Misengraves and bad cut + score lines after cleaning the air assist fan

Problems and Support
#1

I cleaned my air assist fan for the first time today because the laser wouldn’t start due to the error.

After following the instructions (https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034142513-Cleaning-Your-Air-Assist-Fan) the laser was running again but with serious engraving issues.

The engravings in my design have a double image like the engraving is misaligned. Also the score and cut lines are no longer straight clean paths, now they are warped and not accurate to the artwork.
You can see these issues in this test cut here:

photo_2021-01-26_22-12-17
photo_2021-01-26_22-12-171275×1280 182 KB

I took the liberty of going back and taking off the belt and trying to tighten it more, clean all the various parts and put things back together. I did another test with some improvement, but these serious flaws still present.

I am hoping for some advice or insight into the best course of action in how to fix this issue.

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#2

A couple things to check - make sure the belt is on correctly - a lot of folks end up putting it on backwards. Also check the wheels, if one of them has a crack you can get poor traction.

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#3

The double image effect may be a sign that your carriage plate belt is loose. It’ll slip as the print head changes directions between each pass, resulting in what looks like two copies of the engrave slightly offset from each other. Here’s a guide to checking and adjusting the tension on that belt if that’s the issue:

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#4

I’m so sorry to hear about the unexpected printed results.

@deirdrebeth and @dan84 are right! Could you try adjusting your belt tension by following these steps and let us know how it goes?

#5

Happy to report that another try at adjusting the belt tension by really focusing on getting the pulley as far right as possible seems to have fixed the issue!

For anyone else who has this problem- for me the first few times I was pushing the pulley over it seemed like it had been pushed as far to the right as possible but you really have to finagle it and pay special attention to getting it as far over as possible.

Thanks for the support and advice everyone.

4 Likes
#6

@crimson_flygon I’m glad you resolved it! I’m going to close this thread now. If you run into any other trouble, please start a new topic, or email us at support@glowforge.com. We’re here to help!

#7