Glowforge going very slow

Community Support
1

Hello fellow Glowforgers. I’ve hit a bit of a snag. My Glowforge has been working great up until yesterday. I was doing some engraving and all of a sudden it starts going very slow and I don’t hear the fans making as much noise as they normally do. I turned it off and started another project this morning, and it worked as it normally would. I started my second project and it started slow and less noise again. I had it off for about 2 hours in between projects.

I clean it out regularly (about once a week) depending on how much work I am doing, this includes cleaning both fans. Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

2

Do you mean that the carriage/printhead are moving very slowly? Can you share a screenshot of the settings and what you are engraving when it slows down?

3

yes, the carriage/printhead. It happens with any setting. I’ve checked the speed to make sure it isn’t that and it just starts and moves through the entire project slow.

4

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re running into trouble with your Glowforge.

In order to investigate the snag, would it be possible to post a recording of a test print, so that we can narrow down what could be causing this behavior?

Once we can review the video, we’ll send over the next best steps.

5

settings: 1000/full
Back fan doesn’t sound like it’s running at full speed. Just completed the fan maintenance to see if there was any gunk, but it didn’t seem to fix anything.

6

I can hear your machine, but I can’t see anything.

7

Machine (head) is moving at normal speed.

8

Yes, the head is moving at normal speed. At first glance it appeared to be moving slower, but I think that was just the perception due to how quiet the machine is running. The fan however is moving slower. It isn’t removing the smoke as effectively as it should and you can hear the difference compared to its normal operating speed. Any ideas?

9

Are you using a filter? Are you not using a filter but accidentally turned the fan off in the GFUI? I had my fan die after cleaning and bought an external Vivosun blower for $35 though the 195 CFM is barely adequate alone. I still use it alone with the new machine with the working fan in all but the toughest situations.

10

Fans look fine to me too. The air assist is definitely working and the exhaust at the end of the video appears normal as well.

11

Thank you for sending over this recording. Based on the video, the Printer Head appears to be working as it should. The exhaust fan also appears to be correctly spinning, but to help troubleshoot your exhaust, could you send me a few photos of your exhaust system? Specifically, please include pictures of the following:

  1. The exhaust fan from the inside of the unit. To capture this photo:

  2. Turn your Glowforge off

  3. Open the lid

  4. Using both hands, gently pull the printer arm towards you as shown below:

    800×600 789 KB

  5. Move your phone or camera inside the Glowforge on the left-hand side, past the metal rail, pointed away from you towards the exhaust hose, to capture a photo like the one below:

    800×578 65 KB

  6. A photo of where your exhaust hose attaches to the Glowforge, where your exhaust hose exits the room, and the path your exhaust hose takes from your Glowforge to the exterior vent or Compact Filter

    612×816 117 KB

    816×612 150 KB

    612×816 89.9 KB

  7. The exhaust connection on the back of your Glowforge, with the exhaust hose removed:

  8. Any area where you see smoke escaping from your Glowforge while printing

Once we can review these images, we’ll send over the next best steps.

12

I figured out the issue. The setting for the filter was checked. Once I unchecked it, everything was operating normally.

Thank you!

1 Like
13

I’m glad you resolved it! I’m going to close this thread. If you run into any other trouble, please start a new topic, or email us at support@glowforge.com. We’re here to help!