Focusing Issue

Problems and Support
#1

Good Afternoon,

Our Glowforge has had issues since the day we received it. Currently, the Glowforge has issues with Focusing on startup and after each run. Also, since the latest software update was forced on us, the Glowforge has problems cutting through materials purchased through Glowforge’s shop and has had issues with flames appearing while cutting which wasn’t a problem before the forced “pro” trial.

Please advise on how to resolve the issue with Focusing based on our logs. We believe that the Glowforge, after only 45 +/- hours of running off and on this year has failed in it’s advertised promise. For as many people who have had similar issues I’m surprised it hasn’t be resolved as of yet.

Before any comments: We have done (multiple times with care) the following:

  1. Check the printer head lens by following steps 1-5 from these instructions: https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033633614-Cleaning#things-that-need-wiping. If you see anything unusual such as damage to the lens or debris in the printer head, please take a photo of it and attach it to your reply
  2. If you are using magnets to secure material to the crumbtray of your Glowforge, please remove or reposition them and try again. Magnets placed close to the printer head may cause trouble during calibration
  3. Check the connection of the printer head to the white ribbon cable in the printer arm. Turn off your Glowforge, unplug the head, and plug it back in. Note whether the cable plugs back in securely, and whether you feel it “click” into place
#2

The premium trial wouldn’t have caused any of this. The only thing it affects is how long it takes your print to be processed and the GF light to start flashing so you can start the job.

The flames indicate your air assist fan needs cleaning or something’s blocked up in your exhaust system.

The focus issue can be a lot of things; have you gone through these steps?

If nothing there fixes it, then it’s either wifi or a black cable issue. Setting up your GF to work through a cell phone hotspot will tell you pretty quick if it’s wifi.

3 Likes
#3

Thank you for your reply @geek2nurse. We’re hopeful that it can be resolved, but our machine has not lived up to the hype.

Notes:
Premium: I’m just stating what happened. Certainly coincidence is not causation but both the focusing, flame and cutting had issue thereafter. Even the etch was over burning at that time. Certainly it can be caused by other issues. Again… it happened the day of the original change.

Fan is clean and the filter is new. We run the filter at low and at full.

100% of the steps provided by GF were followed multiple times. It’s a reoccurring issue.

Wifi - We changed routers recently and the issue still remains with an entirely different router version. Restarting the router and changing to a different network as well as a wifi hot spot did not resolve the issue.

Personal Thoughts:
Others have a different experience; most positive from our reading. Ours however hasn’t been glorious. We even had wheels break only to find that it was a known issue and GF waited to see if it happened. Even auto makers do recalls. The break did happen right before our warranty expired. If it hadn’t, then we would have had to pay for a known defect in their production.

We truly want the product to work as advertised. However, for us, it has had multiple issues since the day we got it. We run an ad agency, do IT, programming, development, mobile apps… have a wood working, table making business. Run a print shop. We have an Xcarve as well and are quite handy with that tool as well. Someone wants something we can generally make it happen. However, if you rely on a product that fails you… you inevitably fail. More than likely we’ll be purchasing a different laser cutter as this one has cost more in man hours that it was worth.

#4

I’m sorry about the ongoing trouble with your unit. I see that we have an email ticket ongoing for you, and I’ve sent you a response with additional information and next steps there, so I’m going to close this thread.

#5