What will be our first queue that our tube is going south? Loss of power is my presumption. So we bump it up … what’s next? 
I know @smcgathyfay, the Laser Lady has been through a few on her Universals.
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Rf lasers act different than glass ones I would think.
Mine would seem full power at the start then shortly after it would lose power. Would cut for maybe the first 20 mins then failed to cut all the way through…
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The voice of experience. That’s what I was looking for, Thank you. 
I would expect the physics to be similar.
Anyone squeeze a glass tube for the last drop?
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Usually once the drop-off is noticeable I just order a replacement. Gonna need it sooner or later and not having to mess with ever changing settings while trying to “squeeze” out the last light beam isn’t worth the couple or three hundred bucks a new tube costs.
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Thank you Sir. 
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I’ve got one that’s on it’s 4th year with moderate use - hobby not commercial, so maybe 10 hours a week. No issues so far. I do have a meter that I can use to measure the power output so I can track to see if it starts to degrade. Can’t use it on the GF because I can’t force it to fire for 30 seconds on the same spot (the meter) so I’ll just rely on the cut results to tell me if it’s starting to fail.
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Where did you get your meter and did it cost you your arm and leg or first born??
Could you do a single dot engrave and ask for 30 passes? (presuming the meter fits in the bed…)
That probably won’t work because that would pulse the laser on and off…you need a steady fire of the beam.
What if you just did a really really small continuously turning spiral in a single spot?
Not sure. Might be able to dig it up though. As I recall a hundredish bucks.
I can get it into the bed okay 
but I’ll have to see how long it takes to engrave a spot and then calculate out how many passes I’d need - would probably need to stack a bunch of different colors so it would stay in one place and burn one to the next without moving or pulsing the laser. Hadn’t thought of that - just need to keep it over the probe for 30 seconds. It’s temperature based so when the block on the end of the material heats to some temperature the scale is calibrated to the power level.
Might. I’ll have to experiment. For other lasers it’s a simple matter of disabling the safeties so I can stick the probe in with the lid up - the end of the probe goes in the beam path. Sometimes carelessness can result in burned digits though 
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You may notice an increase in prints that don’t completely cut through or engraves that are fainter, however, these are things that could also result from dirty or damaged optics. If you’re experiencing problems with your prints the first step would be to post here in Problems and Support or email support@glowforge.com and we can help you determine the cause.
I’m going to close this thread. If you have any other questions please make another thread.
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