General Scanning and Centering problems discussion thread

[bartboogmans]

There have been a lot of posts concerning problems with scanning and centering. These threads close rather quick.

A common solution is a replacement of the black cable inside the lid of the unit.
Post your own solutions to problems, and solutions proposed by Glowforge-support here, and help fellow users out!

Since these threads close rather quick, and thus stopping conversation, this thread can be used for a general discussion.

[bartboogmans]

Relevant closed threads:

Stuck on Scanning and Centering

Today after running a 20 minute cutting job I noticed that that parts of the wood had not cut all the way through so I closed the lid and got ready too run another pass but it got stuck in a cycle of “scanning, centering and repeat.” After about 15 minutes I turned it off, cleaned the lenses, and powered it back on. It turned on and the fan started running but then nothing else happened. I looked for solutions and followed all the troubleshooting tips I could find but nothing changed. I cleane…

Stuck "Centering"

This is day 2 where, when I turn the glowforge pro on, it doesn’t set up like usual, and the screen stays on “centering”. And the last thing I lasered still shows on the screen even though I have removed it from the machine. After I went through the trouble shooting steps I chatted with “staff” and they had me check the 5 clips on the lid to see if any were loose. My pro is only 2 months old so I wasn’t surprised that the clips were tight. I have been lasering a lot of ceramic tiles so I wo…

Alas...Stuck Centering

If you’ve checked those things already, support might be able to look at the logs and see what’s going on. If there’s anything else you tried, just let them know up front so they don’t ask you to test for it again.

Stuck centering

Like many others recently, I just hit the “stuck centering” block. Wifi is fine, but no screen refresh, head doesn’t move, and there’s really no updating. This is my second unit and I’m now worried about reliability. Any advice on checks to fix, or was there possibly an update that caused this issue? I noticed the ui changed from yesterday to today, just slightly. Please help. This is a big problem now.

Stuck upon Centering

The GF is stuck on ‘‘centering’’. The laserhead does not move towards the camera for centering. Manual placement under the camera does not help anymore. The image on the bed does also not update. The GF has become less reliable over a month. At the first use we had to help the GF center by moving the head below the camera. Later, reboots were needed after each task, to get a new scan. As problems got worse, eventually the GF did not get past centering at startup. The steppers motor control of …

And many more

Which arises earlier stated questions:

1. Why are threads being closed off so rapidly, while there is still discussion going on?
2. Is the black cable in the lid the reason for most of the problems in these threads?
3. Has there been a mass defect in these cables, or are they generally unreliable?

[bartboogmans]

Stuck on Scanning and Centering

My cable is supposed to be here before the end of Friday. Way too long of a wait for this cable. I honestly was pretty shocked that they wouldnt even over night it. All I can do is wait I guess.

Stuck on Scanning and Centering

I am another with this issue, opened mine about two weeks ago. Finally got the cable today, will get it installed and report back in a bit. It seems the primary tenet of their company is obfuscation. I’ll be shocked if they give you real answers or admit a major error.

@shae.klusman
@LightBlue

How are your experiences with replacing this cable? (since you stated in the link above that you have the cable in now)

[Jules]

@bartboogmans

Why are threads being closed off so rapidly, while there is still discussion going on?

I’ve moved this to the Everything Else section for you so it will be left open and you can discuss it with anyone who cares to. (Problems and Support is for people to report problems that they need help with on their machines. It creates tickets for Support to look into, and they are closed as they are resolved.)

[shae.klusman]

The replacement of the part was far more scary than it actually was.
It is literally just a flat replacement cable with a little extra length to it. I guess the old style of cable touched the lid lip when opened.

I took the replacement install very slowly and snapped a lot of photos along the way. The last thing I wanted to do is break warranty or make things worse.

The slowest part was removing the old glue/tape. Just take your time with it and you’ll be fine. It took a good 5-10 min just for that part.

Replacing the cable was easy after that. Photo of the cable bend below. You can see how much more space it now has. So far no new issues.

I did have help when sticking the new cable back to the glass to make sure we got it straight. When the new adhesive touches the glass, good luck getting it off. You get one try, so make it a good one.

All else worked perfectly. The glowforge kicked on and the centering problem was gone. Done and done.

I hope that info help

-Shae

[bartboogmans]

My cable just came in, and replacement solved the issue.
I paid attention to check wether there was enough room for a nice curvature in the cable around the hinge. The standard installed one got pulled around the edge of the frame, resulting in a slight fold in the cable.

Above: the newly installed cable, with less space than @shae.klusman , but still a nice curve.

Below: The old cable, where you can see the mark/fold of the edge of the frame.