Print stopped unable to complete material thickness

ok back again with more issues. I received a refurbished machine after having my original gf for only a month. The refurbished unit has never worked properly and each day gets worse and worse. I have been ruining proofgrade materials left and right and am extremely disappointed. Now ?I get a message stating print stopped unable to print material thickness. I’ve had problems ranging from not cutting through, unfocused camera and blurry screen to nothing wanting to load to this. Please note I have done the following:
The unit has been thoroughly cleaned, I actually have to clean it at least once a day to work.
Nothing is in the crumb grooves
I’ve already calibrated (3 times!)
I’ve completely logged out of my wifi, computer, glowforge, everything and rebooted a few times.
I am using proofgrade materials
I’m really not looking for a solution but what has your experience been with broekn machines? I’ve been down 2 days now. I am not looking for a suggestion on other troubleshooting as I have already exhausted myself. I’d like to know what your experience is with GF replacing broken parts. How long does it take? What is the response time from staff? Is it hard to fix yourself or do they just ship you another refurbished unit.

Need to ask you a couple of questions about the procedure you follow…

  • Do you use the Set Focus tool? (And if so, when? First thing before you input the settings information?)
  • Are you ever using Proofgrade settings on non-proofgrade materials?
  • Is the thickness of the material that you are working with the same as the thickness of the Proofgrade material that you are using for the settings information?

These questions need to be answered in order to know whether it is a machine problem, or a possible process problem. Providing that information will help Support to narrow down the cause. They might also ask for a screen shot of your settings information to help narrow it down.

This is overkill, and might actually be contributing to some of the issues you’re having. Unless you are running it 24/7 on the filthiest of MDF, you should not have to clean it once a day. I clean mine once a quarter.

If the cleaning is necessary that often, you might have a dead air assist fan, or a blocked exhaust. That is something that requires more thorough cleaning than what you are probably hitting with the daily wipe down, but it needs to happen only when you start to see a buildup of smoke in the machine. (Or about once a quarter.)

  • Another question that has to be asked…are you using a Filter? (Either Compact Filter or Glowforge Filter?) Do you ever see smoke seeping out around the lid?

If so, the filter might just need a fresh cartridge.

Those questions have to be probed before support can get you any replacement parts, so if you want to go ahead and answer them now, it will be there for when they see your post.

It tends to take a while, since they first have to determine what the problem is. If you give them enough information up front, it tends to be pretty quick, depending on availability.

They check the forum daily. If you have all the pertinent information available for them, they go to work on it right away when they see it.

Depends on what it is. Some things we can fix, some things require a trip back to the mothership. Most of the little issues can be fixed by us though, so it’s not so bad. (They do have picture instructions.)

  • Do you use the Set Focus tool? (And if so, when? First thing before you input the settings information?) Yes, my camera has been out of focus for 2 days now, I have sent staff pictures of the camera as requested
  • Are you ever using Proofgrade settings on non-proofgrade materials?
    Yes I am using proofgrade
  • Is the thickness of the material that you are working with the same as the thickness of the Proofgrade material that you are using for the settings information?
    Yes, I am using 1/8 clear acrylic and medium draftboard that are both proofgrade

I am only cleaning it this often as it stops working a few times a day and the first suggestion or request I get on the forums and cust service is to try cleaning it.
I’ve been waiting for a response from staff since this morning. I e-mailed as soon as I got up.

Okay, if you are already working with them, they’ve already got the information they need. :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes, I’ve sent information. Still waiting on a reply…

Support doesn’t “check the forum” for replies.

When you create a ticket, either via email or posting here, it goes into a queue to be serviced in-order.

Any replies “update” the ticket, which again puts it into the queue of outstanding issues - that is what drives their response, what they are working from.

So replying here (or to their emails) doesn’t mean someone will get back to you immediately. It just puts it back in the queue of open tickets needing to be addressed in order.

They may or may not separate or prioritize new vs. existing.

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So each time I add something to my ticket I am pushed to the back of the line again? I have been adding to my ticket since Saturday due to new issues popping up with no response.

No, it just means the ticket is not “active” again until you have responded to them. Additional responses won’t slow it down.

If they ask a question, that ‘resets’ it to “pending customer” until you respond, then the cycle resumes.

Great, thank you for the info!

Great news!, GF is sending me a brand new unit.

I’m glad to see that we’ve been able to connect with you via email to sort out the details regarding getting a replacement unit to you! I’m going to close this forum thread, and we’ll continue the conversation with you via email.