Update - I think I have the Lid closed fully now! YAY… you are all AWESOME!
Hi Everyone - I sent in a support request, but I haven’t heard back. Is this normal to have the lid of the GLowforge not completely close? All of my vents are sealed with tape and everything seems air tight except the front of my machine. I am getting a lot of fumes in our house and it’s causing me to get headaches when I use the machine. IMG_8413|375x500
There is some “give” built into the body of the Glowforge. You can use a couple sheets of paper or index cards to shim a corner util it is level.
Is this a new behavior? Are you certain that your Glowforge is seated on a perfectly flat and level surface with nothing under one of the pads (i.e., “feet”)? 
+1 the advice from @dklgood. Having a level surface isn’t as important as having a FLAT surface. Eliminating the twist in the chassis will make the lid open and close smoothly and probably improve your prints as well, although I haven’t tested that particular theory… 
You can’t determine flatness with a level. The lid is telling you it’s not flat.
I’ve only had it since August and I’ve always noticed the smell and just figured it was the silver duct that came with it. Now I have a black duct and it’s all sealed with tape.
haha - yup… just trying to see if the table was level. Just eyeing it everything sits on it completely flat, but got the level out to see if I was off. The lid on the left hand side seems to stick up. Just not sure what to do at this point. Do I keep using it or wait to hear back from GF?
Their advice will be what @dklgood said. Use stacked sheets of paper as shims under the corners. You’ll have to experiment to see which corners need to be shimmed and how much; keep at it until your lid closes smooth and flat.
I had to do what @dklgood and @geek2nurse had stated. Mine was on a solid flat surface as well but had to use shims on one corner to ensure the lid closed completely…
Thank you… I will give it a try today.
The lid sticking up is because the machine is not flat, so everyone’s advice up there was good, but if you have smoke backing up into your home from the front of the machine, I would also say give your fans a clean.
There is a gap in the front panels for all the machines, but if the fan is working properly, everything should be sucked back through the exhaust, not seeping out the front.
The first time I realized I had to clean the fan was when smoke started coming out of the front and I thought my machine had holes in it. Lots of forum searching later (because I was genuinely worried and I couldn’t take the smell and smoke any longer), I realized my exhaust fan was really, really dirty. Cleaning it immediately fixed my smoke coming out the front issue.
Also, just out of curiosity, one of the feet isn’t sitting on that black cord is it?
Not completely sure you understand what the folks have suggested. Level is not all that important. Flat is EXTREMELY important. Your eye can not determine the flatness of a table. To prove it, carefully lift any corner about 1/4" and you will see the lid gap change. The GF chassis is extremely susceptible to the feet being on a slightly uneven surface. Just shim the corners to get the door gap to match on both left and right sides.
Also, the GF by design blows more air out the exhaust than it sucks in through the cooling fan on the right side. So air should be sucked in through all lid cracks while the machine is operating. When it has finished a print the exhaust fan will turn off and at that point smoky smells may enter the room. Happens on all machines without a constantly running exhaust fan. Though it should be minimal.
I think I fixed it! geek2nurse - thanks for the “20 sheet of paper” tip… .I just added that towards the front left side of the machine and the lid seems to be closing much better! I will run it later this morning and test it out. The lid is actually closing now!
I was editing my post as you responded. Smoke entering the room doesn’t have anything to do with the lid gap. Read above.
Well - luckily I didn’t see any smoke coming out… I just smelled it. I can see all the smoke going to the back of the machine inside… but I will clean the fans again today and see if that helps more. Thank you for your help!
The other nice thing is that probably will improve your camera alignment, since it’s very sensitive to slight differences in lid position. (You may want to re-run the camera calibration once you’ve completely settled on your shimming situation.)
Depending on what I am using I can smell it and mi lid is totally closed…
I struggled with a slight odor until I methodically sealed every joint in my extended exhaust run using a bead of caulk. There is zero odor now.
The exhaust fan is pushing the smoke down the vent, meaning the vent is pressurized. ANY pinhole leak will make itself known to your nose.
You can also place an inline fan at the exit of the line and have a negative pressure in the vent line so any leaks are sucking air in - like the gaps in the lid are designed to do.
Hmm… maybe that is my next step - caulking everything. This is what I have so far… I know I should reduce the amount of hose, but I didn’t want to cut much at first to make sure I didn’t damage the hose. I am about to do another print after adjusting the height of the middle of the GF with a paper stack. I hope that helps some.
