So my Glowforge has been going well for years but right now its not printing anything properly. When it starts the print its like the alignment slowly shifts one way or another causing issues like the attached image, which is a design that looks like a “V” shape but prints looking more like stairs.
Everything I can find while researching is telling me the carriage belt tension is the issue, so I’ve cleaned everything out, reset tension multiple times even replaced the belt itself but am not able to resolve the issue. Part of it I feel is that the belt isn’t set to the right tension, but I’m having issues because the information of the belt says if you can press it and the other side of the belt moves then your belt is too loose
but also says if the plate is catching when shifting the belt is too tight
(The plate doesn’t catch at all if the belt is off or looser)
So, I’m somehow to loose and too tight at the same time.
I don’t really know what to do now, any advice would be helpful.
I don’t know if that’s something to do with the video itself, it appears the carriage is not moving smoothly, it appears to be jerking periodically, which could be caused by a problem with one or more wheels on the carriage plate that ride on the rails. The one showing tension appears loose to me as well, but in several years mine never needed adjusting.
Given how much debris there appears to be on the bottom of the carriage rail in the other pic, I suggest you check and clean the wheels and it wouldn’t hurt to tighten up the belt.
I’m curious how old the machine is and what you’ve been cutting. Again, I had my first machine for several years and never saw debris accumulate like that.
The belt is definitely a bit loose. If you look carefully at the wheel at the right end there is a hex screw to tighten or loosen the belt at that end. it would be good to remove the belt and check out the wheels first and when putting it back make sure the belt is extremely tight and then make sure the hex screw is also.
I’ve done adjustments, and the belt is as tight as I can physically get it, the second video where the carriage plate is staggering is what some of the guidelines have been saying mean its too tight, that’s where I’m having issues, its both too loose and too tight at the same time, also as tight as I can possibly make it.
It’s not the video, the carriage is not moving smoothly with the belt that tight, when the belt is off or looser it moves back and forth extremely smoothly. The jerking only happens when the belt is tight, and the help videos I’ve found say that the belt being too tight is what can cause this issue. Seeing as all the help info I can find is contradictorily saying that the belt is both too tight and too loose this is where I’m having problems.
I cut and etch mostly wood, several hours a day several days a week for the last 4 years, I clean as much as I can and can say that the wheels are actually quite clean unlike the flat metal plates that, at this point, require a bit of scraping or scrubbing right now.
I had assumed the one of the carriage plate was with the belt disconnected. I missed where you said it doesn’t if connected as it was after the video clip. If that is with it connected, then yes, it is too tight.
Mine slides smoothly, as did the one on my first machine for its entire life. The belts never needed any adjustment, as they don’t stretch.
So the belt is both too loose and too tight at the same time, since both of those videos are as it sits right now with no adjustments between videos. So at this point I’m not sure what to do, how can it be both? I have no idea what to do at this point.
I don’t know, that belt looks way too loose in the first video but the carriage is not moving smoothly which can be from the belt being too tight. I said before that perhaps it is debris causing the issue, because I’ve never seen or experienced anything that bad (i.e. dirty).
I feel like if it was debris causing the tension then it would do the stuttering with or without the belt, just the rails/wheels themselves would cause a stutter, but when the belt isn’t attached the carriage moves smoothly with no catches or issues.
Comparison is nice, but in this situation I am making this as tight as physically possible and its still showing to be a bit too loose. I have no way to tighten this further. Using all my physical strength to the point the whole machine is trying to shift further (it cant its against a wall on that side) and I cannot possibly tighten this any further, yet it’s still somehow showing loose
The actual legnth of the belt will vary with each machine. Unlike other parts you might make to 0.0001 millimeter, you get the belt in range and somewhere on the sliding slot it is tightened. If it is as far over in the slot as it will go and not tight enough, you can take some up at the carriage, till tight enough is somewhere along that slot.
Problem here is that there is room in the slot for it to slide further to the right, But I cannot make the tension pully move any farther to the right with the belt on, I’m using all my strength to get this to move more to the right, and when I get is as far as I physically can (others trying as well so its not just my physical strength that’s the issue) it is still coming up too loose. If I detach the belt from the left side I can easily slide the pully wheel further right so there’s nothing in the way of it moving farther right, its just the maximum that I can get the belt to go when it is on both sides is too loose.
Today I have received a replacement Carriage plate which comes with a new belt on it, also a new tension wheel, Upon installation of both of these new pieces I am still having the same issue, I cannot tighten the belt to the point that one side of the belt does not move when pressing on the other, and when at its tightest there is still a stutter catch in the left to right of the carriage plate.
It is possible to move the bolt to its proper position before putting the belt on. Many people never loosen or move the bolt. Here is a video of that process if you wish to try it.
Yeah, you just “roll” the belt off either side, if the carriage is on the left then the right side is simple, but you have to do it so the belt can move as you roll it off the idler pully.
I saw something like this years ago with a 3D printer. The problem was with some of the wires to the motor. They had broken internally due to repeated motion.
With the break the wires sometimes would lose connection briefly. This caused the print head to not move as far as it should. So the print slowly shifted every few layers.
I had a pretty good idea where the break was. So I cut out the wire and spliced in some new wire.
Welcome to the group
One issue with the Glowforge is that the metals of the cables are almost painted on. So you do get that internal break issue and the episodic disconnect that becomes permanent, but the need is to replace the entire cable as even finding the break is hard, and forget trying to fix it.
