Drive belt super loose and not cutting straight

[SummersMade]

Yesterday the Glowforge Plus started cutting ‘wonkie’ - the photo shows what should be straight lines!!!

[Jules]

Fortunately that is something you can tighten up yourself.

Instructions for tightening the belts are located here:

Banding/resolution/lines not matching up?

Hello, thank you for letting us know about the trouble you’ve run into with your new Glowforge. To assist with troubleshooting, would you please check your X and Y axis belts for me to ensure they’re correctly tensioned? For the X axis belt (Located under the Laser Arm) Turn off your Glowforge. Carefully remove the crumb tray. Without removing the carriage plate and belt, locate the black pulley fastened by a metal screw on the right end of the laser arm. ​[image]​ Insert the short side of t…

And this is a video of the approximate tension you should see in it:

New release improved greater speed - but skips and is off center

I’m sorry about the trouble with your print results when running at higher speeds. Regarding your alignment, since your unit engraved first and then cut, the cut being misaligned is likely related to the shift in your engrave. Could you check the tension of the belt below your laser arm for me? When pressing lightly on one side of the belt, the other side should not move. Like this: ​[image]​ (You should see an animated image above) Let me know if the belt is loose and I will follow up wit…

[MorganW]

Hi @SummersMade, thanks for reaching out! I’m sorry to see you have a loose belt causing trouble.

@Jules is absolutely correct, the belt tension is something that you can tighten, you’ll need a 3mm hex key, and that should resolve the print trouble you’re having.

Full instructions can be found here: adjust the tension of the carriage plate belt.

Please let us know if you run into any further trouble after tightening the belt, we’ll be happy to investigate.

[SummersMade]

I have now tightened the belt - instructions worked well.

Now the machine is stuck on ‘centering’ - what next?

[geek2nurse]

Those troubleshooting instructions are here:

Stuck Calibrating

[SummersMade]

Looks like just leaving it switched off overnight and giving it a rest fixed it.

[MorganW]

Hey @SummersMade,

I’m glad to hear you were able to get your belt tightened!

As for the centering trouble you ran into, I took a quick look at the logs for your Glowforge and it looks like your lid camera is really hazy so its having trouble focusing. Giving the camera a quick cleaning with a Zeisswipe should help.

I’m going to go ahead and close this thread now. If you run into any other issues or have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re happy to help!