Non-Pro Performance in warmer climates

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

Yes there are different numbers all over the place and it seems very late for GF to be changing these. We were told they were doing environmental lab tests ages ago but now seem to be doing it live in the field.

I don’t have air con so in a north facing room in the UK I would be able to use the pro for most of the year but not on a few very hot days without reducing its life, or perhaps not. It depends if you believe Dan or the manual.

I am glad I didn’t order a basic because 72F isn’t an extreme temperature at all. Standard lab temperature is 25C of course.

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Oddly enough, 72F/22C would be considered an extreme temperature where I live. It never gets that cold here.

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Probably a misreading on my part from this posting. I applied 2nd active chiller to mean a 2nd Peltier.

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Thanks for that correction! I’d thought the external temp could impact the tube life, but it looks like the system in the Glowforge will pause to cool it off to keep it going for it’s longest possible life, no matter what the external temp is! Awesome feature! :grinning:

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@dan, you and your Support engineer are possibly disagreeing on this point…

There’s a difference between performance and tube life…a distinction I also missed at first. relaxed

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And the manual that states it does affect the life of the machine, which I presume is mainly the tube as a few degrees won’t affect the mechanics or the electronics much.

This brings me back to my original point. While it’s great that the machine can (probably) run at normal human temperatures, I would really like to know exactly what that “performance” difference is. If that means it’s just slower, whatever. If that means the items I’m printing are going to be poorer quality, I need to know now so I can cancel my order.

So far according to GF it’s just slower (net time) because there’s potential for more cooldown periods.

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There is certainly a difference. I didn’t miss it. That’s why I said “possibly.” So, to me, there’s ambiguity in all of this that requires clarification. Nobody should be forced to guess “Well maybe it means there will be a performance hit, but not affect the life of the tube. Or maybe it will affect the life of the tube, which will affect performance. Or maybe… or maybe…”

The manual says :“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 defines usage below 60F or above 75F /81F as extreme.

So that unambiguously says the life will be longer if you operate it inside that small range, which requires heating in the winter and AC in the summer in even a temperate climate.

Right. The manual from the company says that. Then the CEO of the same company says “Ambient temperature doesn’t affect tube life.” Neither of those statements alone are ambiguous. However, when reconciled…

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Yep, can’t both be true. And the manual was changed to V2.1 only recently. And the update mentions 72C, so who knows?

Very late to be specifying these things. It should have been long before production started.

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TBH, I don’t even care for myself. I keep my house at relatively the same temperature year-round (+/- 10 degrees F). And although I still want to know what’s correct, I worry about my fellow owners who may fluctuate far more than I.

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+/-10F isn’t within the spec for the basic. There is only a 15F range, 60 - 75.

True enough. I stay 57ºF - 77ºF. I only drop to 57ºF when we’re not home in the winter. And in the summer, the rest of the house might get warmer, but I’ve come to habitually turn on the A/C in the Glowroom at the same time I turn on the 'forge.

So much for integral cooling if you need an AC unit.

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