I purchased a GF Plus a few weeks ago in no small part to get to the 45W laser. At the time of purchase, the GF website showed that the Plus model had a 45W watt laser, and that’s what I expected to receive. Now I see from the October update from GF on this message board that the Plus models are now shipping with 40 watt lasers, and the information on the website has been updated showing the same. Since I received my GF in October, I may have received a 40W laser.
Is there any way to tell from inspection whether I have the 40W or 45W laser?
I asked the same question and this is Dan’s Reply. If you head to the discussion of the October update, there is a little info about the change and a few responses from Dan.
“Probably the simplest way is to look at the Proofgrade settings. Open a design with a cutline, choose Medium Draftboard, and next to Proofgrade Cut click the arrow. If it says 183 speed, it’s a 45 watt tube. If it says 168, it’s a 40 watt tube.”
Unlikely, but it might be a mismatch on what they have “in the system” so it sends down Basic settings. An email (or new post in P&S) asking for them to check would rectify it.
It wouldn’t be the first time the settings have not matched the machine someone had.
The other reason i asked, is because i had a door hinge problem, and they replaced mine original one with a new one. The original one never had to stop to cool off, and this one seems to have to do it all of the time.
Beyond the tube the Pro should have the two slots (front & back) for the pass-through, a “staple” in the back near the on/off switch that’s used to pull the power if wired to a door opening system and a Peltier heat exchanger in the left rear corner by the fan. Should be easy to verify the returned machine was a Pro.
Yes, it has all other indicators to be a Pro unit, but with my cooling issues, i was curious to know, if there was a way to know for sure that my unit had a 45 watt tube in it. When i ran the check that Dan stated to used to see which model tube you have, based on that test i have a 40 watt tube in a pro model.
That’s something Support can check but it’s not likely since the rest of the machine is Pro - it’d be hard for someone to install the physically different tube and not notice it. The problems you’re having with cooling are something Support needs to work with you on though. I’ve got a Pro and haven’t had any issues in a couple of years.
The settings Dan mentioned as a “quick check” of your tube may be the result of bad data on GF’s side - where they don’t have you setup as a Pro (although the software really should be able to tell what capabilities the machine you’re using has ). It’s possible they’ve got something mixed up on their end.
My replacement machine had 40-watt settings, for some reason. I didn’t even notice for months - but, I never cut Proofgrade… either way, they made a switch on their end, and it worked fine with the Pro speed/power settings on PG.
Thank you for the answers, everyone! @MakerB I’ve just checked, and your Glowforge Plus was built with the more powerful 45-watt laser tube. If you were to order today, you would receive a Glowforge Plus with a 40-watt laser tube.
I’m going to close this thread for now, but if you have other questions, feel free to post a new topic or email us at support@glowforge.com.
). It’s possible they’ve got something mixed up on their end.
Hate it when it happens.