Printer head gets hot

My glowforge will not cut through any materials even after I have it cut twice. I cleaned out my air assist fan and now the printer head gets very hot after I try to cut. Not sure what to do

There is a passthrough area on the bottom of the Air Assist - is that clear too? Often it’ll get impacted with dust and then even when the blades are spinning air isn’t getting through.

You should take photos of the mirror, the lens, and the print head with those removed. It’s possible something has gotten bumped so you’re reflecting the laser into the head instead of through it.

IMG_8376 (1)

Could this be the problem?

That could be an indication that the laser is hitting the interior wall of your head yes.

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How do I go about fixing it?

You’re going to have to wait for a staff member - but in the meantime post pictures of the mirror, the lens, and the interior of your head.

Thank you

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Those are all the windows - which can be helpful - but add these as well:

Mirror:
TUQrdmeTyK9hvqcSUCACbo_UbFLCAywDEYpJrBqAFtGqg_PyYlX2JcddMrozqUFldG3q5dwY2qtbxrWp7f8RkT2VjTqi4a2jtpX9B2ttigcSWTVb_FXHmkFFzlNZfVTZx2L93QLa
Lens:


image
Up into the head:
image





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I don’t see any issues there, so maybe it’ll be as simple as replacing that one window! Fingers crossed. If you’re out of warranty you can order windows from the website, but if you’re still under warranty they’ll send you one free of charge.

In either case, wait for a staff member, because they may see something (or get something out of your logs) that I’m missing.

*Oh, and as for not cutting through - if you by chance have a piece done on proofgrade that you can take photos of the front and back and post those here too - it’s likely a related issue, but that may help as well.

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I’ve only had my glowforge for about 4 months. Thank you for all of your help!

I cleaned my lense but there is still residue that I cannot get out. My machine won’t work because it says I have an air assist fan problem but I have cleaned that too


If you flip the air assist over there’s a chute that can get clogged - make sure that’s clean too.

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If this gest aimed off just a tiny amount…


It could make a mess of the piece above. The first clue would be cutting better on the left side than the right, but hitting the laser head instead of the window would heat up the laser head a lot.

There is a sensor in the head that reads the temp and would shut the cut off while it tried to cool down. if the part under the side of the machine is misaimed it will have to go back to the mothership to be adjusted as it is not user-adjustable, and support will be along to help you deal with that.

Hi @ terderrick

My name is Mercedes and I’m part of the Technical team here at Glowforge. I’m going to actually send you an email and get you back up and running through email tickets if that’s alright with you. Some of the information I’ll need to get the parts that you need to you is sensitive information! :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m going to go ahead and close this forum post now. If you have any other questions or need help with anything else feel free to send a message our way by either creating an email ticket or a new forum post!

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