Fan started making loud noise

i have had my glowforge for 1 year now and today it started making a loud noise, it sounds like its coming from the exaust fan. has this happened to anyone and if so what did you do to fix it. it alomost has like a sound like its offset or vibrating(grinding). i recently gave it a good cleaning and cleaned some of the honeycomb in the back near the fan.

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Might want to make sure nothing got sucked up to the fan and it’s just rattling on it. Be a pain in the butt to replace it. Since it’s out of warranty, if the fan is going out it might be worth just cutting it out and going with a high CFM inline fan.

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Since you just recently cleaned, I’d probably take a look and see what was missed and give it another cleaning. Sounds like the fan is off-balance, which can happen when part of it gets cleaned better than another part.

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It sounds like you may need to clean your fan. Over time, residue from printing can collect on the fan. This causes it to make more noise spinning than it did before.

I have a method you can use.

First, you’ll need to obtain a can of 3M Novec Electronic Degreaser, which you can purchase from Amazon or Digikey.

That page will walk you through the cleaning process. Brief summary:

  1. Turn off and unplug your unit and move it outside. Make sure it’s in a location where it has power and Wi-Fi

  2. Using the fan maintenance page, you’ll be able to turn the fan on

  3. Following all manufacturer’s safety instructions from 3M, spray the degreaser into the fan while it’s running for approximately 5 - 10 seconds, or until the fan is clean.

  4. When you’re done cleaning, turn off your unit to stop the fan, and return it to its usual home. You should now see considerably better performance from your exhaust fan!

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Thank you for all the tips. sorry i didn’t respond right away. I got really sick and am now just getting over it. I’m well enough to do the cleaning of the fan today.

my glowforge is back to its normal operation. thank you everyone for the suggestions.

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Glad to hear that, thank you for your help everyone! - I’m going to close this thread. If you run into any other trouble feel free to open a new topic or contact us directly at support@glowforge.com