I was replacing my air assist fan and the pins came off when i removed the old one. I have ordered a new plate but, may be a week before i receive it. I would like to attempt small prints so i can keep working, is there any way to disable the air assist so I don’t get the improper speed warning?
The laser won’t work properly without an air assist fan. It’s used to keep the smoke from obscuring the beam and keep the flame under control. Without it you either won’t get acceptable cuts or (worst case scenario) you’ll burn your house down.
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Nope. You’re going to have to wait for your replacement.
I don 't WANT to disable the fan, but it did it itself once - the print wouldn’t start, it said the fan wasn’t working. I did take it out and clean it, before it started doing this, following the directions, but I thought it was back in properly. I did have the clip on the flat cable slip a couple of times, so that the head couldn’t be found, but I kept replacing it and it seems to be holding now. However, my GF is CONSTANTLY overheating now. It gets so hot it will not continue to print even if I wait for a couple of hours. If I cancel the print and turn it off, open the lid and let it cool for 15 minutes or so then try the print again, it immediately is too hot. It will not go through much more than 2-3 minutes of cutting without overheating, and is quite smoky.
Your Glowforge is cooled by the airflow coming in the intake fan in the front right, and leaving through the exhaust fan in the back left. From your description, something is blocking this air flow, which is both making smoke build up inside the machine instead of being pulled out quickly, and not moving enough air to keep the machine cool. Clean your exhaust fan, clean the metal grill behind the exhaust fan on the outside back of the Glowforge (where your dryer vent hose is connected, you’ll need to disconnect it to clean), and clean anything on the other end of your exhaust run – your window insert, window screen, dryer vent cap, etc. Make sure nothing’s blocking the intake in the front either. Once you fix the airflow issue you’ll fix your overheating issue.
thank you!
And… as well as all the above, make sure there isn’t anything obstructing the intake grill on the bottom right side of the machine. A piece of paper can be sucked up against that when the machine starts which hampers any fresh air into the machine.
Well, if that would happen to anyone it would happen to me, so thank you! I’ll check.
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