Used our Forge without incident earlier today… then turned it on just now, and instead of homing, the head is pulling back and to the left in small increments, until it begins trying to pull farther back than the rails will allow, causing a horrid clunking/banging noise. Any ideas what may have gone wrong? Mahalo!
Here’s more info: if the head is already at the back left corner of the machine (normal starting position), upon turning in the machine it will immediately begin trying to pull the head farther back than the rails will allow. If we turn the Forge off and manually position the head in the upper right corner, then turn the machine on, it will first carry the head straight back to the center position of the Forge (no movement left/right) then, after about 10 seconds, it will begin moving the head back and to the left, in about 2 inch increments, every 10 seconds or so, until it hits the back and keeps trying to pull the head farther back than it can physically go.
Have you cleaned the lens on the lid camera? Also, the top of the head (where the GF logo is printed)?
What’s happening is the GF is trying to find the head so it’s looking for that logo using the lid camera. It’s not finding it so it doesn’t know where the head is or even that it’s reached the maximum travel and is smacking itself into the frame.
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Yes, we clean our lenses/camera/logo on head several times a day. I had that thought, that it was having trouble “finding” the logo, but the fact is it is trying to pull the head back and to the left right from the start at turning the machine on, i.e., never moving the head towards the lid camera first. But will try giving everything a thorough cleaning again just to be sure.
Ick. That was the easy solution. The next ones get harder - either your wifi connectivity or the black cable.
You’ll need an official GF staffer to check the machine logs to determine which. They should be along tomorrow I’d guess. You’ve opened a ticket by posting this.
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Took the head off, checked the cable connection, cleaned everything, and it seems to have just homed properly. Just a temporary glitch it seems! Thanks. Was unnerving to have the head trying to yank itself through the back of the machine.
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Wonder if you wiggled the connection a bit and that fixed it. You probably want to keep an eye on it - if you’re out of warranty it might be worth ordering a spare black cable so you have it on hand if that was it and it gives up the ghost. It’s cheap insurance and if you need it, having it on hand means you don’t have to wait for the shop to have it in stock.
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Hello @amandarogers808, Thank you for reaching out to us. It sounds as though the issue has resolved itself, that is great news!
I would still like to double check the logs from your unit to try and confirm the cause of the trouble and that it is fully resolved. I’d hate for the issue to reoccur. I see that you have multiple active Glowforge units on your account. Could you please confirm the serial number of the problem unit for me?
The serial number can be found on the back of the Glowforge, printed on a sticker near the AC adapter on the right-hand side. It will look something like ABC-123-4.
Once I have this information, I’ll review the logs and let you know what I find. Thank you!
Hi @amandarogers808. It’s been a while since Morgan’s response and I wanted to check in to see if you were still running into any trouble with your Glowforge. Feel free to let us know the serial number of your unit and we’ll be happy to help. Thank you!
It’s been a little while since I’ve seen any replies on this thread so I’m going to close it. If you still need help with this please either start a new thread or email support@glowforge.com.