Silver foil circles?

Does anyone know what the silver foil circles are for? my laser isn’t printing on the right side and i just noticed that the circles were poked open? it’s a refurbished but I have had it a while and just didn’t notice until I tried to do a deep clean to see if that helps

They protect something, but I’ve no idea what. Sadly “deep cleaning” is so often the last words someone uses before their machine stops working :frowning:

The only things you need to clean are the camera, mirror, lenses, and windows. Even the door can be completely occluded and it’ll still work.

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You don’t need to open multiple threads of the same thing. Particularly with a problem of so few possible causes. Assuming that you did not find the problem using it in the first 30 days of warranty, there can be only one cause of the problem.

Under the left side of the machine at the end of the gantry is the window where the laser beam goes to the head. If the beam is blurry even a tiny bit it might not matter as much when the head is close, but get worse as the head moves to the right. This can happen at any instant when the smoke nears that window and the laser is firing. If that window is not cleaned it is possible that it can be damaged by too much build up, but usually folk don’t keep using it when it is not working.

It is possible for the laser to be knocked out of alignment when shipping but that problem shows up immediately and usually marks up the head where it does hit.

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I think you are referring to the foil tape that covers the clips that hold the top on. I am assuming the top was removed when it was serviced.

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All those foil spots do is cover access holes to the clips securing the top glass, and have zero impact on the machine’s operation.

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are you talking about on the inside of the machine? It seems there are so many people with the exact same issue of not printing on the right side and Glowforge just wants you to pay for a fix that seems to be a default in the machine?
so frustrated sorry!

Exactly! Some problems have a very complex set of possible causes, that one does not.
The only way that there can be a difference in power that is good on the left and bad on the right is that the window on the left under the side is not accomplishing it job well. When the distance from that window to the head is short (on the left side) any blurring is minimized and when long (on the far side) it is maximized making much lower power.

The slightest mount of gunk on that window will cause that blurring. Many people have that problem because the slightest amount of smoke will create a blurring spot on the lens. I certainly see that often and putting a Zeiss wipe to that window and its opposite on the head which is where 90% of that occurs.

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There’s no cost to fix that. When :glowforge: ends up doing a repair/replacement for that is when someone refuses to admit they missed cleaning something :-/

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We have seen a case where the mirror alignment is slightly off, and as the head travels to the right the more pronounced the error becomes.

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There have been a few of them. Getting the correct angle is, as you can easily imagine, a very delicate thing that cannot be done by the user. If it was working when you get it then it is unlikely you will do something to throw it off. But it is not so unusual to be shipping damage. When it is off it will usually hit the side of the head and leave a mark.

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