I am having a real problem with my machine! Normally my machine is completely silent and all I can hear is my extraction units fans in the background. However, recently, my machine has been making noises that sound very much like screeching and grinding as well as struggling to cut the thinnest of materials. Here are some videos for you to hear what I am talking about.
Is this a normal âexpectedâ noise @dan ? Its the very shaky screeching ear hurting noises I am talking about, the rest of the normal motor noises I know are completely normal.
I contacted customer service and went through it all with them. They suspected something was in the fan unbalancing it so I explained that I donât use the extract fan as I have an extraction unit (I donât have windows in my studio so I have to) and my air assist fan is cleaned regularly (along with the rest of the machine) so it looks like this pretty much most of the time:
I then waited to hear back from Glowforge and after 5 days of waiting to hear back, they tell me that âthe sound your hearing is expected. Iâm sorry theyâre so loud, but they shouldnât impact print performance.â
However, I can assure you my machine has never made these noises as it was normally extremely silent. Yes of course, you have the normal motor working noises but now, it is making these loud screeching almost grinding noises and I am being told that is âexpectedâ I definitely donât think I should be expecting this or accepting this answer, I paid nearly $6000 for a Pro (as I am sure many of you have) and its not even a year old yet. Maybe after a few years of use but not when the machine isnât even a year old. What do you think I should do? Is there anyone else who has had this issue? Does anyone know how to resolve these noises?
Sounds normal except for the rattling at a particular frequency. That is induced by the stepper motor, nothing to be concerned about. Next time you clean it, just look carefully for a loose screw/bolt on the gantry.
Posting here opened another support ticket, so as youâre already working with them via email, they will close this and continue to work via email - not that thereâs much else to work on.
Thanks. I know most of the noises are normal but the rattling noise isnât. So would the loose screw or bolt be causing this rattling sound? I clean pretty frequently so if I know what I am looking for that would be awesome.
I am finding it concerning as I donât want to break anything (live in the UK and had 4 replacements at the start so would be an extreme headache to get it fixed) and its an absolute ear sore because I can hear these sounds from outside my studio. Normally I canât hear my machine at all so I donât really want it to continue either. Any help in this way will be greatly appreciated!
Best I can suggest is to try snugging up any screws that are accessible, particularly any related to the metal shielding. Iâm not sure where that big plate across the top is attached, but I suspect from underneath the gantry.
Okay, thanks for the advice! I will have a look and see if anything has come loose. I canât even cut 1/8 inch material like birch ply etc just now without extremely slow settings or a double pass so it is really frustrating, especially with the noise. I will have a look around see, thanks
The sound in the left side video is normal. The sound in the cutting video sounds like a fan blade hitting its housing. I would clean the air assist fan and if that doesnât resolve it I would replace the fan.
Re fan blade: Even though using an in-line or extraction unit, the stock exhaust fan will also free spin (if turned off in UI). If it is contaminated enough, it might be just hitting the rpm needed to start reverberating, like an out of balance tire.
I appreciate you providing all of these great details, and for reviewing some of the advice the community has posted. I see that youâve also responded directly via email, and Iâd like to make sure we are keeping your information in one place, so Iâll close this thread, and continue following up via email.
Normally my machine is completely silent and all I can hear is my extraction units fans in the background. However, recently, my machine has been making noises that sound very much like screeching and grinding as well as struggling to cut the thinnest of materials. Here are some videos for you to hear what I am talking about.
