Updating my last two posts which auto closed:
I’ve gone through the full troubleshooting process with support and they are stumped. The next steps are to reach out to a third-party service center since Glowforge is moving their repair operation from Mexico to the US at the moment.
I have access to a Glowforge at work though, so I will only ship my home GF to the repair co if the price is <$1000. I would much rather repair it myself if possible. Does anyone have any guesses as to what could cost this inconsistent cutting behavior? Here’s a video of the gift of good measure. It’s very strange because engraves and scores work (though they are maybe a little weak). But cuts start with almost no power then gradually increase over time.
You can see in the video that the laser tube is illuminated when the cut should be happening. My understanding of laser tubes is that over time they gradually decrease in output. But in this case, it doesn’t seem like a gradual decrease of power, but almost like the tube needs to warm up before it cuts. I have no hypothesis as to why engraves and scores work fine. Maybe something about the laser running at a higher power during cuts that’s causing this? I’d be interested in anyone’s speculation on this. If it could be as simple as the cooling system not working, or some bad capacitors in the power supply maybe I could repair it myself. Any ideas or discussion are appreciated!
I’m also happy to entertain any offer to buy/sell a partially working GF for parts. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.