Smoke

I have smoke coming out of every crack there is, for a hour, the house is smoked out is it the fan not working I can not tell it’s 12midnight…

First, do you use the filter or are you venting outside? If you have the filter, it is probably full and needs to be replaced. If you vent outside, your exhaust may be blocked.

An easy to miss fix is that the toggle which controls the exhaust fan may have accidentally gotten moved to filter when, in fact, you don’t have the filter. Select the three dots from the interface and double check the filter toggle. If you are venting outside, the toggle should be in the off position as shown here.
toggle

4 Likes

HI David,

I got your email earlier regarding the focus issue and saw you created this forum post due to trouble with smoke in your machine escaping from the printer when in use. When your Glowforge is properly set up, you may have some harmless odor during printing which will rapidly dissipate. You may also smell something when you open the Glowforge lid 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 a troubleshooting guide with illustrations. You can see it here:
https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034142593-Excessive-Smoke-or-Fumes-During-Print

Also @dklgood gave some great advice, and to help me further review your Glowforge for any issues that may contribute to the smoke trouble, could you send me a few photos of your exhaust system? Specifically, please include pictures of the following:

  1. The exhaust fan from the inside of the unit. To capture this photo:

    1. Turn your Glowforge off

    2. Open the lid

    3. Using both hands, gently pull the printer arm towards you as shown below:

    4. Move your phone or camera inside the Glowforge on the left-hand side, past the metal rail, pointed away from you towards the exhaust hose, to capture a photo like the one below:



  2. A photo of where your exhaust hose attaches to the Glowforge, where your exhaust hose exits the room, and the path your exhaust hose takes from your Glowforge to the exterior vent or Compact Filter





  3. The exhaust connection on the back of your Glowforge, with the exhaust hose removed:



  4. Any area where you see smoke escaping from your Glowforge while printing


Once received, I can review everything and decide on the best next steps to help. Thank you!

Thanks a lot, all that is good to know. I pulled off my hose and the fan was clogged and blocked I cleaned it, wish there was a way to pop the side or open the side to clean that area. There is no way to clean the fan but the backside. Do your have a suggestion site, we need a way to clean the fan area.

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Hi there. Thank you for following up to let me know you were able to clear out the clogged exhaust fan and sounds like you’re back up and printing. If you are continuing to run into any trouble, we have a specific fan maintenance cleaning that can be run by following the steps in the link below:

https://app.glowforge.com/maintenance/fan

Also, following any standard cleaning and maintenance steps in our main cleaning page can be good to keep in mind as you continue to print. This will include areas that should be wiped and areas where some compressed air may help with maintenance.

https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033633614-Cleaning

If you’re continuing to run into any other trouble, let me know and I can gladly continue with any needed troubleshooting. Thank you!

Did you send the video on the cleaning spray

Hi @Michied. I wasn’t sure about your mention of a video of the cleaning spray and if it was in reference to my last response. We don’t have an actual video with the fan cleaning process, but the link contains steps that help you through the maintenance:

Glowforge - the 3D laser printer

Let me know if you have any further specific questions or trouble with the fan, and I will be happy to help address anything. Thanks again!


I was asking the name of the spray you was talking about

Is there supposed to be a double fan in my machine, the fan I have doesn’t seem strong


Hi @michied. For the fan maintenance, the degreaser to use is 3M Novec Electronic Degreaser, which you can purchase from Amazon or Digikey. Also, if the exhaust fan doesn’t seem that strong, it could indicate that there may still be some debris or residue on the fan blades. The fan maintenance would be the best way to address this, but also feel free to post any images of the exhaust fan of your Glowforge. I have included my earlier post that included reference images of the exhaust system to take photos of below:

  • The exhaust fan from the inside of the unit. To capture this photo:

    1. Turn your Glowforge off

    2. Open the lid

    3. Using both hands, gently pull the printer arm towards you as shown below:

      800×600 789 KB

    4. Move your phone or camera inside the Glowforge on the left-hand side, past the metal rail, pointed away from you towards the exhaust hose, to capture a photo like the one below:

      800×578 65 KB



  • A photo of where your exhaust hose attaches to the Glowforge, where your exhaust hose exits the room, and the path your exhaust hose takes from your Glowforge to the exterior vent or Compact Filter


    1200×1600 253 KB



    1600×1200 345 KB



    1200×1600 218 KB



  • The exhaust connection on the back of your Glowforge, with the exhaust hose removed:



  • Any area where you see smoke escaping from your Glowforge while printing


Thank you!

1 Like