in the mornings we’re dealing with 75ish degrees), later in the day which is also tough because ambient temperatures take a while to cooldown after a long summer day, or investing in some type of cooling unit to help with the built in cooling.
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Nice to hear we’re in relatively close proximity! Thank you for sharing and your comments brings up another question I have…is there any concern about inhaling the emissions from the printer, healthwise?
The answer is yes and no. Inhaling anything in excess can be harmful, but Proofgrade material is going to be one of the safer woods/materials while lasering. There’s a lot of info here on the forum that explains which materials to stay away from, such as vinyl and pvc. I’ve seen others posting about hardwoods and other plywoods they’ve picked up from Lowe’s and other stores of the like that work just as well as the PG stuff.
My suggestion is doing a quick search of the forum before lasering a particular material; you’ll typically get both the settings to use, as well as the safeness of that item.
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I have replaced AC units for people over the years, and got immediate callbacks so often that I started to explain how things work when at the door and fixing to leave,
While the AC was off, everything in the house was absorbing heat. Rugs, curtains, couch, walls, ceiling, everything.
Depending on how long the previous AC was broken, there can be a lot of absorbed (potential) heat in the dwelling. When the AC first kicks in it may not cycle for a long time, (until it gets some equilibrium),
The Glowforge units being delivered in the summer are also in the same boat. Letting it sit in a cool spot, and even opening the lid to allow for heat transfer, is probably a good idea. It had been absorbing heat for the entire trip and no way of knowing how deep it did so.
I would suggest overnight, but I know no one will just sit there and look at one of these puppies for 12-24 hours, heh heh.
Come winter, the same should be done to allow it to warm up and reach room temperatures. Sending heat beams through a frozen brick just sounds like a bad idea.
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Thank you. I’m learning quite a lot already!
You’re not going to want to be breathing the output even if it’s not actually toxic.
As to cooling after it’s been soaking up the heat, opening up the lid can help.
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