Hi,
Can someone help ? My GF is not working all of a sudden. It keeps saying there is an obstruction! Here is what I did:
It seems to move alright along both X and Y axis when doing so by hand ?
Also, centering under the camera makes the GF get stuck on scanning.
Here are 2 videos I took :
I can’t seem to play the videos, but if it’s saying it has bumped into something, I’d get in there with a flashlight and check the belts and rails for any debris. Also look for any loose connectors.
It won’t be the camera or the wifi.
Thank you ! Can you see the videos now ?
Sorry, I can’t see the videos.
Most people find uploading the videos to Youtube then sharing them works the best.
Thank you ! Just swapped it out for YouTube links !
Sorry for the trouble , just changed the links
I am having the exact same problem, i used it sat. morning and that afternoon the head just sits under the camera, i cleaned everything and nothing
This is terrible I have a lot of orders to work on ! Do you think it’s a software issue ?
I don’t think this is a software error. That X stepper motor seems unhappy. You said you can move it freely by hand (when the machine is off)? No chance the belt is loose or slipping or something like that?
I suspect once Support gets to this ticket, they can look at your machine logs and get a lot more information. In the meantime, this is just guesswork. I’m not a mechanical engineer, but I’m a reasonably competent troubleshooter, and I think I can make a list of what has to happen in order for the head to move left and right, then try to rule stuff out:
I see no reason to believe #1 is a problem, especially since in the first video you can see and hear it trying to move. In the second one, it’s harder to tell because the Y movement is covering it up, but I suspect it’s also trying to move in X at the same time… normally this is a diagonal move, but it ends up just inching forward. I also have no reason to believe #5 is a problem if you can move it by hand. So what can it be? #2 could be caused by a bad cable or loose connection. #3 could be caused by a dying motor or power problem. #4 could be a problem with a belt or the little gear on the motor.
Wow ! Thank you for the very thoughtful breakdown . It’s hard to eliminate here because visually they all ‘look’ ok .
What do you suggest for next steps ? Wait for support or something else ?
I wish I had some more ideas. Probably best to wait. Glowforge is not designed to be serviced by us, so you can’t go too deep into it without risking making it worse.
Agreed ! Thanks for your help !
The real experts will be along shortly to help, but another step you can try is removing the carriage plate that holds the head, looking for a problem with the wheels, and re-installing it:
and the video was worth watching to hear your troubleshooting assistant’s commentary in the background. Adorable!
Dan!
Fancy getting a response directly from you ! Thanks so much. I followed the instructions and got it off . Nothing appeared wrong so I cleaned and put it back .
Not sure what’s going on but that did not seem to fix it . It’s a shame because we have a ton of customer orders in queue
Yes, my son enjoys watching the Glowforge magically make fantastic things ! We recently started our own small business with the machine and have loved it ! It is the single best machine we have bought with its ease of use.
Really hoping to have this up and running again
Hi @arjundrexel - I’ve just realized we’ve got this ticket open as well. Since we’ve started some troubleshooting via email, I’m going to go ahead and close this topic and we can continue via that email thread.
