Soooo I recently moved my glowforge to a space to work in after my house was damaged from ida. The space has a vent with an in-line fan leading to outside. I usually undo the vent from my glowforge every night when I’m finished working however last night I forgot 
When I went to check it this morning obviously humidity got to it from being plugged to the vent overnight and now the fan and back are covered with a sticky tar like residue. I haven’t turned it on yet. Not sure what to do. Any suggestions on cleaning it would be greatly appreciated!
You are not the first to have a condensation attack, but each case is different, and you will need to hear directly from Support before taking any final steps.
I suggest you unplug the machine and take steps to dry it out. Remove the honeycomb tray, open the front door and open the lid. If possible get air circulating through the Glowforge. Wiping off any visible dirt or residue is a good idea while you wait for it to dry out and to hear from Support.
and now the fan and back are covered with a sticky tar like residue
Meaning, black gooey stuff is running down the back of the machine, or that you removed the vent duct and visually inspected the mounting point and see goo?
No I removed the hose to find the tarry substance it isn’t running down anything because it is beyond thick. It’s like stuck to the fan and the metal covering behind the fan.
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Thanks. I did wiping it doesn’t seem to be an option since it is so thick/sticky. Im not sure if or how long it would take for it to dry out
There’s stuff you can spray on the fan while it’s running to remove deposits. But in this case, it might be better to remove the fan completely. While it’s out you can wipe down what’s on the case of the machine. Kind of a PITA to get to the fan, more of a PITA if you pop off the top left panel to get there. But that’s probably the way you want to do it.
Since no one from glowforge replied that’s what I did. I need to get a new fan because there are some parts that I couldn’t get to but I put an inline fan to assist in the mean time. Thanks for the help!
If you got the fan out, and you have a decent inline fan, just put the GF back together without the fan. An inline fan at your exhaust point, drawing from the GF rather than the fan at the GF which pushes to the exhaust point, you’ll get less smoke leakage.
I have an inline fan on my GF, and I disable the internal fan. Works much better that way.
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Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about the trouble @lisaroberson504.
I’ve reviewed your machine logs, and I’m unable to find any immediate causes for concern.
To help troubleshoot your exhaust, could you send me a few photos of your exhaust system? Specifically, please include pictures of the following:
The exhaust fan from the inside of the unit. To capture this photo:
Turn your Glowforge off
Open the lid
Using both hands, gently pull the printer arm towards you as shown below:
Move your phone or camera inside the Glowforge on the left-hand side, past the metal rail, pointed away from you towards the exhaust hose, to capture a photo like the one below:
A photo of where your exhaust hose attaches to the Glowforge, where your exhaust hose exits the room, and the path your exhaust hose takes from your Glowforge to the exterior vent or Compact Filter
The exhaust connection on the back of your Glowforge, with the exhaust hose removed:
Any area where you see smoke escaping from your Glowforge while printing
Lastly, could you run a test print for me and let me know how it goes?
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