So, I have owned the glowforge 10 days. Made about 40 cuts/engraves with it.
Head no longer moves when powered on.
Done all the things.
Cleaned lens, cleaned laser, checked cables, cleaned bed, turned on and off, followed every applicable troubleshooting step.
I must say I am very disappointed to have spend $7k in total for it to fail within 10 days of mild use (I am still learning).
Now I must wait for support to get back to me, wait for them to remote troubleshoot (of which there likely will be very little to do since head doesn’t move), then pack it up and ship it to them.
THEN, when I get a replacement it will be a refurbished one. I have to say, I am having a bit of buyers remorse right now. I expected there not to be a complete failure this quickly. I get man made things break, I work in tech, I understand that. I guess I am just venting.
Bottom line, in my mind, a $7000 item shouldn’t fail within 10 days of purchase.
It shouldn’t, but if it’s going to fail, the first few months of service is the most likely time. That’s why there is a warranty. I went through a similar situation, but GF sup port was great, they shipped me a new unit before I returned the broken one & I have been super happy ever since. Believe me, give it a chance and you’ll love it!
Your Glowforge was able to connect successfully to your network, but it may be having trouble maintaining a stable connection. When this is the case, you won’t need to go through Wi-Fi setup again, but you may see an “Offline” message.
The most common solution to Wi-Fi challenges is to restart all the devices involved in connecting to the internet.
Turn off the computer, phone, or tablet that you’re using
Turn off your Glowforge
Unplug your modem
Unplug your Wi-Fi access point
Wait one minute, then plug everything back in and turn them back on
If that doesn’t work, we have two more suggestions that often make a big difference:
Improve the signal path between your Glowforge and your Wi-Fi access point
Wi-Fi signals need a clear path. Remove physical barriers, and move devices closer together:
Move your Wi-Fi access point up high and make sure it’s in an open space. Avoid locating your Wi-Fi access point on the ground, under a desk, in a cabinet, or in a corner where its signal can be blocked.
Relocate your Wi-Fi access point closer to your Glowforge
Move your Glowforge closer to your Wi-Fi access point
Install a Wi-Fi range extender closer to your Glowforge
Run an ethernet cable and install a second Wi-Fi access point next to your Glowforge
Reduce electronic and Wi-Fi interference
If your unit is near other devices that use Wi-Fi or a large number of electronics, temporarily turn off other electronics and devices in the area.
I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any other questions.
And if you continue to have trouble that clearly isn’t Wi-Fi related, please let us know and we’ll take another look.
I have no idea what they’ve seen in your logs, not privy to that, but the initial head movement you reference is dependent upon having a stable connection. The system boots and takes an image of the bed, transmits to servers, an algorithm determines the current location of the head, sends a motion plan back to the system, program runs and moves the head under the camera, another picture is taken, and it basically does that until it has locked onto and calibrated itself to the logo on top of the head.
That makes sense. Connectivity stability is not a concern considering the proximity, power of device and hardware I am using to ensure a good network connection for wireless.
When GF chose not to do Ethernet, that’s also didn’t chose the best of WiFi chips apparently. Those of us that have been here a while have seen a great many issues that trace back to giant headscratchers of WiFi issues. We’ve even seen APs too close to the GF and it couldn’t handle being screamed at. And they really are very sensitive to any anomalous EM noise. Some just don’t like certain radios. One guy had to pull out an old router to re-setup a machine. Swapped back to the new router and the laser didn’t notice but it just would not allow the setup page to run on the new one.
I don’t recall the issues one person had on a mesh node in a remote guest house. But it didn’t make much sense. Especially after the whole node was re-setup and everything functioned perfectly.
It’s as if there’s no redundancy and the GF radios can’t tolerate the slightest of dropped packets or they just freak.
The dumb part is, it detects instantly when I open the lid. The head just never moves to start the focus process. I have resetup wifi a number of times. Nothing.
I’m glad you were able to get you back up and printing.
I’m not sure of the details. The team is still investigating, but I don’t think it was anything you did.
I’m going to close this thread - if you run into any more trouble, go ahead and post a new topic. Thanks for letting us know about this, and I’m so sorry again for the trouble!