Laser Doesn't Work

I am a school teacher who, through a grant, received our Glowforge Pro less than two months ago (right when things closed down). I have been using the Glowforge to print PPE for local healthcare workers, but was only able to cut one proofgrade sheet of S hooks, before I ran in to trouble. I tried another sheet of S hooks and head bands for face shields, but the laser did not cut all the way through the proofgrade acrylic. I repeated the cut slower, still didn’t work. Yesterday the laser stopped working all together. I have read threads on here for two days and have tried EVERYTHING mentioned (clean, check mirrors, check connections, disconnect and reconnect white strip, unplug, tried Gift of Good Measure, etc. Nothing!

The print head moves, and I can see a reflection of light where the laser should be, but no laser. The tube does not light up, the power setting is full power, the machine is level, I’m using Proofgrade materials, nothing seems burnt out or broken, … I have made 5 cuts with this machine. Total. Ever. I am sick over this. Please help!

Check the safety interlock on the back – it’s a staple-looking thing near the power switch, should be pushed all the way in.

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Otherwise make sure you check your mirror and windows. Clean them with a lense wipe

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Thank you. Checked that, and it’s all the way in.


geek2nurse

Regular

April 20
Check the safety interlock on the back – it’s a staple-looking thing near the power switch, should be pushed all the way in.

Thank you, I took great care in following the directions on cleaning everything and checking the mirror. The lens is in correctly and doesn’t appear damaged.

Support will ask you to print the Gift of Good Measure on the spare medium draftboard provided with the machine, using the default settings, and post pictures of the result from the front and back. Also note the time of the print as if your machine is not marking the material, there won’t be much to show.

They might also ask for pictures of the optics, as seen here.

This information will let them determine if there is a problem with the machine.

It isn’t unheard of for relatively new machines to fail, they will take care of you.

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I highly doubt they need cleaning since they only ever made 5 cuts with a new machine. That said, they did clean and check.

Anything can happen with buildup depending on how large the cuts are. Just making friendly suggestions.

I appreciate any suggestions. My students and I did the Gift of Measure (can’t remember the exact name right now), the suggested file that makes the box, the 12- piece puzzle with our school mascot engraved, and I cut one sheet of acrylic S hooks, half of which fell out right away and I ended up breaking half of the others trying to get them out. I then cut a face shield head band file that was shared, and broke all of them trying to get them out. Since then, no laser. I’ll start working on taking pictures of all of the parts as suggested and go from there. Thanks, again!

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I have developed the habit of holding the material down after the cut and try to lift the cut with a piece of tape. If the cut isn’t through and the material isn’t moved you can run the cut again.

Don’t worry, the company will make it right. :+1:

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That would not cause the job to run without cutting anything, it prevent it from starting or cancel a job in progress.

Thank you!!

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Right, but what @eflyguy is saying is that you should do it again. Glowforge Support typically asks to run this as a test so they can see what happens with a known test file on a known piece of material (the spare Proofgrade Draftboard they include with the machine for this purpose). If you run this test now, you can potentially save a round of back-and-forth when someone from Support asks you to do it.

It’s also possible they’ll just look at your machine logs and know what the problem is, but if you can do the Gift of Good Measure while you’re waiting, it will cover more bases.

Argh. I can never keep straight what it does and doesn’t do, since I don’t have a pro!

Just remember it has the same effect as opening the lid.

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Got it! Thanks, I’ll do that now.

R. Cox

Here are the images listed on previous strands. Next, I will test the Gift of Measure file adn post of picture of that with time stamps.

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At 5:02 p.m. started the Gift of Good Measure on Proofgrade Medium Draftboard. Attached is a pic of the result front/back. Print ended at 5:04.

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:ok_hand: Now all you can do is wait for support…

:+1::slightly_smiling_face: