Two years and crooked tube

I’ve had my Pro for two years this month and the first mechanical problem just reared its ugly head.
I have been engraving and cutting parts for a box off and on all day and had just uploaded a file, rearranged the drawing to fit the pieces, and clicked the Start Button. I went into the shop to press the lit button and noticed that the laser gantry was at an angle. The left side is angled toward the front of the machine. Turned off the power.
Can’t do anything tonight, and tomorrow I set up for an arts and crafts show Friday and Saturday.
Seen this problem on the forum so I will do some research and find out what I have to do to fix it.

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This may help when you get back:

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The link that @deirdrebeth gave you might be it, but since you have a Pro machine, there’s one other thing you have to check. Straighten up the laser arm while it is turned off, then watch the machine when you turn it on again, all the way through the startup calibration. If the head bounces when it homes to the upper left corner and the gantry pops forward again on the right side, you might have a dangling red cable under the gantry that will need to be shifted slightly to keep it from hanging up during the homing process.

There’s a way to check for it and fix it…just let me know if it bounces when it starts up.

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The laser arm is forward on the left side (as I am facing the GF). Are we saying the same thing?

Nope! Sorry, my bad, I apparently cannot distinguish between left and right any more. :smile:

Your “right” I’m left.:wink:

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I’m so sorry to hear about the trouble with the laser arm. Were you able to get it back on track?

How to replace the arm:

Is it possible something in your Glowforge blocked your laser arm from moving? Please check around the rails for any obstructions. If there aren’t any, could you please do the following for me?

  1. Turn off your Glowforge
  2. Try gently sliding the laser arm towards you a bit, perhaps moving one side, then the other. Whether or not that works, continue to the next step.
  3. Placing one hand in front and one in back, gently lift up the laser arm on the left side, near where it’s off the track. Make sure your hands grip the metal bar, not the tube itself.
  4. While lifting upwards, roll the the gantry towards you, then farther away a few times. Your goal is to straighten it out, so that it’s parallel to the front door. It will pop back onto the track where it belongs.
  5. Once it’s on the track, place one hand on each side of the laser arm (left and right now, rather than front and back) and roll it to the center of your Glowforge. Then roll it back about three inches, forward to center and then 3 more inches towards you, and then do that a few more times.

If the laser arm goes off the rail, it is also a good idea to check the tension of your belts.

When pressing lightly on one side of the belt, the other side should not move.

Like this:

(You should see an animated image above)

Please let us know how everything goes. If you are still having trouble, please post a photo of the laser arm and we will follow up with additional suggestions.

Animated mage not shown (broken icon)

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Thank you. Following these instructions I was able to get the laser arm back on track. ( I would still like to see the animated image that did not appear in Chealsea’s post).

I also think I found out what caused the arm to be derailed. The draftboard that I was cutting was a full size piece that I had previously cut a section out of. I was attempting to salvage a piece for a box I am making from a section on the left side of the draftboard and I had inadvertently placed the right side of the draftboard so that it interfered with the right hand track and knocked the gantry off.
My bad.

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Thank you for the update. I’m glad to hear that your laser arm is now back to working normally! I’m going to close this thread. I’ll try sending the animated image to you via email to see if you’re then able to view it.