Help cleaning fan under the gantry

Has anyone cleaned the fan under the gantry and if so how?

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Air assist or purge fan (head fan)?

I’ve done both using a “rocket blaster”. Believe support said compressed air from a can is ok.

If doing the purge fan, you’ll want to remove the lens so any debris can fall through.

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The air assist. The head fan is easy, the other not so easy to get to. I was wanting to wipe it down even a air can wont get it all…

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You’re in luck. @jules posted a very complete step by step recently. You can find it here:

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Yeah, I took a shot at it yesterday without removing it from the gantry…don’t want to go quite that far yet on that one - if it becomes necessary to do it later to replace that fan, I figure it won’t require a trip back to the mother ship.

I just poked at it from behind with a folded pipe cleaner. Dislodged a little bit of junk, but nothing like that exhaust fan. It didn’t look too bad from the back with the camera, and you can’t see the front, so I’ll maybe try something else later.

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You are talking about the air assist fan. Not able to search easily right now. Search for “spring head user:rpegg” and the instructions on how to remove the plate and fan will be there.

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Agree, i don’t want to go the removal route just yet but i would like to clean it. I’ll try the pipe cleaners and air hopefully that will help some…

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Oops. I read the OP’s question a little too fast. Now there’s yet another spot I need to learn to clean.

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That’s ok I didn’t realize there was fan ther either until i was reading other threads…

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Really didn’t get much out of it…just a few crumbs. I think if the fan is working properly, the air pushes most of the stuff away from that one.

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Mine pushes really good but preventative maintenance is everything… :grinning:

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Without removing the head carriage canned air is going to be your best bet.

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figured as much as that is what i did. Hope i got most of it…

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It will be an improvement for sure.
To get it clean, you have the tools, are out of warranty and you are feeling adventurous, you can clean it thoroughly.
This is what I found when I removed the head carriage and pulled the fan from it. All of that is just accumulation of smoke particulate.

This is what it looks like clean. You can see the fan’s ability to move air was significantly reduced.

Clean%20fan

With the fan in my hands, a pipe cleaner, old toothbrush, and 120 PSI (holding the fan blade so it won’t spin) from my compressor, I made quick work of it.

This access requires removal of the carriage from the gantry. If you are not confident in your ability to accomplish that, I don’t recommend it, and certainly not until your glowforge is out of warranty.
Till then stick to canned air.

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That’s what i’m talking about. Also i noticed while cleaning today the exhaust fan can be removed from the inside if you have a #9 torx bit and your wrist is jointed to feel and get to the bottom right screw…

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Yes, it is possible, but stabbing that bottom right screw back in place would be an extreme challenge. I had trouble even with the top left glass off. You can get the screw in the front hole of the fan, but getting it lined up for the rear hole in the fan frame is the problem.

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Holy cow David…how the heck did you get that much buildup in there? :scream:

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A bajillion little tokens :slight_smile:

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I hate to be ‘the one’…but, I am getting so confused! Can someone please explain in simple terms where the heck all these fans are located? I know about the big one in back, sending bad stuff out of the house. I know about the teeny tiny one underneath the head…and ?

:crazy_face:

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This one is well hidden…it’s behind the head, under the gantry.

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