I'm stuck calibrating

#1

Hi there!

Powered on my glowforge for the first time, went through all the steps to connect it to my laptop, but now am stuck “calibrating”. I’m not sure what might be wrong. The screen image shows the bed of the GF sans the crumb tray (i.e. a mirror of the camera looking down at the middle of the GF mirrored steel floor). Camera and laser head do not move at all.

Steps I’ve done:

  1. Turned off the GF, waited 10 seconds, turned it back on again.
  2. Reset Wifi.
  3. Made sure crumb tray was properly set.
  4. Attempted to “refresh bed image” multiple times. No refresh and no dice.

I checked some of the other threads with “calibrating stuck” as the subject, and inspected the laser head but could not find where to tighten the lenses (Of course, it was only a visual inspection, I didn’t want to dirty up anything that didn’t need dirtying). The wire connection seemed to be firmly in place.

Any help would be appreciated!

#2

The first time you turn on the machine it has to load updates, so the calibrating takes longer than usual. How much time did you give it before you shut it down?

It’s also possible that the Wifi signal might be weak or intermittent and you’re seeing the last test run image. They have suggested in the past that it helps to have the router near the machine when performing the initial setup. (I would think it’s connected if you can log in to the app and it has started calibrating, but maybe the signal is spotty.)

There is a Wifi troubleshooting section here:

https://glowforge.com/support/topic/troubleshooting/wi-fi

Maybe something in there will help - you might just need to improve the signal strength on the Wifi with a booster. (For now, if you can move the router closer to the machine it might help - is it in the same room?)

#3

confirmed - if your wifi connection there is crap (stream a youtube on your phone using wifi only in airplane mode - does it pause, stutter, not play?) you’re in for troubles.

#4

Hey, if that’s all it is, that’s fine with me. I’ll leave it on overnight and let it do it’s thing. There wasn’t any obvious information that that’s what it does and that’s what I’m supposed to wait for. I’ll update in a day or so to see if that resolves the issue.

Thanks for the knowledge! I appreciate it! <3

#5

Update: Glowforge is working! But not without growing pains.

I left it on for two nights (each night, I turned it off and back on again, leaving the time it was off for about an hour or so). Stuck calibrating both times, all night.

On the third day I turned it off, went to lunch, came back, turned it back on again and the laser print head actually started moving! So I then turned on my computer, launched the app, and the GF said it was ready to go! Five minutes later and I have my first test print done.

So, if anyone else reading this has the same problems (i.e. stuck calibrating), do everything mentioned above (i.e. leaving it on, making sure it’s closer to the wifi connection, letting it do its thing), then try turning it off (for about an hour), then back on again.

Thanks again to Jules and BigJohn for the advice!

#6

Great! I’m glad it decided to get unstuck! Have fun! :grinning:

closed #7