Non-Pro Performance in warmer climates

Yeah, it’s been a surprise because the original info never mentioned any real temperature restrictions. And in the ensuing dialogue when it hit a lot of us last month, it looked like there was a huge variation in what people thought were “normal” and acceptable temperatures - I’m an 80F/low-humidity guy as are lots of people in the U.S. Southwest and other (relatively) arid climates vs 75F and high humidity like the PAC NW :slight_smile:

I do expect that active cooling is required above 85F regardless. That’s pretty consistent with all the other lasers I’ve used. Once the laser’s cooling jacket hits that, the CO2 laser just doesn’t play nicely. And without active cooling, it’s hard to see how a laser generating a ton of heat (remember 80% of the power does not end up in the laser beam) can be cooled below ambient air temps that are over 85F.

I’m hoping the Pro comes with some big Peltier coolers. I’ve had my Redsail shutdown when the A/C was out and the chiller (CW 5000) wasn’t able to keep up with really long jobs but it doesn’t (didn’t) happen often.

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on the plus side if you live in a pretty low humidity environment, swamp coolers might actually benefit you…

The manual @Jules linked says keep the temperature below 75F for the basic and 81F for the pro to prolong the life. So although people are saying their basic is running fine above 75F, presumably it is reducing the tube life.

81F for the pro is not very high. It is occasionally warmer than that here in the UK. 75F is a joke as that is normal ideal room temperature.

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I would highly doubt that the Pro come with an external cooling. I’m guessing it will just be a small Peltier unit added to the same system as the basic.

Which is why the Pros operating temp isn’t much higher then the basic.

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I live in San diego near the ocean so it’s a bit cooler here than the rest of SD. My unit has refused to run twice on 80ish degree days. BUT that was before the update, after the update I haven’t seen the overheating warning again.

I hope they didn’t sacrifice too much tube life for running temps, but yeah, no problems so far.

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I believe there was a reference to coolers (versus just a single unit).

The Peltier coolers are going to be internal (cooling the liquid coolant and exchanging the heat across the intake port on the GF :glowforge: )

Since the intake air goes across the crumb tray and out the exhaust, but the coolant cycles through the reservoir and through the glass tube, that will keep the liquid below the approximate 90 Degree (F) operating limit.

@dan references the coolant for temp monitoring
Continuing the discussion from Pro Heat Limits:

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We will see, but what I got from everything so far is there will be some sort of active cooling to the same system that is the basic.

I’ll bet is it will just be a small heat exchange with heat sink and PC style fan on it.

I thought the same thing, but it could be that they were just too conservative initially? I hope that’s the case.

I don’t. But I have it in the basement which is not air conditioned but does have a dehumidifier. Unfortunately adding a/c would be about a $500 proposition. I’ve got a Pro on order so I didn’t want to do that for a short term need.

That’s correct (I’m pretty sure they announced it was a Peltier cooler). But that would also provide a way for us to increase the temp range too if the included Petlier is insufficient, it can be replaced with a bigger, better one :slight_smile:

The Basic has a heat exchanger and the exhaust air replacement (intake) travels through it. That’s the black perforated plate that’s under the Print button.

The Pro has active cooling in the form of a Peltier cooler plumbed into the coolant system. We haven’t seen a Pro so we can’t tell how big it is or where it is located but there’s enough room above the heat exchanger for a pretty robust one.

There is a grill (above the air intake) that does the cooling on the Basic (I don’t know if there is a Peltier under the black grill) that does the cooling.

I think the Peltier would need to be between the hot and the cold side of the heat exchanger where the cooling fluid is cooled by air flowing over a radiator. It has to make the radiator hotter so it can lose more heat to the ambient air and thus the coolant cooler.

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Thank for posting that link @PFI-Guy
Dan has said that they do not know for sure and thus will not say what the heat limits are for the Pro.

This might be frustrating for those who bought Pro’s with the cooling in mind but for us Internationals (who are unlikely to have either a Basic or a Pro for some time) it allows us a chance to see how effective the Pro cooling really is before we commit either way.

FYI - i ordered a Basic but i live in a country where even winters are relatively warm and the summers are down-right stinking hot. So i am quite concerned about the heat limitations on the Basic. However i will not upgrade to a Pro until i know it is significantly better

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And also, The radiator (right of that image) is only half of that enclosure. The electronics is the other half (left)

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Ambient temperature doesn’t affect tube life - the print will pause to cool before reaching a temperature that might damage your machine. We put the safety and longevity of the machine first; the coolant is continuously monitored so it never goes out of specification while the laser is running, no matter how hot out it is.

It’s a single Peltier chilller. (If there is a mistaken reference to multiple chillers per Glowforge unit, please let me know so I can fix it).

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Why does the manual state “To prolong the life of your Glowforge unit and to reduce the risk of fire or mechanical failure, do not put the Glowforge unit where it could experience: Extreme temperature or humidity” and then define 75F / 81F as extreme temperatures ?

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Does the cooling fluid have two heat exchangers then, at opposite corners of the machine?

It must be a small Peltier to only make 6F difference. I have a 62mm one on my desk that claims to be able to give 22C delta with a heat load of 200W. It does need 540W of power to do that though.

Have i missed a post somewhere? Where does the 6F difference come from?

The manual extreme temperature ratings for the basic and pro, 75F and 81F.

Cheers,
So 27C in non-Burmese scale…
Hmm… a little bit better, i could use it most of the year down here without turning on the air-con

Mind you, the basic is now limited to 22C (72F = 1.5C less than the manual says) so it will be interesting to see what the REAL temperature limit for the Pro is