So far no issues. Hope to never have to revisit the repair 
I hate to give people advice on their expensive purchases, but I’ll say the repair I posted in the top of this thread seems to have fixed my issue at least. If you’re under warranty still, I’d maaaybe let Glowforge handle it, but, like me, if you’re not… this worked.
Edit - I can not vouch for E6000. I had been led to believe it is the same as Goop, which I have used extensively for almost 20 years. Apparently, I was misinformed.
VHB tape, or E6000 (also known as “goop”), would be my choice if this happened to me.
Thanks so much for posting all the pix and description and also getting back to me. Just lowering the front and putting material in through that has helped my stress level immensely, so thanks for that great suggestion!
I still haven’t decided which route to go. My warranty ended a couple months ago, but GF will do the repair if I take care of the shipping.
Glad to hear your fix worked out for you!
Thanks @eflyguy. I’ve been debating on the E6000 route. I thought I had a workaround that might be okay by just lifting the lower door and the lid a little and getting my pieces in that way. Especially since I’m doing the bulk of my creative work on the GF, and downtime…Aaargh.
Even though I’m pretty handy at doing things like this, it just doesn’t feel right to be gluing a 6k machine I haven’t used that much (all relative). Seems like a failure that shouldn’t have happened. Especially considering I’m in a super mild climate.
I think I’m going to pull out the packaging I saved and see if I can safely mail back for the pros to do the repair (new lid). Then I feel like the calibration and focus will be okay with a tune up, since right now it’s WAY off.
Sigh…
The previously intact LEFT side of the lid just snapped loose.
Jesus. So annoyed.
I guess I’ll have to try and repeat the same fix I did above on the right side.
REALLY crappy >:(
Greeeeat.
So, since the left side has now snapped loose, the previously fixed RIGHT side (now with more burden on it) is releasing.
So if I lift the lid again from right now, there’s a really good chance that the entire lid is going to come off.
I don’t know what to do now. I live in another country, Mexico, they don’t support… I can’t even almost consider shipping this back to them for a fix (if you knew what it took to get this thing delivered to my house via multiple parties you would die).
I would suggest removing the entire lid and performing your fix on the entire thing. Best I can suggest aside from jumping through hoops to get it back to the mothership. 
And then do a set calibration routine to account for any variation in lid lens position vs what they had at the factory.
Is that reasonable to do? Removing the whole lid intact? Is that just removing the bolts that are on there?
I should scour the forums I guess to see if others have done this.
Oh noooo! Good luck with the fix.
I hear you on the mail thing in Mexico…virtually impossible to receive mail and way too unpredictable to pack up this thing and assume it would make the round trip, let alone unscathed.
This has driven my decision to send mine back to have them fix it! Thanks for posting.
Good luck with the fix. I didn’t see any postings about taking off the whole lid…I was scouring the notes when my hinge popped because I was thinking of doing the same, but wasn’t really psyched about doing my own Lewis & Clark expedition and was looking for other intrepid travelers who had walked the path before me!!! Keep us posted.
OMG!!! How long have you had your unit? I ordered mine a bit ago and am still waiting on them to get their act together and deliver. I think i May have made a mistake with this company. Thank you for sharing
I’ve been using the GF since the start of last year… so… about 2 years of very mixed use.
I love the device and company… this hinge thing is sucky but I don’t really sling shade at them because this only started 1.5 years after I got it, and being a first device for the company it’s not like they could have known this random adhesive wasn’t going to work long term.
If I was in the states I’m pretty sure they would have fixed it when it happened first.
As stated many times elsewhere, there are about 20,000 of these machines out there. It’s not a common problem, despite finding a handful of reports on these forums.
If you’re under warranty, they will fix it. If not, it’s not hard to fix yourself.
Like @eflyguy and @leeperryyo said, I love the device and the company and the community, and this isn’t super common, but hinge happens. It’s so great that people share how to fix and GF always follows up with help. I’m out of warranty but they are going to fix my little buddy and I just need to cover shipping.
Community postings taught me that in the meantime (cuz i gots lots of holiday magic to create!) lift the lid ever so slightly, open the pass through slot, bada bing bada boom!
Interesting they give me the same advice - the dud just told me I give you permission to use glue - wow
I’m going to send mine in for repair. Are you going to glue?
Well glowforge wants $200 for shipping not including the cost of the repair. They did not give me a ball park figure of the minimum to maximum cost to repair so if I can’t afford the repair I will be out $200 without my glowforge getting repaired.
At least let me know the maximum amount I’m looking at to fix the lid.
If they recommend me to glue it myself “I give you permission to glue it” There must be other alternatives
Please let me know how much is the final cost Glowforge is charging you - maybe if I can afford it maybe I’ll do it.
By the way I’m one of the initial backers of these guys - I believed in them even when people were pulling out their money out because it took forever to get the glowforge.
THANKS GLOWFORGE!!!
That’s really not much of a solution. Yours is fine, it just needs to be re-attached.
What they COULD do is provide instructions, similar to what you stated, on how to repair what you have. Possibly even supply/sell the adhesive they recommend.
@ranger.mctague I’ll be sending mine back in the next few days, so I’ll let you know how it all goes!
What I’ve been doing in the meantime is opening up the lid a couple inches, pulling down the pass through slot in front, and loading my material in that way. That has been a great work around for me.
Thanks I’ve been doing the same thing