I’ve noticed it a couple of times now - particularly with 1/4" MDF, the seal on my glow forges lid isn’t doing anything. While the fan is certainly working and is venting smoke outside - there’s also a lot leaking out the seams of the lid and filling the room with smoke.
Has anyone else experienced this or have a solution short of taping the seams when in operation?
Yes, following this advice from support about cleaning the fan fixed the issue for me…
Good to know - I’ll look into this as a last resort as moving my glowforge outside is… difficult to say the least.
I hear that, I was in the same boat and ended up just biting the bullet and getting it done so I could get back safely printing.
Do NOT tape the seams. The GF works by sucking air in. Adding a in-line fan might help. You may just be overwhelming the interior one
You need to clean the fan. Whether it’s a less significant cleaning of the grate and what you can with a pipe cleaner or similar, or using the spray.
It’s not going to get better on its own.
The smoke is leaking because it has nowhere else to go. The unit normally operates by creating a negative pressure environment - when the fan and grate get blocked up, it’s not able to expel enough air through the exhaust port. That air has to go somewhere, so you’ll see it escaping out of the lid and front door.
You’re not the first, I think that goes to @PrintToLaser. I recall @jbv posting that he cleans his exhaust fan monthly as preventative maintenance.
The exhaust fan grill will eventually face load and restrict airflow to the point that the intake fans will pressurize the interior, and smoke will start being pushed out every crack in the machine. The exhaust fan moves more CFM than the intake fans so as JB said there should be negative pressure in the machine. You can easily clear it by poking the buildup with anything that will fit the holes in the grill, and suck it out with a shopvac from behind. It is essentially ash.
Just as my warranty was about to expire, the exhaust fan developed a hard vibration So I was compelled to remove it thinking the fan was bad. It turned out the fan blades were imbalanced from buildup. While I had the left side of the machine open and the fan out, I decided to remove the fan grill and eliminate the maintenance of cleaning the fan grill. Removing that obstruction also increases airflow.
This is not an official recommendation. You don’t want to do that if you have any warranty left.
We have already followed up with you by email, so I’m going to close this topic.
