Exhaust fan always running full blast

[horn]

The exhaust fan comes on full bore when I power my Glowforge up and it never winds down. The lights will dim after a period of time, but the fan never slows down or idles.

It used to come on full blast right when it was powered up, but would slow down during head calibration, only going back to full speed when cutting materials. It would slow down again shortly after the cut was complete.

I’m not sure when this behavior started. I vacuumed out the exhaust port and checked my vent tube. I also disconnected my exhaust tube and fired it up that way. At one point, it would go back to normal after being unplugged for a few minutes and then plugged back in, but that no longer fixes the issue.

[deirdrebeth]

A staff member will likely need to look at your logs to see what’s up - but in the meantime if you could record a video with sound and post it to YouTube/Vimeo/etc. and then link that here it might help troubleshoot!

[horn]

Here’s a video I pieced together spanning around two hours and 15 minutes (just before 4:00pm through 6:15pm Central Time today, 3/12/2021). The exhaust fan did not idle at any point.

Glowforge exhaust fan won't idle.

[Brandon.B]

Hi @horn. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been noticing the exhaust fan on your Glowforge running at full speed all the time. I was able to review the video, and to help us troubleshoot, could you send me a few photos of your exhaust system? Specifically, please include pictures of the following

1. The exhaust fan from the inside of the unit. To capture this photo:

2. Turn your Glowforge off

3. Open the lid

4. Using both hands, gently pull the printer arm towards you as shown below:
   

   

5. Move your phone or camera inside the Glowforge on the left-hand side, past the metal rail, pointed away from you towards the exhaust hose, to capture a photo like the one below:
   

6. A photo of where your exhaust hose attaches to the Glowforge, where your exhaust hose exits the room, and the path your exhaust hose takes from your Glowforge to the exterior vent or Compact Filter
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

7. The exhaust connection on the back of your Glowforge, with the exhaust hose removed:
   

8. Any area where you see smoke escaping from your Glowforge while printing

We can review those photos to help us for next best steps. Thank you!

[Brandon.B]

Hi @horn. It’s been a couple days since my response, and wanted to check if you were still noticing your exhaust fan constantly running at full speed. Feel free to send any of the requested photos and I’ll be happy to take a look. Thank you!

[horn]

I finally had an opportunity to take the requested photos. The exhaust still runs at full speed as long as the Glowforge is powered, whether or not the vent tube is connected. Here we go:

Interior fan:

Vent tube connection:

Vent tube exit:

Vent tube pathway:

I could take a quick video, but the vent tube is unobstructed and blows out very well (especially since the exhaust fan runs full bore).

And the exhaust port with the vent tube disconnected:

As for (8), there is no smoke escaping. The exhaust system works great. It’s just always on when it used to idle down when powered on but not in use.

[MorganW]

Thank you for sending over those photos. Both the exhaust fan and exhaust configuration look good. I had one of our Senior Tech Support Engineers review the video you provided and compare it agains the logs from your unit, and it looks as though there is an electrical failure within your Glowforge. Sadly, this is not something we can fix remotely and your Glowforge will need a repair.

I’m going to send you a separate email with full details on the next steps for getting this fixed for you. You should receive my email in a few minutes, but if you don’t receive it in the next 30 minutes please check your spam / junk mail folder. Once I know you’ve received my email, I’ll close this thread.

[wesleyjames]

You could also go the external inline fan route and remove the internal fan completely since it looks like you’re an original buyer and the machine should be out of warranty by now.

[Brandon.B]

Hi @horn. I saw that you received Morgan’s emails and continued the discussion on there, so I’ll go ahead and close this thread. Thank you!