Feature Request: Maintenance Timer and Notification

Problems and Support
#1

The manual suggests that regular maintenance of the Glowforge is needed, but I often find that I need to clean it more frequently than every 40 hours if I use specific materials, Draftboard for example.

Since the website tracks the materials we are using and their cut time, it would be helpful to have an indicator of how dirty everything had become. It would also be very helpful if the power was ramped up as the machine got more dirty to reduce the number of failed cut through’s on proofgrade or as an option using custom settings.

Not sure if this has been requested before, let me know if it has… @dan @Rita

6 Likes
#2

It has. Several times. Which just goes to show how useful it would be to many of us. :slight_smile:

[Edited to add… a time indicator has been requested… not sure if the rest would be really feasible if you cut anything non PG]

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#3

I agree non-proofgrade would be an issue, could make an optional area to define the material when selecting non-proofgrade to help take a guess or just assume it’s as bad as the worst material in file.

2 Likes
#4

That might be harder to do than it would seem since they’re keeping track of everything being cut/engraved.

Since they can’t tell if you’re really using the PG material you might have picked to get settings, they can’t necessarily calculate the dirtiness coming from say 100 feet of cuts in Draftboard.

Also I expect there’s a difference in the residue deposited based on exhaust setup. A straight through exhaust would provide maximum air (& smoke and residue) removal whereas a 10’ run with two 90 degree els would be more restricted and let the air & smoke hanging around in the GF longer.

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#5

I recently discovered this little endoscope camera that works with your phone…it’s great to do a visual inspection so you can see if it’s time to clean things up:

https://www.amazon.com/Depstech-4331891326-Inspection-Megapixels-Smartphone/dp/B01MYTHWK4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1536109909&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=endoscope+camera+for+iphone&psc=1

3 Likes
#6

One thing not mentioned in the instructions is that (for Android at least) you need to turn airplane mode on, then enable wifi and then connect to the camera in it’s app. Otherwise the app can’t connect to the camera because it’s trying g to do so through the network provided by you cell service.

It’s because the camera communicates with the phone app via WiFi (its own) and not Bluetooth.

6 Likes
#7

Thank you for surfacing this suggestion @scottmillersb. I’ve let the team know they can find more context and information in this thread!

#8