Last week, my GF stopped firing its laser during cutting, and now the laser will not fire. The printer head moves normally, but the laser is just not firing.
I did contact customer support, and they told me to run the “Gift of Good Measure Keychain.” Here’s what happened while running it on full power:
The laser is still not firing, but the printer head is moving normally.
There are no sparks or glowing light near the laser tube.
The lenses were cleaned before running the test.
They said that no problems appear in the logs of the glow forge.
They said that its probably the laser tube, but the laser did not gradually give out like most would say. They said that my only option was to replace it with a refurbished model for $1600. Before doing this though I just want to find alterative ways to repair the glow forge.
I did inspect the red wire from both around the laser tube and near the power supply, but I think it’s fine? I couldn’t fined any burn marks or holes. It was really dusty and gray in some places but that is it. I could be missing something though with that, but I was really hoping it was that so I could just do a simple splice. The machine is REALLY dusty on the sides from all the acrylic cuts I have been running, so idk if its that. i’m just worried it might be the power supply, and, if it is, what do I do?
Also, if there is anyone near Atlanta, GA that wants to take a look at it, let me know cause I am stumped.
Sounds like it’s probably the power supply - that whole moving but not firing thing :-/ There is a company now doing sanctioned repairs - but the likelihood that it’ll run you more than the refurb isn’t small. OTOH, the refurbs are fully tested and come with a short guarantee so they’re often better than your old machine (plus they’re clean!)
Lol yeah. if that’s the case, I might see about getting a refurbished one. I am not daring enough to try to fix the power supply myself. If anybody got any ideas, still let me know. I’m still slowly processing that I need to get a new machine.
This is 99.9% the red wire. If you join Friendliest Glowforge Group on Facebook, we have techs who can walk you through the diagnosis process and sell a splicing kit to fix it. Or, we have a tech who is a certified Glowforge repair shop and you can send it to him to fix for you. The refurb route is not a bad deal if the laser is a few years old.
Hi! Thank you so much for your suggestion.
What if I don’t see any burn marks on the red wire? I bought a splicing kit because I thought that was the case, but when I opened my machine, I didn’t see anything wrong. I was scared to remove or cut anything since it would void the machine.
The red wire must be pulled all the way out to see the hole and sometimes it’s a pinhole. If you’re still under warranty, just stop where you are and send it in. If not, there are videos online how to inspect the red wire. The Friendliest Glowforge Group on Facebook just posted information about how to diagnose and inspect the wire.