My very first time using my brand new Glowforge the laser arm jumped off the track on the left side. It seems to make a lot more noise when moving when it goes to the left and then it will jump off track. It did not cut where it was supposed to. I stopped the print before it was finished because it was going to be cutting over the edge of the board. I manually placed it back on the track. Tried it again and same thing happened. Any clues? Pretty disheartening. I’m not so sure the printer head plate was attached correctly from the factory. Seems pretty wobbly. When I look at the back of it it looks like it should have had some screws in it. Two screw holes are in it, with no screws. I think it is dragging and knocking it off of the track. Now what?
The carriage plate rides on the rails. It is not screwed on to anything and is actually a part you will need to remove for routine cleaning of the air assist fan. As for the "laser arm "jumping off the track, I suggest you turn the machine off and remove any material you have on the honeycomb tray. Gently slide the printhead left and right to feel for any resistance. Gently move the carriage forward and back and feel for any resistance. Make sure the carriage arm is square and turn the machine back on. It should center and home and be ready for printing.
Support will be along soon to offer additional assistance.
I think when it got knocked off track it knocked the printer head off. We got that back on correctly and we tried again. The printer head seems fine now. We’ve shut it off and it looks like its resetting and then tried it a couple of times and it still keeps coming off track. It runs through all of the prompts and then moves a little and goes off of track. I thought this was tested before being shipped.
If the laser arm is coming off the track on the left side, turn the machine off, and then gently move the laser arm forward by hand, to see if you can feel any resistance. You will want to check the tracks, and check the wheel on the laser arm to make sure it’s not cracked or broken, and that there is not any debris in the track.
Also make sure that any material that you place on the tray does not extend over the plastic on the sides of the tray…it needs to be over the grid portion only.
If you see anything unusual, take a picture and post it so support can tell you what to try next. (A few closeup pictures will probably help in any case.)
I’ve already done all of that other than check the wheel on the laser arm. Will do that. There’s really no debris because this is a brand new machine. But I did look just in case something was obstructing it. This is my first project I’ve ever tried. I did a video and it did capture what it was doing. Thanks everyone for trying to help.
I see you already emailed us about this and I’ve sent over the next best steps. I’m going to close this topic, and continue working through the snag via email.