Glowforge Fan has solid gunk in it

[adriannecala]

Hi there,
I have been using my GF for mainly cutting out 1/8 maple ply that is painted with black chalk paint and covered with a coating of poly acrylic. I suddenly could not cut anything through, so I cleaned my air assist and the fan in the back. There is this sticky solid black gunk everywhere…stuck and I am unable to clean it out. Even by using the spray cleaner that was recommended. Any input is helpful. Thank you!

[ca_worth]

uh… WOW…

I would be surprised if you could get that off of the fan

you might have to remove it and scrape it off.

also, I’m not sure I’d be keen on burning that many things in my 'forge.

those paints could be giving off a lot of fumes that could prove hazardous.

[o-o]

Unless you have a Pro, I would suggest removing that fan and using an external in-line duct fan as has been discussed here many times.

(Removing the fan on a Pro is difficult, but not impossible).

… and avoid those materials going forward. It’s likely left a lot of potentially-damaging debris on other parts of the machine.

[mrinken]

I think you’re stuck adding an inline fan as I seriously doubt that one will ever work again. I don’t know how you’d get that clean!

[coalakida]

You could try spraying some Goo Gone and than wiping it with a Wash cloth.

[rbtdanforth]

@adriannecala

There is this sticky solid black gunk everywhere…stuck and I am unable to clean it out.

This is a long detailed way to clean that fan, if you can get a few chips out into a small glass pill bottle or similar you can try some solvents without spraying them into the machine. I have been very successful with Purell sanitizer but if the recommended cleaner does not dissolve it you might need a small scraper to pull pieces of crud out.

Fortunately you have the newer back grill making it easier to reach the fan blades.

Caution: Dirty Pictures....or...How I Cleaned the Exhaust Fan

Update: 12/14/2018: Happily, the Glowforge crew has released an “easier to implement” cleaning regimen for the exhaust fan now…instructions for how to do it involve purchase of a special non-flammable degreasing spray cleanser and use of a special cleaning mode of the software…instructions here: Written up below is the old way that I was doing it…it’s a fairly labor intensive alternative that has worked very well if you are willing to keep up with it as you go along and not let it get …

[cindyhodesigns]

Wow, that is alot, you might need to replace that fan. Might not be worth the time to clean it You can get a new fan from Digikey - I think it’s like $30 or something like that

[jmajor]

If that’s how the fan looks, how is there rest of the forge? Are you getting a buildup on any other Componients?

[ivan1]

I’m sorry for the trouble with your unit’s exhaust fan, and that it has been difficult to clean it further. I see you already emailed us about this and we’ve reached out to you there, so I’m going to close this topic.