The rubber seal on the bottom of the front door has deteriorated and is allowing the smoke to be pushed out possibly by the air assist. Is there a fix for this.
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It DETERIORATED?! Can you show a picture of that?
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There is a chunk out of mine as well. It got caught on a piece of scrap. I would think it should be available as a consumable in the store, I haven’t bothered to look yet. I don’t get any smoke out of mine. The fans should actually create a suction rather than a pressure inside the forge.
I worry about this… I keep a piece of cardboard handy to insert over the cut material and hold it steady under the seal as I extract. It would be nice if you could flip the seal up to make extraction easy… A mod idea?
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It’s really not designed for extraction. It’s meant to be a passthrough - to the back of the machine.
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I had cleaned it up when the were more and larger pieces because I thought it was affecting the door closing properly. It is very noticeable when I am engraving my chessboards and you can feel the air and see the smoke coming from the bottom side of the door.
It’s not designed as an air seal. If you have smoke coming out the slot with or without the seal then your vent setup is somehow restricting airflow. Air should enter the slot not exit.
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I am not talking about the pass through. I am talking about under the fold down door that you open to clean the crumb tray. The vent has no restriction and I clean the exhaust regularly.
I have a Pro but have had a Basic before that. There is no rubber seal on my front door other than the passthru slot. But I imagine the design could have been changed since I had the Basic.
The exhaust fan is far, far more powerful than the intake fan on the right side. Air enters every other crack to get enough air to the exhaust on a well ventilated system. As part of my testing on a Basic about a year ago I created a fake pass thru 3/8" x 19" open slot on the front door. The air assist was blowing directly at the slot and no smoke escaped.
But airflow is a funny thing. Anything is possible I guess.
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Thanks for letting me know about this.
Like @rpegg and @mad_macs mentioned, your Glowforge is designed to have negative pressure, which will prevent the smoke from seeping through the any openings.
Even with proper filtration, small amounts of smoke and fumes can enter the air around your Glowforge, producing a detectable odor. You may also smell an odor when you open the Glowforge lid, even long after a print is complete. This is not harmful.
However, if you detect a strong, sharp smell that also causes eyes, nose, or throat irritation, or if there is visible smoke escaping while the lid is closed, shut off your Glowforge unit immediately. Smoke and fumes could be entering the room in excessive concentrations.
We’ve created an troubleshooting guide with illustrations. You can see it here: https://glowforge.com/support/topic/troubleshooting/print#excessive-smoke-or-fumes-during-print
If you’re still seeing or smelling excessive smoke or fumes when using Proofgrade materials, please let me know:
- The name of the material you’re using
- A description of where the smoke/fumes are coming from: the door, lid, or hose
- When you smell the fumes: during the print or after it has completed
- Photos of your Glowforge and your exhaust system
Thanks in advance.
Jaz
Here is a link to a mov file showing definite air blowing out of the door in the front of my machine. I taped the bottom seal because that was where most of the smoke was coming from. I was engraving and cutting PG med maple ply at the time. I comes out more when engraving near the front of the machine.
Here is a better photo of rubber deteriation - small holes and edge brake down of rubber or foam under the flip down door.
I can’t view the video - it won’t play. 
I don’t think the gasket is your problem though, even with a little edge deterioration it looks mostly intact.
The machine isn’t designed to be air tight, air is supposed to flow into the machine from the cracks all around the lid, and from the air intake at the bottom underneath on the right side.
If smoke is flowing out into the room, it could mean that there might be a problem with the exhaust fan, or that the exhaust is blocked or restricted in some way. It is more powerful than the intake fan, and it should be pushing the air and smoke out through the exhaust instead of letting it come out through the cracks in the machine into the room. If smoke is coming into the room, your machine might not be venting properly.
I’d start by checking through the items on the troubleshooting checklist that @Jaz linked to. That’s how to spot exhaust problems with the venting setup. And a clogged or dirty exhaust fan is a known culprit for sudden loss of negative pressure inside the machine. If you’ve never cleaned it, and you run a lot of heavy engraves or work with a lot of plywood or MDF, it might be a good idea to take a look at it. 
I’d also check to make sure the intake isn’t blocked.
Here is a link to my facebook page let me know if you can view it there.
https://www.facebook.com/bill.paul.14
Yeah, I can see that one. It does like there is a little air coming out at the bottom of the unit from the video.
How does the exhaust fan look? It’s spinning up when you laser a job?
I know it’s a pain but you could perform a test to see if your vent setup is causing any problems.
Step 1: Set up an a very low power engrave near the front of the machine. (maximum speed of 1000 and power set to 1). The low power will eliminate any internally generated smoke. Use an incense stick or other smoke producing held outside and near the door seal to confirm air is exiting the unit at that point. While you are at it, you could check other cracks and the exhaust vent connections. Going to assume that you do have air escaping as shown in your video.
Step 2: Remove the exhaust hose. Run the same test. Check that the exhaust fan is not clogged and is spinning loudly. Check to see if smoke is blown away or into the crack around the door. If the smoke changes directions from the first test then your venting system is restricted, too long, too many bends, etc.
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The exhaust seems to be working properly. I was able to go out and check. The dryer vent is opening and a good flow of air is coming out. I have taken off the hose and vacuumed the exhaust vent in the back of the machine. My next thought is to put in an inline booster fan when I get back from the weekend.
BTW: I found the rubber/foam like seal at the bottom of the front door. The pictures weren’t oriented in my brain so was looking in the wrong place. Looks like if debris falls down inside the front door when open that it might tear up that seal on closing.
My two cents… I don’t think it is a smoke seal. It is far below the crumb tray and behind a plastic wall. There are much bigger gaps that are not sealed. For example the Pro passthru slot is directly in line with the air assist and not sealed. It seems illogical. But after playing with the front door it looks to me as if the seal is to precisely position the front door when closed.
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There have been posts in the past that when the gantry is fully forward and air assist is blowing right at the door seam then some small amount smoke can escape, even with the exhaust fan and venting working properly. On my machine I never experienced visible smoke, but putting my nose up to the seams I can smell it when the gantry is fully forward.
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Thanks for taking the time to provide the video and send the additional photo. We’re looking into it now.
It would also be very helpful to see the results of the test @rpegg described, as well. Could you please try this out and let us know how it goes? Thank you in advance!