Print button flashes; no response to my pushing it

Community Support
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Glowforge Plus. Been using it in the same configuration with zero problems for months. Nothing has changed. WiFi confirmed to be good. Same type of material. Pulled power and reconnected. Restarted browser. I saw the glowforge calibrating after I pulled the power and turned it on. Ventilation is excellent; not the problem.

I’m trying to print a very simple design on medium clear acrylic. My Glowforge “app” (Chrome tab on my Mac) seems perfectly happy; no odd messages whatsoever. When I print, all is well, and when I go to the Glowforge the print button is happily flashing white. I press the button and NOTHING happens, as if I didn’t push the button.

Yes, I can feel the button press, it’s not stuck, etc. It’s just not starting the job.

Before this started to happen the same job started to print: the head moved into position, but then it stopped and would not continue. It didn’t laser at all; it just moved into place and stopped. I power cycled the glowforge and my browser tab. Now I get the behavior noted above.

Any thoughts to why it’s not proceeding to print? My design is simple, and I’m doing what I’ve been doing for months with no changes. My optics are clean as well.

Thanks bunches!

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Could be a wiring issue at the button. There’ve been a few that have come undone.

Could be a short/burnt anything on the control board.

It sounds like something shorted. But we’re just customers like you.

Support@glowforge.com for the company or click the Support up top for the form page. Keep an eye out for an automated response pretty quick(spam and junk folders too). And then buckle in for a day or two(and it’s also the weekend now).

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Try repeating the wifi setup - not that I believe wifi is the issue, but it will help confirm that the button has failed.

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What you mentioned is what it does when doing a focus change (if you have it setup for a defocus).
No idea if or why, just mentioning what else mimics that action.
Make sure the focus laser eye is clean on bottom of print head? Dunno.

Give a time and date stamp for support, if available, to make it easier to locate the log for the failed attempt.
Let us know what is found when this is all corrected.

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Interesting… Where / how would I access the log files? I wasn’t aware. I’ll check on the bottom of the print head as well, though I clean the optics with some regularity. Still a good idea

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Today I’m getting a purple light on the button when I turn it on. After that the button light and print head movement behavior seems normal, but it still won’t print when I press the button. WiFi is working since my browser shows material selection when I swap materials out. I also changed the design, material, and rebooted multiple times on both sides with no improvement.

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Also, when I press the button to reset the WiFi nothing happens. I read that it’s supposed to turn teal after holding it down for 20-30 seconds. Nothing.

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Definitely sounds like the button has failed.

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Yeah… Waiting for Glowforge to respond to my message.

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I’m re-summarizing the problem since it was a bit piecemeal above:

I ran a small job on acrylic. After starting the head positioned itself but failed to proceed with the etch / cut. I power-cycled the Glowforge since it wouldn’t continue after continuing to wait, even after a pause / restart via the ‘Start’ button.

After that, the Glowforge exhibits the following behavior:

At power-up, the ‘Start’ button glows purple for a short while (a few seconds). After that the light goes off.

When I submit jobs via the browser (Chrome browser on my Macintosh), the Glowforge goes through the regular steps: material identification, focusing, centering, etc. (though perhaps not in that order; I don’t remember). Thus I believe the WiFi connection on the Glowforge is fine. If I open the lid and switch materials the Glowforge reports that change on the browser screen.

When I attempt to laser, however, nothing happens. I submit the request via the browser, the ‘Start’ button on the Glowforge flashes white per usual, but when I press ‘Start’ nothing happens: no movement, laser activity, etc. Absolutely nothing at all. The browser continues to show a regular scenario: it’s waiting for me to press the ‘Start’ button.

If I hold the ‘Start’ button for 20 seconds or more (to reset WiFi, as I read), nothing happens. The button does not turn teal, and the browser hasn’t lost connectivity to the Glowforge.

A power-cycle of the Glowforge (both via the power button and pulling / replacing the cord) results in the Glowforge going through the regular motions of head placement. After that everything seems fine, until I try to press the ‘Start’ button after submitting a job (see above).

From what I can tell the ‘Start’ button is simply dead. It lights appropriately, but pressing the button has no effect. It doesn’t feel stuck / sticky. It depresses per normal.

Details on my unit: Glowforge Plus. Been using it in the same configuration with zero problems for months. WiFi confirmed to be good. Pulled power and reconnected. Restarted browser. Ventilation is excellent.

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Just to close this out. Glowforge acknowledged significant issues with my unit since the ‘start’ button wouldn’t allow for wifi reset, log collection, a factory reset, etc., but since we couldn’t use the ‘start’ button go collect log files we were left with no other option but to ship the unit.

Unfortunately Glowforge doesn’t currently offer repair. So since I’m out of Warranty, my only option was to purchase a refurbished PLUS for $1500. This required sending back my old unit, but Glowforge did cover all shipping.

My refurbished unit is working perfectly, so I guess it’s time to move on…

Bummer I didn’t get more of a reply here on the community. I was really hoping for more thoughts on what could have been wrong, but I understand that’s not really possible without log files.

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The button had failed. It’s not something you can repair.

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It wasn’t the button. It wouldn’t start printing but it wasn’t because of the button…

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