Explanation behind the Lid Cable issue

Hi All,

I bought my Glowforge back in May of this year and it was working fine until the “Stuck on Centering/Focusing” issue that I’ve seen so many people post about. Currently GF is sending me a replacement cable, but I’m wondering why this happened so I can be more mindful and prepared in the future. Has anyone figured out what the cause is? Were machines from a certain time period affected with a faulty lid cable? Is it a “natural cause” of frequent use?

As many people here, I run a small business and cannot afford the stress of taking 1-2 weeks off from production. I am almost wondering if I should purchase (outside of my warranty) additional lid cables. I am not sure what the most common GF problems are and would love to get a sense of how I should prepare for future issues that don’t require sending the entire lasercutter in for repair (I wonder how common this is, but it’s one of my nightmares).

Thanks in advance,
10EE

1 Like

Get a soda straw.
Cut a 2" piece off.
Split that 2" piece, and slide it over the metal behind the cable.
Tape it in place with a bit of gorilla tape.

Should save a lot of wear and tear on the lid cable.

John

4 Likes

Once you have repaired the cable according to the instructions you shouldn’t have any additional problems. (So read and follow the instructions exactly.)

Personal observation/opinion follows:

For those who haven’t had any problems with the lid cable yet, you might be able to avoid them by simply not opening the lid fully upright (90° angle) when you put materials in and take them out. The lid has hinges that will keep it opened when it is not fully upright. People who tend to open it all the way are causing the cable to contact the sharp metal lip behind it, which puts repetitive pressure on the cable and can cause the wires inside to fail sooner than expected.

Another thing that can help is to just put a piece of Gorilla tape over the sharp metal edge behind it. But the best practice is to just not open the lid all the way. I do both and I’m still on the original cable after a couple of years. (It’s a “Whoops! We didn’t know people were going to do this.” issue that I’m sure they’re compensating for going forward. I have no doubt that it’s written up in the assembly instructions to leave a little extra slack in the lid cable now when they put these things together.)

So people buying going forward likely won’t have the issue. For those who have purchased in the last few months, I think you can relax, it’s a simple assembly error… a case of the cable being stuck down without enough slack in it. Once you replace the cable it should be fine going forward.

Does that explain it? Nothing to stress over long term, and it shouldn’t impact things going forward. Nothing to have nightmares over. (Again, only my observations - no insider info.) :slightly_smiling_face:

7 Likes

Thank you SO much! I completely understand now. :+1:

When I read the first response by Bigjohn I wondered if Gorilla tape itself should be enough to give it a smooth plastic coating and protection from the metal. Fortunately I have some on hand and will do that. Funnily enough, I only recently had been opening the lid 90 degrees because I thought that it maybe it was more “proper” than “stressing the hinges” (:roll_eyes:) and when I thought to maybe “give it more air” (:roll_eyes:). Turns out I was treating my GF much better when I wasn’t overthinking it!

I really appreciate the responses and happy to know that this won’t happen in the future and that it isn’t anything terrible :blush:

Now to just hope the new cable comes quickly!

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I have had my GF about two weeks now and I checked the lid cable.

When the lid is fully open the ribbon cable does not touch the metal by at least 1/2 inch.

So maybe they repositioned or lengthened it.

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The newer machines have a few industrial design tweaks, longer black cable definitely one of them.

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I was dead in the water with centering issue. I was going to put tape on mine, but even open a full 90 degrees, the cable never touched the metal, so I didn’t bother. Yet I still had the cable problem, so I’m skeptical that rubbing on the back is causing all these issues (it may be some of them, though). But in case you were wondering, I got my new cable and am back up and running. Just to be extra safe, I did put the tape down, but this cable doesn’t touch the back when it’s fully open either. For reference, from my first post about the issue to receiving the new cable was 11 days.

It looks like there was some good discussion in this thread. Thank folks!

@10EESTUDIO, I’ve confirmed that your new cable is on its way. I’m going to close this thread. If you run into trouble again, or have additional questions, please post a new topic here on the forum or email us at support@glowforge.com and we’ll be happy to help. Thank you!