About a year ago my GF lost some cutting power. Cuts for my projects would normally use a speed of 150. I had to switch that to 135 due to shallow cuts. That worked good for about a year. The other day the laser suddenly stopped firing in the middle of a cut job. I’ve done the Gift of Good Measure test, checked for leaks, etc. No purple hue in the tube and no laser emitting onto the bed.
The only thing I notice is some debris slowly circulating through the tube when attempting to cut. I suppose these could be air bubbles but they appear to be small white chunks of debris.
Is there a schematic that could tell me where to test for power supply issues? Are there replacement tubes available through other vendors? I am not interested in purchasing a new shipping box for over $200 and additionally paying up to $1k for a refurb exchange.
However, if there were a program where we could quickly initiate a refurb swap for a broken machine, I’d be up for that. Maybe pay full retail pricing and receive a partial credit back once the broken machine is returned and inspected. This would eliminate the need for keeping the box as well. Just a thought…
Did the gift of good measure come out right?
What you see in the tube are more than likely tiny air bubbles. That would be a sign the coolant level is getting low.
Pinging @Deleted who has had recent experience with that.
AFAIK that’s how all refurb exchanges work in practice (and how they’ve all worked for me), so go ahead and email support@glowforge.com if that would interest you. Once everyone’s on the same page that your machine can’t be fixed at home, they’ll likely offer you a refurbished machine at a discount in lieu of repair. They mail the refurb first, and you promise to return your broken one within 30 days. That gives you enough time to receive the refurbished one, and use its box to mail yours back.
The Gift of Good Measure didn’t turn out either. There is absolutely no laser coming out of the tube. I’ve ran this thing WAY past the point where I would have expected it to fail, (4 years of regular use) so I’m not surprised it needs some refreshing. Hopefully I can get back on track soon. Having the GF has spoiled me and my other laser cutter just doesn’t compare.
Wouldn’t be surprised. Dan once said their service provider groups repairs into categories and then charges a flat rate for any machine whose repair needs fits into that category. He also said they didn’t get any detail about what was specifically wrong with a machine (which I find hard to believe as it would put a huge hurdle in their way in trying to do QC and improve the reliability of machines). I believe he mention 3 categories or levels of repair at the time.
At such a gross level vs granular menus of specific parts (& their associated labor), it’s pretty easy to see where a bunch of very different repairs would all price out exactly the same.