Hi everybody. I have a Glowforge Pro that was destroyed by the shipping company. I already received a refund, but I am still left with some damaged parts. Are there any components/parts that are worth attempting to recover from this pile of glass? Or is there anything else that I can do with this other than just throwing it away?
Thank you
Even with that amount of exterior destruction there a good chance the head is safely wrapped in it’s shipping box inside the styrofoam. Things like the blue thingie and the orange bits might also be salvageable.
Normally you are expected to ship it back but if not I would look at the part’s you can purchase and save those. Or clean the mess and put everything back in the box untii something is needed.
Did fedex refund you? Normally glowforge would send you a replacement and you’d send that back, though not sure the procedure with shattered glass.
If you aren’t sending it back i’d clean up all the glass and keep it all for spare parts… the carriage plate, print head, belts, carriage wheels, fans, etc.
If the tube is ok, I’d see if someone is willing to sell me a replacement lid off an old machine.
But again, i really feel like if they are sending you a replacement, this one is supposed to be shipped back. So you might want to check with support.
Also, don’t forget the black and the white flat cables too.
Yeah like everyone is saying, you will have plenty of usable parts there if they allow you to keep it. Don’t throw it away!
Forget the black cable, it is very hard to install under the best of conditions. To try and peel off all the broken glass without damaging the tiny wires would be very hard at best.
Also, my first machine had a big hole poked into the top that did not damage the machine. So I cut a side of a big box and painted it with wood glue and held it to the inside of the lid with flat wood and dive weights. The result worked very well and was much stronger than before.
Most times (from what I’ve seen) they don’t bother asking for it back because the cost of shipping is more than the value of the parts.
Same with refurb, I suspect many returned machines are simply tossed, not actually reworked - labor and parts are more expensive than simply shipping out a new machine. I could be wrong but, again, that’s my observation. My “refurb” was a brand new machine.
I would agree with you about that since I replaced mine the first time. The older people get, the less ability they have with tiny things. I recently though needed to replace it again…but this time I was smart…I had my 16 year old grandson do it for me. 
If there was a big fire that would be true. However, it is my suspicion that a very high percentage have little or nothing wrong at all, perhaps only an adjustment. We see many complaints that folk can’t see the whole 12x20 sheet or the power falling off on the right.
I was similarly blind about magnets, and fried the chip powering the fan using the cleaner they recommended, but as bad as it got, I think the total repair was pretty minor. The only reason I am sure that what I got was not new was that every one has the old honeycomb exhaust.
Sorry - I was referring specifically to this instance where the machine is pretty much destroyed, at least from the pic I saw.
In many cases an intact machine may need a minor “fix” to be fully functional again.
I would guess that the OP machine would not be all that bad off in terms of repairability. The lid is smashed but the laser tube looks alright. The two side covers are there and would explode like the lid if damaged. Not much else is visible, but likely OK.
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
