Not cutting all the way through material anymore

I have been having an issue lately where my isn’t cutting all the way through material anymore. I have tried to problem solve but it has brought up another issue. My laser will no longer allow me to “set focus” it says the following error. Please help!



Example: I tried to do the gift for good measure cut on proofgrade material and it still didn’t cut through. Images attached.

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re running into trouble. I’ve extracted the log files from your Glowforge to review your most recent prints, and it appears your unit is experiencing trouble detecting the height of the material inside of your bed. This may be contributing to the cut through trouble you’ve been experiencing.

There are two key connections I’d like you to check for me.

Could you please do the following?

  1. Turn off your Glowforge.
  2. Holding only the finished black surfaces, grasp the printer head as shown. Pull gently up and back to disengage the magnets and remove the head.
  3. There is a small tab in the center of the wire ribbon. Push down fully on the tab to release it, and gently pull the wire ribbon plug from the printer head.
  4. Take a clear photo of the gold pins inside the printer head where you just unplugged the wire ribbon. It should look like this.
  5. Pick up the printer head and wire ribbon. Make sure the tab on the wire ribbon is facing up. Slide the ribbon back into the head until it clicks.
  6. As shown, lower the printer head over the metal plate so that it rests next to the two round posts. Then push it gently away from you – you’ll feel a “click” as magnets pull the printer head until it sits snugly atop the metal plate.
  7. Pull the laser arm all the way forward.
  8. Reach over the laser arm, and to the left of the inside of the unit and you’ll see this circuit board:
  9. Take a photo of this board.
  10. Turn your Glowforge back on.
  11. Send us the photos you took in step 4 and step 9.

Once we can review these photos, we’ll send over the next best steps.

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Saw how gross it looked so I tried to clean it a bit- here’s another picture of the board.

Thank you for providing us with detailed photos. Unfortunately, it looks like your unit is experiencing an issue that we can’t resolve remotely. I want you to have a reliable unit, so I’m recommending that this one be repaired. I’ll be in touch via email to sort out the details. I’m so sorry about the bad news.