Tube replacement saga - let's vote!

The thing is that this should have been for a long time now. It should at this stage not be a surprise to gf…

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This is what I find so frustrating.

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Based on Dan’s comments I think it’s completely a liability decision. I’m sure they technical writers were writing the manual and went “you want the owners to do what?”… then the safety police / lawyers got involved and it was decided the potential liability wasn’t worth it so this decision was made. @m_raynsford has stated that you can get shocked replacing the tubes so that’s where the concern comes from. I’m international and I’m sticking in but I believe that we’ll be able to purchase OEM and do it ourselves. Or ship to a “local” major tech center and have it done there. This is me basing my decision on strictly a faith / gut feeling, there has been no evidence to suggest that will be the case though.

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Depends on what ‘really’ happened. It may well be that this not a technical issue at all. That the tube was designed to be user-replaceable from the start like they said but… they’re polishing their liability since they’re shipping more beta units and getting closer to release date and now all of a sudden it is purported to be an issue.

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its both, but based on the fact that it would just be incredibly difficult for the average user to accomplish. I know my eyebrows raised the first time i took a good look under the lid, I just assumed they had some more magic in store for us. Sadly, I was incorrect

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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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