The problem is USP is a massive organisation. Do you really think bending the ear of a rep will cause them to do a world wide briefing of their staff to not mishandle Glowforge boxes?
I think the fundamental problem is it needs two people to handle the box gently. One man struggling on their own is likely to damage it, mainly because of the size. Is there an end to end two man UPS service? I don’t really understand how they accept such heavy parcels when they use one man vans.
On top of that, UPS is mandated to spend as little time as possible on each delivery. One driver told me he had an average of 19 seconds per delivery. They are a ruthless company. A family friend was fired because a drunk person ran a red light and clipped his trucks bumper (no fault to my friend but fired anyway).
19 Seconds? How is that even possible… Unless you are Flash… but wow…
right? and for signed deliveries you are supposed to inspect the contents before signing… “hey there UPS driver, stand here and watch me set up my glowforge” haha
The prerelease I got was delivered FedEx. Totally different method with basically overnighting the dang thing to me. It seems that the other PRUs got them an eyeblink after saying “heck yes!”. Was a bit surprised that UPS turned out to be the carrier now. Just sayin.
One of the interesting things would be to collate all the DOA PRUs. It seems that Glowforge may have been testing their support and return capabilities for these units more than just seeing how to ship them out, given the number of issues. Surely not, but at least support got a workout for returns and swaps.
Surprised that the SPU folks have not posted pictures of these gems.
As stated on the forum- The Glowforge is shipped in a foam ‘ribbed’ structure. Which protects the exterior of the machine. There are a couple engineering marvels on the interior.
These guys.
The threaded bits are to help locate and lock the X/Y assembly in place. The ‘saddle’ is used to prevent the X assembly from sliding uncontrollably. And the rubber bits acts as shock an absorber for the X/Y assembly and also protect the guide wheel assembly.
Mock Installed.
(*Note. The tray assembly should NOT be loaded in the machine if you plan on transporting it with the gantry locked. As it sits on top of the floor of the machine and does not lock in.)
When I transport my 3D printers I short out the stepper motors to stop the axes moving. They will still move under gravity but only very slowly so can’t do any damage. A shorting plug might have been a cheaper solution.
Right. On a machine that has one button.
Except for standing it on end despite the “this end up” stickers FedEx delivered my PRU in pristine condition. Might be time to switch carriers.
Yay!!!
Nope…mine got dollied over by a chick half my size - tossed in front of the door, and I swear she literally took off after I told her I was going to need to take pics of the damage. She abandoned the box there before I could tell her I wanted to sign a ticket about the damage while I was fetching the phone.
FedEx is no better.
One would hope it was a red cord.
Rumor has it you get a couple extra watts out of the tube with a red cord 
Or you can just push a couple extra watts through it and make the cord turn red 
No, no, no, no, no.
We shall try to avoid that particular color change method.
I know you may get too big and busy someday, Glowforge, but do handwritten-thank-you-card kind of things for as long as you can. 
Might be safer just to point and laugh at the cord until it turns red but then you risk it running away and hiding.
I took pictures of all of that stuff as I was unboxing. That way I can re-box and send it back when @Rita asks. Every step before I did something I took a “before” pic and then and “after” pic.
Figured I’d do that with the Prod unit too because if I ever have to send it back I’ll have long forgotten how to put the pieces back together 
I think @jules has some experience turning red…maybe she has some hints on how to do it safely
That will usually cause it pretty well! 
Just don’t sign their ticket until you’ve taken the photos. 
I didn’t get to sign for it at all…she literally ran down the walkway pushing a dolly. (Kind of funny actually.)
