Tip to make lid cable replacement a tad easier

Glowforge Tips and Tricks
1

Hi all,

I had the “Camera didn’t take a picture” error so, upon support’s recommendation I set out to replace the cable.

In steps 7 & 9 of the instructions, one is being told to carefully plan the placement of the cable to be about 1/8in (.3mm) from the top of the black line.

Here’s my tip, use painter’s tape :slight_smile: - I applied a strip of it with the bottom of the strip around .3mm, this then gave me an aid to get the alignment of the cable right.

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In addition, I also put a piece of tape the exact width of the notch where the downward piece of the cable needs to go (marked with an X in the picture):

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I then put a same piece on the cable where the downward cable is (I didn’t take a picture myself but took the one from the support article - marked with the arrow):

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That then made sticking the cable on the lid quite easy as it took most of the guess work out of the equation.

And everything worked fine after this replacement - happy camper here :slight_smile:

Hopefully this can help others who are as anxious as I was when I started this little exercise.
B.

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2

Thanks for sharing your tip @Bernie. That’s one of the things that makes this community great, people are willing to share their good ideas to make things easier for those that follow.

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3

Thanks for the tip, I really appreciate it!

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4

We need all the tips for when our day comes! Thank you!

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5

Thanks. I know that will come in handy one day. I probably don’t use my machine as much as others here, but I am going on 5 years or so, and never had a single repair or replacement issue. Knock on PG Plywood

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6

Thank you. I’m going to need those tip soon.

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7

I took things a step further and simply attached the new cable with painters tape instead of the obnoxiously strong 3M adhesive backing. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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8

I had thought of doing the same, initially, but after considering it a bit more, I decided not to.
The reason being that I was afraid that over time, the airflow and heat inside the machine might cause the painters tape to come loose, the cable to fall down and, worst case, get stuck under the moving laser tube while printing. That’s all just disaster scenario thinking, I know, but I decided to be safe rather than sorry and just follow their instructions :rofl:

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9

So far (2 years later) it’s still going strong! But yeah, I get it. I just wish the adhesive were more forgiving.

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10

The lid cable was not intended to be replaced, as designed – the adhesive is intended to be permanent. Unfortunately, the type of cable used was not suitable for repeated bending at the rear of the machine.
In all the years I am to my original machine, mine never failed – but, then again, I never open the lid fully either.

Adhesions have advanced so much – 3M VHB products are used to assemble appliances and parts of automobiles these days.

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