Tube replacement saga - let's vote!

I’m more than willing to sign a “hold harmless” agreement with Glowforge if that would allow them to sell me a tube. If so, I would replace the tube myself.

If that is not acceptable, I would also be willing to work with a local certified technician to have the tube replaced.

The idea of keeping all of the packaging to ship the system back to Glowforge for routine maintenance, just does not work for me. I’m guessing others will also have this issue as several forum members have talked about the limited space they have in their homes.

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No shipping to the factory & no further delay.
They must come up with a solution prior to the current projected shipping deadline.

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I don’t think they’ve figured anything out. I saw someone quote him where he said that they have shipment + 12 months to figure it out.

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Yeah I don’t know why he would possibly think that. I mean, he must know he’s now priced these things out of the international market. And for US users it’s basically a 10%/year “maintenance fee” plus loss of business/use for weeks every couple of years. That’s significant!

Gosh… So insulting to be thrown in as an afterthought in the announcement and then get further trivialized with no answers to questions as well as how they’re not going to be bothered even trying to think up answers to the questions because the sooner they ship, the sooner the money’s really theirs.

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Can someone show me where in the FAQ or specs it says that the tube is user-replaceable? I can’t find it.

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Not in the specs, but it was stated outright.

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Yep, I’m with @takitus , warranty will be up by then and I’m in the UK so shipping it back is just out of the question - I’ll cancel if that’s the final decision. I’m not keen on having to use certified service engineers / centres as this greatly biases US customers and those in populous areas. If there’s no cost to certification training (e.g. and online course) and anyone can certify then fine, but otherwise we’re just going to get fleeced by the service company. Besides I’m a service engineer for Multidimensional Gas Chromatography and X-ray Fluorescence kits… how hard can this be?!

And a big fat NO, NO, NO to service contracts. I know that business and I don’t need a remote enigneer looking after my kit for a big fee thanks.

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I’d imagine not that many people would still have all the packaging after 2 years (esp. if in an apt. or moving during that time). Me - I’m not “happy” with the info, but I never thought once about cancelling. I want a GF asap so I can do kewl stuff like @Jules and all the other pre-releasers. Truth be told - I hope I’m waking up every morning for the next 2 years . Also, looking at things like 3d printers and other technology, in 2-3 years 80watt lasers will probably be 499.99 online. Just my 2 cents worth…( Ya can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future…) :dog2:

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Hey @takitus can you clarify this for us please? Are you saying that under the hood the GF looks very complex or the opposite? It’s not clear from where I’m sitting. You seem to have a pretty handy feel for the system now, do you get any kind of feeling as whether you’d be able to replace a tube solo?

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Yeah, I would probably just Forge all my boxes on accident

The tube is the entire width of the machine, which means the side top glass panels will have to be removed. The gantry can be removed from the rails fairly easily, but the big part is disconnecting/reconnecting the power and coolant lines. I didnt look to see what kind of connectors were on them, they might have some novel easy release connectors for the electrical, but the coolant will be trickier. Then you actually have to remove the tube from the gantry, remove the gasket between the tube and the first mirror, then put the new tube in place and get it aligned perfectly. Doing this without the proper tools isnt going to be fun.

Theyve stated they can do it pretty quickly, but they have a bench full of tools specifically for this job, and theyve done it over and over. We wont have that.

Bottom line is it is nowhere close to a snap-in replacement. I worked as a computer technician in high school and college, and the amount of people that cant even figure out where to plug in their keyboard and mouse when the ports are color coded, and the cable only fits there, was through the roof. Now there are a lot of very mechanically smart people who bought glowforges, but they also marketed it to people who dont have a clue, because they wanted to make it easy to use. These are the same people who might have to call tech support to plug in the cables on the back of their computer. They have to cater to those people as the lowest common denominator, and theres no way in hell they will even attempt to do this.

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I saw @Dan say something to the effect of “No special tools required” to change out the tube.

Edit: Found it…

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Can you really replace the tube without having to realign the mirrors?

I agree, I don’t want a service contract. I’m willing to pay a local tech, a reasonable price, to replace the tube if they are GF certified to do the job.

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Yes, but you have to align the tube to the first mirror. It could be easy, but it might not be either. From what Ive seen, I don’t think it’s a procedure people who aren’t mechanically inclined will be comfortable with.

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It’s nice to see a pre-release being inspected to help everyone understand it a little better.

Would you or another Pre-Release holder be willing to throw up some pictures/video and a simple take on it in a new thread?

@karaelena @marmak3261 @markevans36301 @Jules @rpegg @rebecca

I know I left a few out but you are welcome too of course

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You are correct. Each laser tube output is slightly different. I worked in the laser industry for a few years. There are standards, and each laser tube must meet standards for output power, dispersion, beam quality (TEM 0/0), and angular alignment amongst many. But, generally the best quality tubes won’t be exactly drop in for the best power output. Precision engineering for the tube to be user replaced is possible. It would take the tube manufacturer to take more steps () in manufacturing and accept a lower yield (), but it would be possible. Maybe ship cheap alignment tools with the tube replacement kit. Also, they would have to engineer quick disconnect type fittings for cooling and other easy change and safety features that I deal with daily. - Rich

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The power connectors should be simple. The coolant should be some kind of pipe connection and really it should be simple too. Or at least simple to solve/implement. And as far as access to the unit, those top plates could be easily made removable - they probably already are. Also, the fact that the tube is on the gantry makes it generally pretty accessible since it’s not hidden in some rear compartment.

I hear @takitus on the user incompetence issue.
But the counter-argument is that you and I fix and upgrade our PC’s precisely because we can. Or our cars. Or the washing machine. We’re not told by the manufacturer that they won’t ship us a part because we ‘probably’ fall into the incompetence category and that we need to the ship the whole thing back to them for replacement of a component, at our cost.

Telling us all along that the tube is replaceable and doing a u-turn at the 11th hour makes me angry. For a company entrusted with probably close to $100m to release a single product, the amount of features and commitments renaged on to date is disgraceful.

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Can someone explain to me what the ‘liability’ issue might be? Is the concern that I’ll be clumsy and break the expensive machine, or the concern that I’ll be clumbsy and break the tube, which releases a cloud of toxic gas and, I don’t know, mercury all over my face and kills me? Because guaranteed I’ll be clumsy, but one of those two options is more acceptable to me.

I’m not sure I selected the right answer on the poll, because shipping the glowforge back is a complete and total deal breaker for me, but I’m willing to wait for a solution as long as it’s not a vague promise of ‘it’s in the hopper and we’ll think about it.’ I’ll wait another 6 months with a cheerful smile on my face, but only if there would be the promise of a viable alternative to shipping the thing back. That’s such a wasteful process – time, financially, environmentally, all of it.

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There are some lossless fluid connectors out there that take up not much more room than the tubing itself. We use them on motorcycle cooling vests. Might lose a drop or two of fluid when connecting the jacket and disconnecting. That’s a solved problem.

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