I am literally at the end of my rope with this machine

Community Support
1

I purchased a glowforge basic at the very beginning. I loved the machine for years.

It worked perfectly everytime I tried to use it. Then - November-December last year, my machine stopped cutting fully though material. I could tweak settings or do multiple passes, but it was not cutting at previous power levels.

I contacted support. They offered to replace/upgrade my machine to the plus machine because the basic was no longer available. I want to say i was asked to pay $1400.00 for a refurbished replacement machine.

A new machine was shipped. Worse problem, will not cut or even mark material. Dead on arrival. RMA for a new machine.

Second replacement came, same problem, will not cut or even mark material. Dean on arrival - this one appeared to not be filled all the way with coolant. RMA for a new machine.

I was understandably very upset and frustrated. I received my replacement machine in February 2024 timeframe. This is the third replacement, and my fourth machine.

I left for vacation the day after it arrived, so i did not get it setup. Life happened, and the machine set unopened indoors in a clean dry location until today. I thought for sure - when i eventually get this thing out and get it runinng it should be fine. I thought there could be no chance that they could send me three DOA machines back to back to back.

Today - i setup the machine. Will not cut or mark any material on any setting. I see the laser firing in the tube. The machine acts like it is cuttting. It will just not cut.

I tried numerous designs, with different proofgrade material. Tried proofgrade settings, tried manual settings. Tried an outline cut full power, not a single mark even on the masking.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? I can’t believe that QAQC is this bad. I now have 4 seemingly faulty machines in my house. I have moved three machines in/out of my basement.
I have unpacked and repacked machines 3 times now.

Since i never used my machine in the 6 month warranty, I am assuming that glowforge is going to tell me to pound sand.

This has to be a backend software bug right? Has anyone else been through this level of nonsense?

Jason

2

There are many things that happen that can look impossible before you solve it and silly after you solve it. My first thought is that it might easily slide back to zero power, an easy fix. The next thought is that the aim can be off, but usually it works on the left only when that happens. It is usually caused in shipping so is the first thing I check on arrival. If you are seeing the laser work but nothing on the material I would look for something in the way in the print head. There is a blue foam piece in the printhead to protect it in shipping.

Without seeing it or results that I is IMHO what is possible to check for. If it was a software issue, everyone would be seeing it and complaining.

2 Likes
3

I’d check the mirror in the print head. Though i haven’t experienced it, i have seen a couple cases in here where it was shipped installed upside down or some other odd way and instead of reflecting light, it just melted.

3 Likes
4

I agree on the mirror inside the top of the head (under the removable black lid with the GF logo on it). If the laser is visibly firing as can be seen in the tube, then the only part that could be mis-aligned from QA testing is pretty much that.

3 Likes
5

Nope - mirror installed correctly. I removed and reinstalled it just to be sure.

1 Like
6

I did check the top angled mirror. It is positioned correctly. I tried a head from another machine, same result.

I ran a 45 second job at full power. Again, no marks on the material or masking - however, i noticed that the head was pretty warm following the cut.

I tried the same print but as far to the left as possible. Welp - obvious alignment issue as you can see from the attached photo. The knife was what I attempted to cut. This is a single polyline intended to be a cutout. There is a focus issue because it was double cutting on the same pass.

I guess i am probably just completely screwed at this point. I am just astounded that I could be sent three defective machines in a row, and because i waited to open and power on this machine - i am certainly out of warranty and screwed.

Very disappointed. I guess i will open a case and see what happens.

knife
knife1920×2560 430 KB

7

An update for all those that might have read this and were following along…

After two hours of phone support with Glowforge yesterday they have confirmed that they shipped me a third DOA faulty machine. They can confirm with logs that it was just powered on and setup for the first time on Sunday 11/17/2024, and that it never made a successful print, but as of now it sounds like the best that they can do for me is provide me a $1000 discount if I purchase the $7,000 glowforge pro HD.

So in summary:

I bought a glowforge basic in May of 2018 for $2,594 inclusive of shipping. It functioned pretty much exactly as I expected until December 2023.
1/10/2024 - Glowforge charged me $1400.00 for a refurbished machine. I set it up right away. It never printed a single job successfully. DOA out of the box.
1/17/2024 - Glowforge shipped me a replacement for my purchased refurbished machine. The machine arrived and i set it up immediately. The coolant pump was burned out and/or not functional. the tube was only half full of coolant when running and the pump was screaming bloody murder during operation. DOA out of the box.
1/29/2024 - Glowforge shipped me a third replacement machine. I left on a long vacation the day following its arrival at my home. It sat in the corner of my dining room until 11/17/2024, at which time i unboxed it, set it up, and observed that it was also a DOA non functional machine.
11/19/2024 - Glowforge acknowledges that the machine was not powered on until 11/17/2024, is not functional, never made a successful print, but needs to be replaced, and states that it is not under warranty only after two hours of phone shenanigans to confirm what I already told them. They then offer a $1000 discount on a $7000.00 machine, losing sight of the fact that they have been unable to send me a functional machine in the last three attempts.

Disgusting.

@dan Is this an acceptable customer experience?

8

Not with a Glowforge. but with other tech, the fact that I did not contact them quickly enough, meant no coverage, even though It never worked. I would contact the Wireglass company to see what they can do.

2 Likes
9

I understand your frustration, but the original Glowforge operated successfully for over 5 years on its 6 mo warranty. The reason they are offering just a discount now on out of warranty machines is that there is no available inventory of refurbished machines and only certain new machines are in stock. Leaving it unopened for nearly 10 months is the dicey part. It might not be acceptable, but if there is no inventory there is not much that can be done, and available inventory might be prioritized to newer or more active users making warranty claims in a more timely fashion.

3 Likes