Trying to pinpoint the ‘too cold’ issue that is currently happening with my GF-Pro.
-Location & layout of issue-
•I am in Kentucky where the past 3 nights have been low 40° and day is around 52°
•machine is garage kept
•exhaust is ranthrough a 4” dryer hole I cut out of a wood flap that comes down from garage, I have to crack the garage 6”
(probably doesn’t help temp)
•space heater has been turned on intermittently while the front flap has been down, so warm air can really get to the machine
(one time is said ‘overheated’ and since then changed space heater to ‘oscillation’ mode)
I am unsure if a new update was released but it now states ‘too cold’ under the countdown timer when a design starts up, which is nice.
Also; I have only seen the orange light that used to come on indicating a temperature issue 1 time out of 15-20 machine pauses
( hot and (I assume) cold).
Also, every time I have ran a 2 min 14 sec cut
(Maybe 6 times)it stops in the SAME spot every time, which makes me think it could be something else??
I will open the hood which cancels the print and resets the laser head then close it again and it goes right back to cutting that 2min 14sec cut, only to pause in the same place.
looks like you are getting pretty close to the temp limits there.
(edit : actually you are well out of the normal operating temps i was reading it wrong before)
Print when the ambient temperature is within the following ranges. Printing outside these ranges may cause your print to pause periodically or fail to complete.
Basic and Plus: Between 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius) and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius)
Pro: Between 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celsius) and 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius)
Why the title saying it is not too cold? Sure seems that it is too cold from your description. The cold can enter through the exhaust tube when off, the air inside the machine at startup could be cold, or cold air could be coming in from the right side from the room. Officially too cold is anything lower than 60F but the warning seems to occur at 52F/53F for me.
Yes, I am getting close to the temps which I understand is a safety measure.
I lift the flap up and close the garage at night so the tube is not getting air overnight.
Would cleaning the import and export air areas help at all?
It is a bit frustrating with clients who have products that are scheduled to be completed but it’s all a learning curve.
It’s simply too cold, not sure why you said it isn’t in your thread title.
Heating the machine is not going to help much in those kinds of temps, as it will draw cool air into the machine as soon as you turn it on and start using it, rapidly drawing heat away from the internal components. It might prevent damage from storing in low temps, but it’s not going to over-ride the low operating temp cut-off.
You might want to put a thermometer next to it to be sure, but you need the ambient air temperature in the garage to be above 60 degrees, which I seriously doubt it is.
@geek2nurse I appreciate it!
I hope it helps pinpoint the issue.
I have been doing some reading and could it technically be the ‘black ribbon cable‘ going bad? (I would hope not as I have only had my unit for less than 2 months)
Hoping the heating pad will mitigate issues.
Also, the thermometer probe that reads temperature, is it located front left of the GF Pro, near the coolant? Maybe I need to focus on getting warm air to that and not just to the air intake
I’m pretty sure it’s temperature-related. The temp that matters is the fluid inside the cooling system, so no matter where you put your thermometer you’re really not getting the exact reading you need. But keeping in mind that the fluid is going to take time to warm up when it’s too cold, I think my focus would be on keeping a consistent temperature in the work area. Even a lit 60W bulb stuck inside the GF (away from any meltable stuff) when it’s not in use might be enough to help keep it warm through the night.
update… laser off, front flap open, and space heater on oscillate for 8hr today while at work.
Came home and the garage was hotter than house, probably 80°.
Tried to run a cut and it stopped in the SAME exact place as the last time…
Stopping in the same place is odd…you may have two things going on. No error message? Do you have magnets holding down the material? They can stop the air assist fan, which will make the job stop, but usually you’ll get an error.
Can you try a different file and see what happens? I’d recommend the Gift of Good Measure, and on Proofgrade, which will get you ahead of the curve for when Support shows up.
I forgot to take photos, dang it.
Update: gift of good measure worked but was really misaligned (least of my worries).
Ran another project after, a 44min scrabble tile on ‘proofgrade thick acrylic’ and it stoped about 20min in ‘too cold’ even though garage was still getting pumped with space heater.
Luckily each tile could individually be subtracted off so essentially it finished scoring all 102 letters, started cutting and would stop after every few cuts.
I stopped, subtracted the cut out ones, and readyed up to finally finish the file but a 44 minute file took about 1hour 45 minutes.
If I were to dislodge and reconnect the ‘black ribbon cable’, could that help or make it worse?
I don’t think the black ribbon would be involved, If anything the ribbon to the head, but the fact it starts back up suggests it is actually measuring chunks of air. I would strongly suggest some confinement in a room that you can hold the temp constant.
There are extensive things available for growing “vegetables” in a contained environment which could indeed be something like Basil etc in your environment. Also, various things to create a stable environment from the same company. There is a fair amount of cost but much less than a new room to the house.
