So what’s the current swop for when the forge shows up at your door? I remember we talked about the “do not accept if broken” red goop things before so I’m prepared there.
But as a general rule do you accept, verify, then call ups if there’s an issue? It is it better to just refuse it if it looks iffy?
The tears and crumpling is severe, something was definitely pressing against the box and hit it. Please complain to UPS. The hub this machine went to are not following the protocols. It’s so rare but this happens at my day job it’s a hugh deal
I’m not a packaging expert as well but I seen enough of this damage to know that is not normal. However the foam inside, if the machine works just as it left the factory, I bow to your design guy
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There weren’t any red gel things or impact sensor… Was it tore off?
So far I think that was just for the PRU’s and the tilt ones were always tripped anyway
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True. And seeing that red tag all triggered probably caused panic emails to support for every one they sent out. (It did with me.) 
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Thank you so much for the update! I am so happy it is working for you! I hope all the kinks get worked out soon
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It’s a manifold coupler for an ac charging machine. Lucky you.
I remember having to learn this one, too. I kept trying to add SVGs in the ‘add artwork’ place and was so frustrated.
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So glad is was only the mains lead missing. Never had any extra items added but one of our customers received some floor tiling instead of a 3D printer kit. We did manage to track it down though.
We sent hundreds of 3D printer kits all over the world, mainly by UPS as they were our preferred couriers and we get on well with our local pickup and delivery guy, Steve. So we knew the first leg of the journey would be safe.
My wife put copious amounts of packing tape and fragile tape around the box so there was no way it could split open. She also put selotape over the edges of the packing tape because amazingly brown packing tape doesn’t stick to cardboard very well!
The only time we lost something was when we sent it via Parcel Force who hand it over to local postal services. The Slovenian postal service let it get wet so the cardboard disintegrated and let a couple of motors out. We never used Parcelforce again as they are not end to end couriers, just a privatised postal service.
A very small number got puncture wounds through the cardboard that would damage the DiBond ACP panels. We could have protected it with foam and used a bigger box, but that would not of been cost effective due to the low damage rate. Cheaper to replace a few sheets of DiBond very occasionally.
There was one case where the replacement got damaged as well so we concluded that the local UPS at the delivery end must have been rubbish, so we sent the replacement replacement with another company.
It does seem that the bigger and heavier the box is the more likely it is to get damaged. Ours were only 10kg and easy to carry by one person. Steve would carry three at a time but we would lend him our sack truck when we had more. He should have had his own but somebody had pinched it.
So it looks like GF need to apply more tape, or packing straps, or perhaps shrink wrap it.
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Seeing the photos of the box damage, I see now why @Dan said that the cardboard is mostly there to keep the foam and Glowforge together as a single unit. I was surprised to see brown packing tape used, though… Even reinforced with fibers, it doesn’t hold nearly as well as clear cellophane tape does.
@dan - Is there some chance that customers will be able to request replacement shipping boxes? What happens if the Glowforge needs to return under warranty after it’s been destroyed? What if customers want to use the box as a cheap carry case around the city? Is there a procedure that support will send out a shipping box when honoring an RMA return, or that someone can pay for an extra to be shipped to them?
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I also remember @dan saying the box couldn’t easily be collapsed. Looks like I could collapse it and my wife could do a much better job of taping if it needed reassembling.
Yes the clear tape with fibres is very hard to get off.
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i thought i read that replacement boxes will be available. im not sure how that fits in with boxes destroyed in the original shipment.
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Citation required… please linky.
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perhaps i was wrong from the looks of it, as i just skimmed it and didn’t see it.
I hate non descriptive errors. Hopefully they will improve error reporting. But this one should have simply said, “Tray Empty”, or “No material found”.
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Or rather, “I can’t autofocus here”
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Well written error messages include a corrective course of action, or make it obvious what the course of action should be.
Would it work if you put a small piece of mask in a non-print area, or will it not allow you to engrave at all in areas that it can’t autofocus on?
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Can’t say, but I covered with paper and it fired.
Nice!!! Looking forward to the finished product!
So sorry about your UPS troubles!! That poor package was really put through the wringer. I can’t imagine what seeing that error must have felt like…beyond happy to hear that things seem to be working now!