So ive been dealing with my Glowforge flaming for the past 2 months. I have been back and forth with the customer service sense. I got sent a replacement refurbished model and opened it and its flaming also. I let them know and they gave me a copy and paste message about it being my materal.
I understand what they are saying that it could be the materals however i know several people with the glowforge that use the same acrylic i do (brand and everything) and they do not have flames at all. We use the same settings and everything. Why is it that im having these issues can anyone(mainly glowforge) please explain that to me. Im simply just trying to run my business and this is a MAJOR set back.
Maybe we can all chime in on this to develop a good list of things to control which can affect flaming:
Assuming this is cutting. Do you have flames when engraving?
speed of cut
power of cut
does it punch through the material?
Masking type
Air assist fan clean/occluded
Exhaust fan clean/off/blocked/dirty
Design details, especially close together cuts.
Lens position: right side up?
Focus height: Set Focus?
Material–does it flare with other materials?
Perception: what is normal and abnormal flare?
Material thickness
Power range: test with 1% power 10 % power 20 % power, etc. all the way to Full power using the same speed. For medium acrylic it would need to be around 160 to not have a giant conflagration on full power.
Yes, the clean machine is controlled for here, but the lens is something you might want to check, just in case it was factory installed wrong. Same with the head 45 degree mirror on the top. Should be clean and angled right, but there have been instances of misalignment in there.
Can you post some pictures of the flame for perspective? The air assist usually takes care of that flame up. Just trying to think of all the things that might be going on.
It seems so strange that there is flame up with a new machine. This is relatively rare. Not unheard of, but usually easily sourced. I’m stumped. If I have time tonight to fire mine up, I’ll do some more snooping while it’s cutting to see what else I can think of.
The air assist does take care of it For now but ive had the machine for 6 months and should not be having this problem at all. Im at the point that i wanna just send it back and not have to deal with the issues anymore. Its just caused so much trouble and i feel like its to risky to use it because i dont want it to catch fire. I mean i work from home and im ALWAYS in the room with it i look inside it as it cuts about 250x within an hour and brings me to tears every time. The replacement is currently back in the box because im afraid to use it. (Btw i got the plus)
For remote troubleshooting support will ask you to print the GOGM “gift of good measure” on a proofgrade material because it demonstrates engrave, score and cut, all the aspects of the machine’s operation on a known file. that way they can evaluate it’s operation.
When you cut or engrave does the smoke blow straight to the front?
Since this problem is being seen on materials that were purchased from another company, we can’t offer support for prints that don’t come out as expected. Materials may vary widely from piece to piece, even if they’re created by the same manufacturer. I’m going to move it to Beyond the Manual so other folks here can help. Should this happen with a print on Proofgrade materials, please open a new ticket in Problems and Support and we’ll help you right away!