I used my Glowforge heavily today to try and catch up on orders after being out of town. In the middle of a job, I got the “Lid Open” issue that seems to be so common. I did some searching and figured it would be a cable replacement again (I also had the permanent scanning issue). My unit was already in the process of being replaced due to the lid being kind of warped and not closing all the way (maybe by an 1/8th inch). I had been told this was normal and only after seeing a mutual friends unit running did I realize I’d been misadvised which was annoying but understandable.
I was totally shocked tonight though when the Glowfoge made a sticking/ripping noise followed by a clunk and the glass of my lid totally disconnected from the piece below which was now only being held on by the connected cables. Is this a common issue too?
The product video/advertisement was super misleading, my unit arrived without a power cable, it was down due to the permanent scanning cable replacement issue, turns out it was defective all along and the 1/8" opening was not normal even though I had been told that previously, then the lid open issue and now the glass is totally disconnected! I am really concerned that I’ll be getting a refurbished unit and my warranty is almost over. Is there any assurance that the refurbished unit will work properly and if so for how long?
This is not the quality or customer service I expect from a company selling a $4000 product and I am worried the next time a known issue happens I will be on my own.
Ouch! I can assure you that many of us, myself included, have had our Glowforges since the beginning and have had no problems or quality issues. Not trying to minimize your experience, just state my opinion that the product itself is not the problem, you just got unlucky with that one. I’m sure they’ll replace it and address your concerns.
That’s really good to know! I am talking to a guy on Facebook who had the glass detach twice and had 2 replacements so I thought this may be another known issue. I may very well have just gotten a lemon though.
That would be the second time the issue has come up here even for the hundreds of times for all issues out of thousands sold. Of course many get solved without coming here, but the record seems pretty good. Do all the testing you want and then sell a few tens of thousands and you will find all the possible problems that never showed up for testing.
Of course I do understand that. I’m just concerned given my personal experience about why to expect from a refurbished unit and don’t have an understanding of how the warranty works yet.
I am waiting to hear back from support about all 3 of the current issues. I was hoping someone here may have more information. Or that someone from support would be monitoring it.
FYI, contacting support via email and then also opening a P&S thread will actually slow down their response because they have to find/review/close duplicate requests before they can respond, and if you started in email they will always defer to email and close this thread.
If you have to replace you will get a refurbished machine, but they are tested and it will be good as new (my replacement even had better camera focus out of the box which was a nice surprise). Be aware that, like with the original shipping, sometimes the replacement is out before you get a response from staff saying it is - so if you deleted the Fedex/UPS notifications after your last delivery you’ll want to set those back up again.
The glass does seem to be a rare issue, but a totally frustrating one since it requires a return. One person on here was out of warranty so fixed it themselves, but as long as you’re under warranty they’ll take care of it for you.
Also, both my machines have about an 1/8" variation on the door - with no issues. Great that your friend’s didn’t, but definitely not a show stopper
I’m so sorry for the trouble. I see that you already emailed us about this, and you should have just received a response. I’m going to close this thread so we can keep working on it there. Thank you to everyone who offered help and advice in this thread!
