So , Al after going back and forth with Glowforge and machine still under warranty I got a brand new machine in December, now barely 6 months later I am getting multiple issues , first a bump , then a yellow
Light , now stuck on focusing. I am losing my mind and alot of business . No live help and back and forth with email. Now then want me to “buy” a refurbished machine when this brand new machine is barely 6 months old. It’s beyond frustrating. I cleaned the lens and mirrors , air assist is clean reset router rebooted machine , at a loss . Please help… anyone?
“Focusing” is when the focus mechanism in the print head is calibrated – the platform the lens magnetically attaches to is calibrated by moving it up and down through its full range of motion several times. The machine then reports back that calibration data to the cloud servers, at which point it moves to its next state (either “centering” at startup, or “ready” between jobs).
If it’s stuck focusing after every print, one of the two likely causes is wifi instability: the connection is being dropped during the job, so when it should be doing the “focusing” step that happens after each job to be ready for the next, the machine is no longer connected to the cloud servers to receive that command or to report back the results of the calibration. You restart the machine, it reconnects and you’re back in business until next time wifi drops during a job.
To see if that’s the problem, I’d try connecting your Glowforge to a mobile hotspot broadcast by your phone in the same room. If it doesn’t get stuck “focusing” after jobs while on the hotspot, you can work on improving the wifi signal strength and stability in that room for your home network. Either by buying a range extender, or replacing the router with a mesh wifi system, or a better router, or better router placement, or removing sources of interference like bluetooth devices, microwaves, aquariums.
If you still have the problem when on a hotspot, move on to the other likely cause: troubleshooting the connection between the print head and the rest of the machine. If the controller is telling the print head to do the “focusing” calibration and the print head isn’t getting the message, you’d get stuck in that state. A loose, damaged or disconnected ribbon cable would also cause the “yellow light” you reported.
This cable can work itself loose during jobs on occasion, or when the print head experiences a “bump” that jolts the cable out a bit. The ribbon can also become worn through, creased or frayed where it rubs against the black metal piece above it on the x-axis rail. Look for damage, look for dust or debris in the print head side of the connection, look for any bent/missing/damaged gold pins in the connector, and securely click the cable back in place.
Since you have multiple symptoms of either wifi or ribbon cable problems, those are where I suggest investigating first. No need to focus on things that are unrelated to any of your symptoms, like cleaning optics or fans – the machine has no sensors that tell it if the optics and fans are clean, so they can’t cause these problems.
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