Why does my Glowforge Pro produce a lot of smoke and frequently goes into the ‘cooling down’ mode when I cut MDF…That didn’t use to happen to me before. 
I would check your fan to make sure you have good venting from your Glowforge.
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Hi David,
I have the Glowforge air filter, but honestly, I’m not sure if I need to clean it (I’ve never done it) or if the material I’m using is just terrible. 
MDF will fill up the air filter very quickly.
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Oh yeah, the absolutely do not recommend using the filter with MDF. They estimate ~200 cuts on ply vs ~1400 on hardwood, and straight MDF would be even worse than ply since the entire width is MDF rather than being sandwiched in veneer.
Presuming you have to use a filter, you’ll need to order a refill. Once you have it I’d strongly suggest attempting to clean the old one, and looking into installing a pre-filter for the future which should help increase your filter’s life.
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Mdf is not recommended for cutting with the filter. It fills it up fast… like you’d need a new cartridge a day fast (maybe even within a few hours). If you want to cut mdf, you will need to vent out the window.
Since smoke is backing up, your filter is definitely full. And also you’ll probably have to clean the fans located INSIDE the glowforge.
Here is the glowforge tutorials on cleaning, the exhaust fan has its own process with which 3M Novec Electronic Degreaser is required:
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Thank You Chris.
Thank you Deirdrebeth for your advice!
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Oh God! well I will try to clean all…thank you CMadok!
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Good luck. Don’t clean anything not on that list though, that’s where people end up breaking the machines. 
but if you’re lucky, it won’t be that bad, you’ll be able to tell when it’s bad…the crud will be packed in there so the fans won’t even move.
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