Frustrating.. still frustrating

#1

Reading the ‘Your topic is similar to…’ section as I write this, there is a LOT of frustration over many things around Glowforge.
My current one is watching all the great stuff people are turning out, while I have a half unpacked glowforge (my second, as the first was also faulty) waiting for Support to give me options about my loose belt. If it needs to go back, so be it, if you have a fix, let me know. The said they would look into it on Thursday and then it runs into the weekend with no way forwards at this point.
I read of so many issue with ex-factory units, it does make me wonder about quality control. This belt is so obviously loose, screwing int the red securing screws would have made it impossible to me… and then there was the guy with NO MIRROR in the laser head - how on earth was that tested??
These units should have a QC Tested By label so there is some follow-up and comeback for units that are discovered as faulty.

Enough ranting, I shall now go and 3D print stuff instead

#2

You forgot about the mirror that was installed the wrong way, presumably at the factory, which caused melted plastic on the mirror housing. Shipping damage is understandable. This lack of attention to detail is not… especially when the potential outcome is a fire. I think the support staff generally does a great job with the problems people are experiencing, but it’s very apparent that there aren’t enough support personnel in place. I suspect they’ll eventually get enough people to deal with things, but they’re definitely not there yet.

#3

There must be some way of tightening the belt. I think I remember a picture that looked like the belt clamp is adjustable. If you can work it out you can tighten it to match the other side by twanging it to get the same pitch.

#4

I’m assuming they don’t have a bunch of other belts at the factory, so this one must be the correct one. That means there must be some way to tighten it, unless this particular belt is just severely out of spec, or the wrong belt somehow made its way into the factory. Either way, it shouldn’t get to a customer in that condition, unless something loosened during shipping, which brings us back to it being adjustable for tightness. I’ll take a peek at mine when I get a chance to see if there’s anything somewhat obvious that could help.

#5

Yes I think timing belts always need a way of tensioning them after they are fitted because you can’t get them over the pulley rims when under tension. Also they only give the exactly the correct pitch at a specific tension.

#6

Belt tensioning mechanism is at the rear for left and right belts, and on the right side underneath the gantry for the x-axis.

Here is the left side y-axis adjuster:

20180506_085345
20180506_085345.jpg3264x2448 1.63 MB

It’s takes a 3mm hex wrench.

#7

You should put all of these fix-it nuggets into a doc. For a reasonably handy person they could fix their machine oftentimes without needing to wait for Support.

Really handy info.

#8

Thanks for that, exactly what I’ve been looking for. I wish this information was more available.

Just make the most of the rare English sunshine by having a BBQ but I’ll be on this later

Ian

#9

Okay, so can you explain how the mechanism is supposed to work? I checked all the holes and none of them seem to have something to slacken/tighten to tension the belt. I can push the wheel to tension a little, but then is just loses tension again, as if something needs to be tightened, but I cant find what?

Thanks
Ian

#10

Okay, worked it out, thanks for all the help people!!

Next question, how can I remove the first GF I had, that is being returned? It still seems to appear in my Dashboard

Ian

#11

I haven’t investigated closely but looks like it should be about the same as tightening a chainsaw blade.

#12

It was simply to slacken the bolt in the centre of the pulley, pull the belt to match the tension and then just tighten the bolt up again.

Something I thought would maybe get a mention in ‘Basic Glowforge Maintenance, vol 1.’ :slight_smile:

Ian

#13

That’s all there is to it.

The other holes are likely for a calibrated tension setting device used at the factory.

#14

Or not used at the factory, in this case.