I wanted to share pics of my fan. I was hearing a loud vibrating noise upon start up and end of each print. So I searched the forum and of course found tons of useful info from the smartest community on the planet 
I have to say I am disappointed there is not an easier way to get to this fan and clean it. It really needs to be fixed. And the fourth screw almost made me start drinking. But I did it! And I wanted to thank you guys for your support, knowledge, and willingness to help. This forum is one place that restores my faith in humanity 
18 Likes
Any after pics with the offending grime awaiting disposal and the fan clean?
2 Likes
Great job on that, if you managed to get it out and back in!
2 Likes
That 4th screw is the worst!
3 Likes
I had to stick my cell phone in there to be able to see what was happening. I can’t believe i didn’t think of it sooner!!
1 Like
Thank you! I’m not putting it back though, I’m just going to leave it out and use an infinity fan 
7 Likes
Not even going to try. I am leaving it out and going strictly ac infinity fan. I figure I can get to and clean it as much as I want from the outside that way. This gunk is like cement, I wouldn’t even want to try.
4 Likes
I’m guessing that is the exhaust fan. As you say, pretty gunky! You must have a Basic. In a Pro it’s pretty near impossible to remove if rumor is correct.
4 Likes
Correct. And yes, I’ve heard the same, that in the pro it is impossible to remove. Which makes me even more angry for pro users. Why would you not make a way to easily get to it? I’m looking at omtech and they have easy fold down panels to access everything. Im sure it has to do with regulations but come on.
3 Likes
There’s also a number of people who, once the warranty was up, cut out the steel grill also.
2 Likes
When you give this advice, please also include the fact that it may prevent the owner from being able to have their out-of-warranty machine repaired at a future date, so they can make an informed decision about making modifications.
3 Likes
I would have thought that sufficient but, different people think different I guess.
2 Likes
I want to cut the grate out too, but I’m going to resist for now. It is just a trap for soot and filth. One day I will get bored and bust out my dremel tool and go to town. My husband loves when I get bored and do stuff like that /s
2 Likes
Hi there. I’m going to go ahead and move this to the Beyond the Manual section of the Community so we can leave this thread open for further member discussions.
@onefunkyfarmhouse based on your initial post, i wasn’t able to discern any lingering trouble with printing or mention of air assist fan errors, however if that is the case, feel free to write us at support@glowforge.com and we’ll be more than happy to help out. Thank you.
2 Likes
You’re blowing past the critical bit: it might prevent any repairs, not just warranty coverage. Glowforge may refuse to work on your machine if you’ve modified the case.
It really does need that qualifier, because it can have serious repercussions down the line.
3 Likes
Thanks Brandon! Question? Hypothetically speaking , if someone were to remove the grate in the back of the unit, would that prevent glowforge from EVER working on your unit? I am speaking as if the unit were out of warranty. Thank you!
They have set up their processes for working on modified units here:
5 Likes
Thank you for that information! I can’t imagine if I fork over the money to ship it across the country and pay for a repair, that an additional cost to put the grate back in will be that much? I kind of feel like all these lasers are a roll of the dice. You kind of have to learn how to repair/ replace certain things yourself and take very good care of them. Otherwise it will cost more than it is worth to repair.
Unfortunately, probably a lot more than you suspect…the grate is actually physically a part of the case. (At least on the model that I have.) That means a new case, and it’s not an inexpensive part of the machine.
The decision on whether to modify it by cutting out the grate was pretty easy for me…how many hundreds of dollars is it worth of my time to have to clean the grate once every few months for 10 minutes or so? (Decided it wasn’t worth the risk of having to send the machine in for something else down the road…eventually the tube will go out, although it’s been four years now of hobby level use, and it’s still fine. And so is the fan, even if it is a bit more labor intensive to clean it. It’s a Pro model.)
But yeah, it’s always a good idea to understand your machines. Maintain them and they last a loooong time. 
4 Likes
Depending on when you bought your unit they made a big improvement in the grate. The old ones look like a honeycomb, ad the new ones are spiral, that are much less restrictive for most cases.
Fdit: the old ones I have known were aluminum ,so not the case plastic but I have no experience with others.
1 Like