I just hit my 2 year mark with and believe my laser tube is losing power. Here are some reasons why I feel confident that it is the tube.
-Heavily cleaned machine, to the point that the back fan has no dust coming out as much as I am brushing. Air assist clean.
-Changed mirror lenses out, one had a slight scratch others were good. Thought this would have done the trick.
-Took apart crumb tray and cleaned
-Pinned down material, it is flat with no obstructions
-Settings are all on proofgrade on proofgrade material
My question is how would I get a tube replacement or has anyone had experience sending their glowforge back to have the tube replaced?
Generally they will sell you a refurbished machine in exchange for yours, but I believe they are in transition at the moment and depending on a 3rd-party (“Wiregrass”) to service or replace machines. Contact support first, however.
They are not currently selling replacement tubes. I would not assume that the tube is the problem as many, many of our machines are over 5 years old and have not experienced tube failure. Perhaps you could print the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade material with Proofgrade settings and share a photo.
Good question. It depends on your workflow. If you get the Xtool (nice machine), you won’t be able to use GF catalog designs on it. However, anything you design outside of the GF (using Inkscape or Illustrator or other app) will be useable in both.
Standalone, the XTool is a better machine than the GF. There hasn’t been any significant hardware improvements in the GF so it’s 10 year old tech. They’re only focused on software (& mostly Premium) now.
Thanks so much! I think I’m going to go with the x-tool then, as I do all my own drawings. I never use the pass-through. I do love my glowforge though.
I’m also trying to scale my business that eventually when I can afford a workplace do go with a more performance laser.