Is it true that after the warranty that you can't get parts?

I have been reading, and I’m not very happy about what I’ve read.
So far, since my GF is now out of warranty for a couple of months, I have had the glass lid come apart from the hinges, and I’m worried about other parts, including the tube.

I have read that GF will not sell you a new laser tube or other parts.
Why not?

I for one, am an electrical engineer. I have designed holographic laser imaging systems for large scale paper plotters! I can do anything.

I am working to resolve the lid issue. I am on attempt #2, so far, using a scaped and glued lid using 3m 5200, which is the strongest flexible glue I have ever used.

Kent

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I believe they use specially built equipment (a large specialty frame or jig) at the repair facility to securely hold the lid in place for re-gluing, and I think they use a UV light set glue for it with large UV lamps…something that most folks don’t have on hand.

Several DIYers have done their own repairs on the lid, so it’s just whether you want to pay to have the machine shipped back to let them do it, or do it yourself. (They don’t offer parts to us that require equipment that they had specially made for manufacturing purposes.)

(I’m an engineer too, and I intend to send it to them for repair if the glue seal breaks on mine down the road. I could probably do it, but it won’t be as secure as what they can do with their set-up.)

Same thing for the tubes. It ties into the power supply and has to be calibrated to that in order for the machine to work correctly. So for now, if the tube goes out, I’ll be sending it to them to replace. They have the jigs to get the tube out of there quickly and get it calibrated…my time is worth more than it will cost if I were to try to do it myself. And I don’t have the equipment or specific knowledge of how they are calibrating them. (Not to mention, I’d rather not fry myself on the power supply.) :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I believe they are still in the process of shifting to a new repair facility, so they might offer a refurbished unit as replacement instead of waiting on repairs to the actual units right now. So that may be something else to consider if they offered it. I’m not sure how far along they are.

If you want to try the DIY route, I believe some folks had better luck with 3M VHB tape than with glues that had to set. But do a search in the Beyond the Manual section for “lid repair” to make sure and see what they had to say.

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No. Where on earth did you read this nonsense?

IN warranty they give/replace defective parts at no cost to you.
OUT of warranty they sell you parts/repairs if you request it.

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I’m going to guess you read that on Facebook. That’s wrong as elka said, but it is a good indication of the quality of information posted there. This is where you want to get your information about the glowforge, this community is the best accessory for your laser. The Problems and Support area is where you post a problem, and that opens an official support ticket for the company to address.

Personally, I would repair the lid myself as you indicated you are capable of it. Take Jules advice and search what others have done for that issue.
The strongest adhesive I ever used is PC-7, a catalytic compound that sets rock hard and can even be machined. If the lid on my 4-year-old machine lets go that would be my choice.

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Not here you haven’t. The forum is full of stories of people getting parts and repairing.

As for tubes that’s a different story and it’s been covered too. The short version is that no you won’t be doing a home tube replacement, though if you make your case you might get a special one off deal. I’m general the word is that aligning the tube is too difficult to do at home so they made the call that all tubes will be repaired in house.

Engineer or not, you don’t have their tooling and calibration systems. I think economically the $500 cost of a replacement is probably a bargain, all things considered.

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To date, I’ve had the black ribbon cable, the board that cable connects to, and the auxillary board that the exhaust fan among other cables connects to, sent to me. My glue to my hinge has also given out, so I repaired the lid myself, which, with the camera calibrator tool, hasn’t been an issue with my alignment.

The only hindrance I’ve received from GF when requesting any of these parts was their ability to source the part from the factory that builds their machines. I simply requested the part, and the request was granted eventually. As for the tube, it’s been quoted as a $500 repair found here: https://glowforge.com/faq/tech-specs#do-you-have-to-replace-the-laser-tube but I haven’t heard of the process or the availability of acquiring a replacement tube for manual repair.

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As far as I know, GF does provide parts to out of warranty machines. I know I’ve ordered a couple of black cables. I don’t know about all the other parts, but there have been several GF owners that have posted about various bits & pieces they have been sent for DIY repair.

A different story on the tube. While we were waiting for the first GFs to arrive, they announced that tubes would have to be sent back for replacement. There was a large on-line revolt and GF quickly issued a statement that users would be able do their own replacement. Two options. The first is that they rashly promised something they later realized they could not fulfill. (that’s the charitable option). The second option is that they outright lied in order to quiet the natives. I guess it doesn’t matter. Users are not going to be able to DIY replace tubes.

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While not every user replaceable part is listed on their website, you can email them or post in P&S and they will get you an invoice for the requested parts. For some things such as the power supply and tube your unit will need to be sent in for as those not part of the user serviceable category.

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I have been out of warranty for a while. They have been rock solid with support. Their offer to replace my machine at a reasonable cost when it went down was way beyond expectations.

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