I made a quick video explaining the spare parts that Glowforge has in the shop and what there for in a little more detail. Putting this in everything else cuz it’s not really a tip/trick and they have a short description in the shop of each. I just thought this might come in handy for someone somewhere who may want to see a bit more explanation to them.
Every time I see/read someone talking about these parts I think I should do that…but I’m also cheap. So far so good on the originals, but I know my day is coming!
You do seem to have missed a few things. That black window goes on the laser head itself not underneath where this one goes. As many new users do not know that window is there it is often damaged by crud overheating. Any time the laser cuts better on the left than the right, but still burns on the right but not deep enough you can bet there is a problem with that window, even the slightest film of crud will cause that problem.
The rule on that main lens has been “cup side up” but I am glad that Glowforge has made it more explicit by engraving the metal on the lens.
Like that window hiding under the left side, I think it would be very helpful to identify the issues that would point to each spare part going bad. The sensor that says the lid is open does pass through the LED strips but more often it is the black cable that connects to the strips that is at fault. The trickiest fix on the list is that black cable as the adhesive sticks hard and instantly and there is very little slop in plugging in the ends so slightly off center and one end will not plug in and you will likely damage the cable trying to get it off to move it. They have added a bunch to the length of the drop-down part of the black cable so hopefully, the number needing replacement should drop off a lot.
Magnetic fields can mess up the fan at the back of the carriage rather a lot, but before I figured that out I found myself cleaning that fan often. I discovered that by fixing a vacuum cleaner hose to the vent on the bottom I could pump lots of hand sanitizer through the fan and the vacuum cleaner would suck it out just as fast. Meanwhile, the air movement would spin up the fan and the centrifugal force would spin away any gop and sanitizer, and not a drop went beyond the fan, plus left on for a bit totally dried everything up afterwards.
Good catch you are correct with the window lens. I mixed that up. I will need to put a correction in the comments idk what I was thinking lol I know this too, running on little sleep I guess when making the video ha ha.
Added the update to the comments on the video now. Thanks for pointing that out. I was more worried about not messing up the talking points that I didn’t pay attention to the color of the lens/what type it was.
This topic was automatically closed 32 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.