You’re kidding, right?
Able? Yes. Will they? There’s a better chance that monkeys will fly out of my butt.
2 Likes
Like I said, I have bought schematics before for repairing something.
It stands to reason that I might want to know if someday down the line, GF may offer the schematics for technicians and troubleshooting. I do not think they are going to have a one stop GF repair shop in every town.
ANY tech worth their salt is not going to delve into something without at LEAST having a clue or at least asking if they can have a copy of the schematics, which YOU pay for out of pocket, and give to the tech with your machinery so they can figure out what is wrong and repair it.
Yes, that is what someone who is technically inclined in the ways of such things would request/require. Come repair time, if you don’t know WHO you can trust to open up that forge, well, there are a lot of people who might be able to help, but they TOO will be asking for a schematic, a clue to what they are going to undertake. If you give it to someone who never even HEARD of a glowforge, you have no
schematic, and they say they can/will do it, well…as Booker DeWitt would say Good luck with that
I am trying to be a realist. It is gonna get costly if people have to send in for repairs, and that is just the shipping alone 
The schematics would not be cheap.
but they wouldn’t be ridiculously priced either, otherwise, someone might feel compelled to just once try recouping some $ by sharing with a neighbor lol
No harm in at least asking.
Maybe it is something they will consider down the road.
I am not very technical, but it occurred to me that the most delicate part of this unit has a life of approx 2K hours. That piece was shipped, installed in the device. This is not going to be like changing out a light bulb on a DLP television. (otherwise, it would have been in it’s own concrete box )
I’m just saying.
You’re right, there’s pretty-much no harm in asking. And I agree that it would benefit us customers if they were willing to release the schematics.
It would just be so out of character for the company that refuses to clarify what setting the power to “100” actually means, and refuses to disclose the revision number of their software, to then release virtual blueprints of their main product.
2 Likes
Oh I don’t expect them to be available today, I just meant down the road. Like after the end of the warranty, we could have the option to pay for a set of schematics so that we could be able to troubleshoot problems.
A tech can’t just open up a forge and read a board. Boards are anonymous, the schematics that detail what does what is required to do a repair.
I can’t imagine when these stop working, they are going to wait for us to line up the shelves with repairs 
They may decide to make schematics available in the future. We won’t be the first humans to see them.
They are useless but to technicians who can use them to troubleshoot. ( well, I don’t know that for sure but I am just saying in general ) Your repair will only be as good as your tech can be. They aren’t going to pay for the schematics, that is on you.
@dan have they discussed this for an option in the future possibly?
Thanks for posting this and letting us know your concerns. I appreciate your honest feedback.
1 & 2. We are doing our best to address these issues at the source.
3. The lid fit variation is one that we’ve been seeing on these first machines - it won’t affect operation in any way.
4. Like @Jules said, in the unlikely case that you need to use the box for a warranty issue, please tape up the box and let us know.
4 Likes
You have to take it with a grain of salt. Engineers and line workers like to throw barbs and blame at each other any chance they get. At the end of the day though, when the assembly line has a non-conformance issue and accepts root cause, the solution is still usually traced back to engineering whether it’s a design change to simplify, or build tooling/fixturing to ease assembly, or provide the proper training and procedures.
4 Likes
Wow, did I let the unicorn out?
I have a legitimate concern here, I am surprised the great minds of this place are not engaging in this conversation, they have nothing to say or maybe no one cares if their forge turns into a paperweight at some point, when you will be scratching your head and scrambling on what you need to do or where you need to go.
Or do you already know what you will do?
Maybe you have so much money, you don’t care that it would cost a lot to send it and repair it through GF because you are rich like that and don’t concern yourself with such minutia, then you can keep scrolling.
I have had this on my mind for some time, but I was not going to ask until the warranty was close to ending. For me, asking for the schematics of the board or general repair and for troubleshooting, and identifying different parts of the unit is not like asking for the full blueprints of the GF itself. It is only when I took a good look at my forge and saw how the tube was installed, it occurred to me, that this does not look like plug and play. I hope I am wrong.
Instead of waiting until my warranty almost ends to asking now and planning for the future
Some people prefer to not concern themselves with these things, they may continue to stick their heads in the sand, I want to know what I am going to do ahead of time in case something happens to my forge, after the warranty ends, when it comes time to change the tube,or any other maintenance other than keeping it clean and maintaining the lens.
Will we be able to have instructions for a local technician to install a replacement tube or are GF going to insist we send it to them and pay a lot for it.
What will our options be.
As silly as I am, I am also a realist, and after seeing my pretty forge, I need to know NOW what I will need to do if/when something happens at the end of the warranty.
Put in an 7 year stretch at Beech Aircraft back in the early 70’s. I admit that this was the ONLY place I ever worked where engineers and assembly (or mechanic types) were not at each other’s throat playing the blame game when things went south.
When a problem arose, there were almost too many people looking and pondering the fastest/best way past it. Never saw any fingers pointed there, just a ‘make it right’ mentality.
Perk of being involved in a family run enterprise I imagine.
Disclaimer: I was in tooling so I have to admit that we were in between the engineers and assembly people and were always bouncing between the areas. One group thought stuff up an we gave them jigs to make it real. The other group 'hammered to fit” and we gave them blinking lights and fancy toggles to make sure the items were not hammered to destruction. (Hammer To Fit was a running joke. They actually had superior quality control)
7 Likes
The reality is that at this point in time GF has not published ANY details of the design. Won’t speak for anyone else but just because I might want it doesn’t mean it’s worth my time to fight for it. There is a possibility when or if they decide to allow 3rd party support. Feel free to try.
That ship sailed as soon as you accepted delivery. You “want” to know for the future.
4 Likes
Now THAT is fantastic advice. 
3 Likes
I think some are not realizing the difference of mechanical specs and design specs. Design specs is something no company would share like the PCBA itself or the head. But if those were replaceable then mechanical specs would help properly remove and put in a new one.
I wouldn’t share any specs now as you already see competitors trying to get into the same market. I would share specific parts later when people asks after the warranty runs out.
3 Likes
I thought I read somewhere in one of the monthly announcement that there would be a way for us to replace the tubes ourselves. (I’ll look for it). They have to provide some instruction on that.
2 Likes
Someone should release a file to print your own handles.
3 Likes
You’re right, Dan confirmed tubes could be shipped for replacement as an option to sending the machine back for a new tube.
Bunch of technically capable makers here that could manage that and would prefer to tackle the task instead of risking the machine in another round of UPS abuse.
After it was announced that the machine would have to be sent back for tube replacement, the forum erupted in objection. It was a perfect example of the company listening to and responding to customer preference.
I personally dislike the though of shipping the laser back for that service, but - two way shipping, tube replacement and alignment with warranty on parts and workmanship for around $500 sounds very reasonable for those who wouldn’t want to tackle it themselves.
5 Likes
This will definitely be ‘me’. And approx. two years out gives me ample time to stash away the necessary dough for that time in the future.
2 Likes
What I meant was, I need to know as in to prepare.
Not to be someone special, but you knew I did not mean that.
Voicing a concern now. I see unless you have a friend or know an electrical engineer…people are going to be stuck when the issue is more than a replacement bulb.
Even better if those electricians have forges of their own.
Ok…let’s see if anyone from GF has anything to say about future projections if they have any as far as, yes @cindyhodesigns, you put that so eloquently, thank you.
Sometimes I am a little all over the place
shrug
Yeah, the only thing I can suggest is ask the question directly in it’s own Topic. Not all that optimistic though.
BTW: I didn’t know you did not mean that. I don’t read emotions or intent well and the capitalization of the word NOW made me interpret it one way. And there are a lot of entitled people on the forum. Don’t know you personally so could only take the words literally.
3 Likes
I am sure thee are several techs here who will be chomping at the bit to open their forge after the warranty.
Won’t that make for interesting threads.
Yeah, when I get home todnight or tomorrow maybe I will start a thread unless someone answers these.
Context, is EVERYTHING.
And many before.
I fully expect that there will be fairly common issues, and many people will come up with do-it-yourself fixes for them. Happens with most products in the Internet age.
3 Likes
Don’t you have your own now?
Why don’t you open it up for us. There are many of us here who would thank you for it.
You are always asking the pointed questions, here is the perfect chance to lead from the front.
6 Likes