Front and back pro shield

I removed the pro shield in the per the instructions, and never followed up to see what the point of them was. I still have them uninstalled, and have done approx 4 hours of exploratory printing without issue.

Can anyone explain what they are used for, and should the be reinstalled? If possible send me a link to the specific instruction in the manual.

Thanks!

They’re a safety measure designed to keep toddlers and idiots looking to try scarification with a burning laser beam from sticking their hands into the machine while it’s running.

You should have gotten instructions in their use (and designating an LSO) in an email when you purchased the machine. If you did not read it, you might want to go back and try to find it. General safe use guidelines are listed here:

Having said that…I usually forget to put mine back on between passthrough runs. If you don’t have them on, you should wear the safety goggles when working around the laser.

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Never use mine. Don’t know where they are.

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I found that blasting the front (rubber)shield from the head fan increased the buildup of crud a great deal and did not like so much how it aged even from frequent cleaning. So I leave the front steel shield on most of the time. The rear shield is much less of an issue and there is nothing back there that I am afraid of getting zapped and it is harder to mess with so it usually stays off.

Thanks for the help @Jules! @ryan11, please read over the guidelines that Jules posted, then you can make an informed decision on how to use your Pro Shields! Also, we update the manual regularly, and the version here will always be current: https://glowforge.com/manual. I am going to close this thread now, please feel free to start a new thread if you have any other questions!