I am a school librarian and use our Glowforge in the Makerspace. We have been using it many times this year to cut both wood and acrylic with no issues at all. However, today I was firing up a job on some draft wood and smoke started billowing out all over. By all over I mean the from and top of the machine. I have it vented to the Glowforge filter and it was on and turned all the way up. It appears as though the air is “sitting” and not being sucked out the back. I check the vent and there are no obstructions and the hose is a short run with no bends in it.
Any ideas of what it could be? I can’t have smoke leaking out in a school setting.
If the Compact Filter is turned up to maximum with no flow out the GF exhaust, it may be that the filter cartridge is full. If draftboard is a common material used, it can clog a filter in short order.
On other thing to check is that the air intake (under the right side of your GF) is not blocked or obstructed in any way. Likewise, the GF exhaust fan and grid.
At this rate I will need to replace the filter every 6 weeks. Might have to look at a venting option but I’m not sure my building/maintenance team is going to like to hear that.
Thanks. I did check the air intake and there is nothing in the way or in the vents. As for the fan, there was a small amount of dust on it which I cleaned off. I ran a small job and the GF exhaust fan was blowing out which makes me think it’s the filter. Again, I just can’t believe it is full after so few cut jobs.
