My GF began making a terrible noise while cutting. Cancelled print. While cleaning the fan with CRC it sounded like something broke and now really makes a terrible noise! If the fan is the issue, is now a good time to replace the fan with an inline fan? Is it easy? Don’t want to invest in that if it is not the solution.
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I woukd remove current fan (how to details are aplenty) and go with external. The noise reduction alone is worth it.
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I am using an inline fan without removing the original exhaust fan. It is not hard.
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I installed this as an external fan five years ago and left the interal in there for years (turned off by telling the machine that the air filter is connected) - eventually I got in there and removed it and there is a bump in how fast smoke gets removed - but not enough that I regret the years with it in there but not on.
When you do it get the external put it at the end of your exhaust run.
Machine → hose → fan → window (or whatever your specific set-up is).
You can put it right at the back of your machine, but it’ll do better as close to the end as possible.
I also suggest getting either a solid or insulated hose
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Yikes! Spraying any liquid inside the Glowforge is asking for trouble. That is what finally did in my first machine. I used a 190 CFM fan and it works for many but the smokiest engraves, so now that I have the replaced machine I still need and use both fans. I would go with a minimum 400CFM fan.
If oit is suddenly making a lot of noise at the fan, I would inspect it carefully for a cracked or broken blade as well as something like a bit of masking paper stuck on a blade of the fan.
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Thanks everyone! I did go ahead and order the external fan and the supplies for install.
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