Hi everyone, I’m writing this from the United Kingdom to try to understand whether anyone else has encountered the same problems and, if so, whether they were able to find a solution.
The short story is that my Glowforge stopped working a week ago showing an ‘orange light’ fault, which I gather is likely to indicate an issue with overheating or the connection to the laser head. Having ruled out overheating I inspected the white ribbon cable that connects to the head and found that, although the pins looked fine, the cable itself was worn away and the wires broken where it had been rubbing/moving (see picture). After many delays with Glowforge support I’m now told that they can’t send me a replacement part as it’s not ‘qualified.’ I have found a local lazer cutter engineer who can perform the repairs but needs the part. Glowforge can’t tell me when they might be able to supply the cable as a replacement part, or even guarantee that they will ever be able to do this.
The solution they’ve offered is for me to ship the entire machine back to them from the UK to the US. Shipping will cost c.$1000 and between $400-$1000 for the repairs, and I’m certain I’ll be hit with another customs charge when the machine comes back (c. £500 last time). I just can’t afford this money or time to have a cable replaced. Not to mention we are in lockdown.
Glowforge don’t appear to have any local support in the UK or spare parts. I’m at a loss. I’ve had to close my business and I’m left with an expensive 2 year old machine that is completely useless and no plan for how to get it fixed.
I’m wondering whether any has had problems with that same white ribbon cable and how you resolved them? And also, more widely, is anyone in the UK has had hardware faults that they’ve managed to fix locally (with or without support from Glowforge)?
Please, any advice or help you can offer would go a long way as I’m desperate to solve this.
For that kind of money, I’d see if I could get a local electronics shop to make me a replacement. It’s a standard ribbon cable but it’s tricky to get the left end out. You’ll need to take the left top glass off (there are some instructions here but basically there are some tabs under foil tape on the side below the glass, push the tabs and pop off the glass). Then you’ll want to take pictures of everything so you can route the replacement back correctly.
You’ll be able to remove the existing one and then bring it to your shop to replicate. You’ll need the correct number of wires and proper connectors. They should do a continuity check on every wire so they get them in the right place in the connectors keeping in mind that there’s likely to be one or two that are broken in the connector or the ribbon cable.
Also check out the openglow forum where you’ll find a fair amount of disassembly and parts info. Perhaps it’s a standard cable that can be purchased without the need for the custom shop. I haven’t looked lately.
Wow, that is frustrating. It is really too bad they made the machine with such a vital cable being difficult to replace. Any moving cable should be considered a wear item. And even if it is difficult to replace, they should sell the part if you’re out of warranty.
Thanks for the advice James, I’ve had a look on the openglow forum (which I didn’t even know existed) and posted there for help. I can’t see anything specific to the white cable but will keep looking. You mentioned “some instructions here” - sorry, where do you mean? Keen to get all the info before I start pulling the machine apart. But yes, if Glowforge can’t supply a new lead I’ll have to try and source or have one made elsewhere. It shouldn’t be this way though. Machine is only two years old.
Thanks @GrooveStranger, much appreciated. And you’re absolutely right - if the design of the machine wears a cable out it should be possible to replace it without shipping the whole machine across the world. I’ve seen on other forum posts that they’ve been sending out other replacement cables (I.e the one connecting the lid to the body of the machine). We’ve been sending emails every day to make the case but haven’t heard anything back in the last week. All the time the machine doesn’t work my business can’t operate. Really frustrating!
You’re going to have to search for it. I don’t remember the thread it was on - I think one of the fan cleaning or fan grille removal threads. One of the regular guys on here posted how he got the left top glass off when he was trying for an easier way to get to his fan.
If you look inside against the left side wall of the machine there some foil tape up near the top where the top & side meet. If you run your fingers along it you’ll feel the depressions where the top’s tabs slide into the side. You’ll have to peel or cut the foil tape away. If I recall, you then press the tabs outward and upward to free them. I think there are three but I don’t recall for sure.
Be careful and use plastic tools like a plastic scraper to slide into the top panel seam. You want a wide & somewhat soft prying tool (vs a flatblade screwdriver).
Take pictures as you go. You could help the next guy
Popping off the glass cover takes seconds with an angled tool, I used one designed for auto trim removal. It doesn’t take any force to remove. You won’t find info here because the machine can operate with that panel removed, which would be a huge safety risk (and hence liability.) I posted my method on openglow (same username.)
Yeah, I have a set of those but not sure where I got them so couldn’t recommend a source to anyone (except maybe Amazon ). Yellow nylon I think. For some reason I also have a set of metal ones.
). Yellow nylon I think. For some reason I also have a set of metal ones. 
