Hello friends! My amazing partner helped me purchase the GF Plus to cut back on hours of woodworking outside in Louisiana weather and to make preparing for art festivals less insane. I’ve been obsessing over and loving it for about three or four days. Treating it like a new born child. I just made something I was reeeeally excited about on PG medium draft board. Went to make a second cut-out/engraving on the same material and it barely made it through the contact paper. Tried other previously successful prints on other PG materials and the laser just completely went out. I sat down to research some troubleshooting and heard a strange noise I thought was a leaf blower outside, then noticed the tube with the liquid was bubbling pink and I immediately turned off the machine. That was yesterday.
This morning i cleaned the tray, lens and unplugged and replugged the ribbon. I even created a new user account through another email and tried a simple test print provided by GF and the machine acts as if it thinks it is doing what it is supposed to, but the laser just won’t turn on. I can still trace and see the bed, but no prints/cuts whatsoever. I have a show in less than a month and I gotta get this baby working. HELP!
So, just to make sure, you’re doing the prints on Proofgrade, like you mentioned, using the Proofgrade settings? It should just say cut, score, or engrave on the left - rather than numbers. And using a default file like the Gift of Good Measure?
Official support will be with you soon, but you shouldn’t be seeing bubbles beyond the initial set up, or after you’ve moved it (and then it purged the air out). Sounds like maybe the tube is cracked and it’s getting air in there.
Yeah, I’ve specifically only been using PG boards that came with it. Barcodes are being read correctly and I haven’t even touched the settings for fear of messing them up. And yes, that’s exactly what i tried. No bubbles or weird sound today, but the laser just won’t turn on!
You’ll want to stop trying to use it, unplug it, and inspect the tube closely for any hairline cracks. It sounds like you have one and you don’t want the tube to pop.
Support will get you squared away when they see your post here. They might want to see some pictures if you find something that looks like a crack in the tube. But it is possible for a small crack to develop in these during shipping, and if that happened, they’ll want to replace it.
Unfortunately, it looks like your unit is experiencing an issue that we can’t resolve remotely. I want you to have a reliable unit, so I’m recommending we replace this one. I’ll be in touch via email to sort out the details. I’m so sorry about the bad news.