Lens Drop & Loud Whiny Noise

Community Support
1

I noticed my :glowforge: made a loud whiny noise while calibrating. I cleaned it since I had done some mess draftboard engraving.

I had noticed when I took the lens out of the head it was not pushed all the way in. I chalked it up to me moving it about or perhaps the bed got bumped by someone not wanting to tell me. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Either way, after cleaning the whiny noise (not like the normal im moving noise) was gone.
It’s been maybe 4 hours of use and the whiny noise is back again. So once again, I thought I guess ill clean it again.

When I went to pull the lens out to wipe it down, I noticed once again it was not nestled all the way in. So I pushed it back in with the tool. It has not fixed the additional whiny noise I am hearing.

It has been much colder in our place, I am unsure if that is a factor into the different sounds I am hearing. But I’d much love to have someone tell me this is normal operation and not to worry.

2

Just FYI: The laser lens clicks in position via a magnet. It moves up and down within the head to focus. You don’t need to push it in place. You are just pushing the focusing motor to the upper most position when you do. Shouldn’t damage anything but your lens was likely in the correct position already.

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3

Didn’t someone have a GF that shipped without a magnet inserted?

Worth checking if there is indeed one in there.

4

As @rpegg said, the lens moves up and down inside the Printer Head, so that’s normal. I’m curious about the sound – is it possible for you to share a short video with us?

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Thank you @Rita. I finally got around to cutting today. The start up had the whine and click click noise but by the time I got my camera it stopped. I did several cuts afterwards with no issue. I think threat of being returned the :glowforge: smarten’ed up. If it happens again, I will video and post a new topic. This can be closed.

Thank you @rpegg for the information on the lens; I was not aware that it did that! :slight_smile:

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I’m glad you resolved it! I’ll go ahead and close this thread, and please do post a new topic if the problem reoccurs. Thanks again for letting us know about this!