I have 5 personalized sets of items to be cut. They are all the same item, but have different names on them. I have cut 3 of the sheets (we’ve had problems getting those through due to machine problems, the machine “expereinced a bump” and would hit itself against the inside wall of the machine.) I am down to my last two. Now I cannot get the fourth sheet to load AT ALL. The machine says it is ready to print, I send the design, we hear and see the glowforge move, and it says “Scanning” and then it says “Print Stopped” before we even can hit the button to begin the print. Help PLEASE. I am on a deadline, and these need to be cut by the end of the week.
Your machine has a mechanical problem if it’s doing this. The machine goes through a startup sequence at the beginning of a print, and if that sequence fails it doesn’t run the print. Sounds like it got progressively worse. I think your machine is busted now and no one is going to be able to give you a quick solution…
With the machine powered off, does the print head move left/right forward/back smoothly? Are the belts good and snug? Can you inspect the wheels that the laser gantry rides on, to make sure none are broken?
I have been telling Glowforge from the beginning that we received a faulty machine, but we’ve been told otherwise. These problems have continued to occur over the three years we’ve owned it. We only use it once a year now because it’s such a problem.
The arm will move left and right, front and back when off. It’s been checked over MULTIPLE times, we’ve cleaned lenses, connection pins, replaced the fan last year, etc. The lense actually keeps falling out of place in the housing unit, and we have to adjust it each time. It’s been faulty from the start.
The lens is attached to a floating magnetic platform which moves up and down, allowing the machine to focus the laser beam at different heights. Even if you push the lens all the way in, the first thing that happens when you turn on the Glowforge is “focusing”, where it moves the lens up and down through its full range of motion several times to calibrate the mechanism, resulting in the lens no longer being all the way up where you put it. That’s normal, not faulty.
That’s something probably best troubleshooted by looking at the machine’s logs, which will reveal why it’s hitting a “bump”, why it’s stopping, and why the button turned yellow. Those logs are available to Glowforge’s support staff which you can contact at support@glowforge.com. Us fellow owners in the community forum can’t help with this, sorry.