I think the fan in my print head is going to die

Community Support
24

To be fair if you’re calling @jamesdhatch out for going off topic, this thread isn’t about @palmercr ‘s theoretical ability to outcode the Glowforge team.

I totally get palmercr’s frustrations, it does seem like there’s more that it could do, but I also see jamesdhatch’s point: the Glowforge team is clearly not going to share their future plans nor explain every decision that led to where we are now. That horse is indeed very injured if not dead.

25

I get it, @bdm is frustrated too - first time I saw him lose it was after his delivery got pushed to Nov - not at all Zen. Happens to all of us. It’s easier for those of us who have our GF to overlook how frustrating it is to still be waiting. It’s like building a house - you hate every delay and swear you’ll never do it again but then you move in and the reality outweighs the grief getting there and you forget about the trouble.

My problem with Palmer is that he’s said he has no intention of accepting his delivery until they’re all done which just means he’ll be posting his negativity for awhile still. It can just suck the life out of the forum sometimes. But that’s my cue to step back from the GF (I spend a lot of the time while it’s cutting reading the forum - gives me something to do. :slightly_smiling_face:).

26

Ha! One of the great misconceptions there.
Nothing wrong with emotions, nothing at all, even Anger - the problem is when we hold on to them and refuse to let them pass through us, thus they end up controlling us.

For the record i was not angered… if anything it was totally expected - it was just my way of saying i have great faith in the ability of Glowforge to consistently fail.

1 Like
27

Thank you so much for the details. I’m looking into it now. As soon as I have more information I’ll update this thread.

28

Please give this a try:

  1. Turn off your Glowforge
  2. Holding only the finished black surfaces, grasp the printer head as shown. Pull gently up and back to disengage the magnets and remove the head.
    image
  3. Push down fully on the wire ribbon tab to unplug the wire ribbon from the printer head. Pull the wire ribbon gently away and tuck it into the laser arm.
    image
  4. Take a clear photo of the gold pins inside the printer head where you just unplugged the wire ribbon
  5. Pick up the printer head and wire ribbon. Make sure the tab on the wire ribbon is facing up. Slide the ribbon into the head until it clicks.
  6. As shown, lower the printer head over the metal plate so that it rests next to the two round posts. Then push it gently away from you – you’ll feel a “click” as magnets pull the printer head until it sits snugly atop the metal plate.
    attachhead
    attachhead.jpg797×300 88 KB
  7. Gently move the printer head so it sits under the camera
  8. Turn your Glowforge back on
  9. Send us the photo of the gold pins from step 4.

Once you’ve done that please try another print, and let us know if the fan at the bottom of the print head stay on during the whole print.

1 Like
29

Neither the pins on the bottom of the print head nor the pads on the carriage board were visible dirty or glazed, but since cleaning them, which I just did with the same Zeiss wipe I had first used on the lenses, I’ve not seen the fan skip a beat at all. I am calling it fixed and will make sure that I make that part of my regular maintenance as well.

Thanks so much folks!

2 Likes
30

I’m glad you resolved it! I’m going to close this thread - if the problem reoccurs, go ahead and post a new topic. Thanks for letting us know about this!