It has taken me since just before Thanksgiving to finally get my very embarrassed self to confess to my incredibly lazy act that could have burned down my home.
I am a founder with a Pro, this should tell most who know that I am now outside of my warranty period.
My BFF was visiting on his way down to S. Florida for Thanksgiving, I’ve known this person since we were 5 years old in 1966, I had not seen him for a few years and I was eager to show him the GF in action.
That was the setup.
As you can see in the timed stamped video (I suggest having a surveillance camera, this answered many questions for me), the fire started small, but could have been a homewrecker.
I wanted to WOW my friend, so I picked the print that I had done many times, the Eiffel Tower, both with PG material and with other material. This time I chose clear .118 acrylic.
I forget to take the paper off the plastic, as this type of thing had happened before with this particular material as it uses a rubber based adhesive.
As it starts to print the Eiffel Tower, my friend Ed asks, “is there supposed to be so much flame?” My proud self says, “I should really take the paper off, but the print is so intense and the cuts are close and abundant it will be fine.”
HINDSIGHT!
It was definitely the paper, glue and the concentrated print area, not to mention my laziness that killed my GF.
THAT WAS A WARNING TO ALL WHO WALK AWAY…
Now I will speak to my friends in support.
Ok guys, as you can read from my previous emails and challenges of the past, I usually keep my GF very clean, and I inspect parts and visible components regularly as I would in my job as an aircraft tech. I have completely replaced the ribbon cable in the past with great results.
When it comes to troubleshooting electronics on this machine, my hands are tied. I really need your help.
My findings of visible damage are this;
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Gantry drive belt just fibers left on about 8 inches.
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Some rubber was fused on to the sprocket under the motor
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The small plastic bridge that straddles the gantry drive motor as a pathway for the ribbon cable was fried at the weakest center point. I love silicone jacketed ribbon cable, even after the plastic had melted, there was absolutely no damage to the cable.
My damage inspection was superficial but I believe sufficient to cover all of the obvious damage.
Kudos to your design team for putting so much extruded aluminum alloy between the business of the Laser and the Laser tube itself and all of the the really important bits were also well protected.
I was eager to get it back to operational, and since you guys don’t have a good parts stream or a person to actually talk to, I figured I could replace the belt, clean the sprocket, and be back in action in no time.
So my repair progressed nicely, I just needed to know that the electronics were not fried.
I started up my GF, all sounded promising as it progressed through the beginnings of the calibration. Then the yellow light appeared again.
So here is my question, since you have a timestamp (EST), and the video of the incident, can you tell me WHAT was triggered to stop the GF.
Secondly, is there some type of “reset” that you guys can do from your end?
I would much rather do the work myself if possible, parts would be purchased if made available to me.
My plans for Holiday gifts have been dashed.
SANTA, can you make my new year a glowing success?
Please Help.
