power cycled the glowforge pro hd. Tried to cut a simple square in cardboard. It show an image of the cardboard on line, it focuses (I see the red focus dot), start button lights up, it goes through the motions of cutting, but no laser. I checked all the optics. Tube is not glowing.
And suggested steps to debug this?
Mine is doing the same thing. I’ve cleaned all that needs cleaning, according to instructions. Even tried recalibrating but it just won’t run. Seems to be either the laser head or the power supply, but I cannot get any help from support (I’ve emailed them twice this week.
I wonder if it could be a problem on their end.
Check out the support site:
This should point you to the “print isn’t marking material” help page for your model.
Given that Glowforge just went through a restructuring a month ago and the organization has downsized, I wonder what support will be like moving forward. I wish there was someone on this forum with the expertise to help me get to the root cause of the issue before sending the whole thing back to Glowforge. For example, it would be a lot easier to ship a replacement power supply to me so I could install it myself VS sending the whole unit round trip to Seattle.
I wouldn’t count on it getting better. It was never their strong suit and “get a refurb" was kind of a default solution for anything that couldn’t be quickly resolved (like wifi connection/setup). User replaceable parts like the lid cable were often followed by “that didn’t work, so get a refurb" because it seemed they were mostly following a script and not actually knowing a part would resolve a problem.
The downsizing and financial hurdles aren’t likely to allow them the resources to fix the support issues. It looks like they’re also affecting the company’s ability to offer reasonably priced refurbs so a discount on a new one is the best they can do. For real repairs Wiregrass seems to be the best option. If that doesn’t work, there’s always the new xTool option.
Can you say more about the wire grass repair option?
Wiregrass Technology is located in Alabama and has the resources to repair Glowforges. Their prices are reasonable and they do good work. I highly recommend them.
They also fix just what’s broken. If it’s a $20 part they don’t make you buy a whole machine. Even when GF did repairs, they used some kind of cryptic assembly model. They’d charge you for an “assembly" of parts without providing details and (as far as I recall) never less than 4 figures.
Just sent my laser to Wiregrass. It was not the HV cable, so I now suspect it was a power surge from several PG&E blackouts due to storms even though the unit was not on, just plugged in. I now have a surge protector in line! Cheap insurance…
Indeed. Take a look at a UPS as well. That will keep any power blips from freaking out the GF and also provide protection against surges & spikes. More cheap insurance. BTW, surge protectors should be replaced regularly because once they filter a surge they start to degrade and unless you get one with a warning light that tells you it’s done that you can’t tell when it’s no longer providing protection.