How to remove the side cover from your Glowforge

[@triggaj5279]

You, fine Sir, are a miracle worker! You have no idea the stress I’ve endured the past 48 hrs. My plus wouldn’t focus after a print and my warranty is up. So I started by cleaning it thoroughly and in the midst of that tedious task, I broke a fan blade on the exhaust. FYI, if you need an exhaust replacement, don’t search glowforge exhaust fan replacment as you will get no where. You need the actual fan model # and I only found a few suppliers. Anyways, I stumbled across your video and I managed to remove the cover (thanks too you) and give it the proper cleaning it needed while removing and gluing the fan back together. Once reassembled, I immediately started a print and everything finished up just as it should! You saved me hundreds if not a few thousand $’s and I’m forever grateful. LIKED and SUBSCRIBED! Thank you!

[@mikeamy498]

So glad it helped you. Let us know how that glued fan blade hold up. Thanks for the sub.

[@diamondgaitcreations]

Great Video. Just have to let you know my wife and I are Mike and Amy. You posted this on December 15th. That's my birthday. Thanks for the info.

[@mikeamy498]

Wow! That's cool. Thanks for watching.

[@hlamb68]

This is exactly what I was looking for! I am anal about cleaning my lenses/lid camera lens after every 3rd board just to be safe and make sure that nothing is obstructing the eye beam. Was trying to take off the left side but seemed like the clips were flimsy so haven't tried and just used a soft paintbrush and compressed with my inline on full power to suck any extra dust out. My carriage plate gets cleaned monthly and I'm trying to get it done weekly. So afraid of having a fire due to a little piece of scrap getting caught in the fans! Great video and so helpful, really appreciate you taking the time to show us!

[@mikeamy498]

It was fun Thanks for looking and I'm glad it was helpful.

[@dajahmidgett2753]

Thank you! I been dreading cleaning my GF. This will make it soooo much easier!

[@FilipinaVanLifeAubry]

Wow nice laser printer. I seen this on TV commercial. Very powerful congrats Mike

[@mikeamy498]

Thank you!

[@shastaguay7582]

Thank you! This is a great video. Your machine is so dang clean I thought at first you hadn't used it! I am doing this so I can get to that space in my own machine asap!

[@mikeamy498]

I clean every 20 hrs of use even if I have to clean twice a week. Machines are not meant to be dirty and last a lot longer if kept clean. Only 45 min to deep clean. Thanks for watching.

[@suziecraig9309]

Great Video! You need to make house calls :). I'm going to give it a try this weekend. Mine sounds like a jet taking off when it starts up

[@mikeamy498]

Thanks, for watching. Good luck! You can do it.

[@SleepWithCJ]

Very helpful video. I have to replace my circuit board and this will make it much easier. I’ll do a deep clean once it’s opened up. Mine is embarrassingly dirty after seeing yours. 😊

[@mikeamy498]

Did yours start acting up before the board went out or did it just quit?

[@SleepWithCJ]

@@mikeamy498 it was working fine, then the next time I turned it on it got stuck in focusing and the arm with the laser on it wouldn’t move.

[@mikeamy498]

@@SleepWithCJ yesterday, mine got stuck several times on focusing and after restarting the machine, unplugging for 5 minutes then signing out of GF app and back in, it worked fine for several hrs while loading many different projects of one and two piece designs. Never messed up again. Was pretty odd and guzzling. Are you going to replace your board yourself or? What is the cost of doing that replacement?

[@SleepWithCJ]

@@mikeamy498 I'm going to replace it myself. Seems pretty plug and play. I'm frustrated with it and I won't do a $4700 replacement for my pro - I'll just get something else where I don't have to pay monthly to use it too.

[@mikeamy498]

@@SleepWithCJ I agree, 100 percent. How much was the board to replace?

[@randypeterson6964]

Do those retainer clips push to release or pull to release?

[@mikeamy498]

They pry outward. Toward the inside of the machine.

[@PubUltraStar]

Thank you. This helped!

[@mikeamy498]

Im glad you found it helpful.

[@kristialberson7574]

Did you do the fan on the back side of tube?

[@mikeamy498]

Yes. It is very important to keep it clean as you can so you have max airflow and also to help minimize odors from the burn. If you are speaking of the air assist back and under the gantry, I also clean that, but not as often as I do the exhaust fan.

[@scientist100]

I couldn't even see the fins on mine lol. Just kidding, it was 10x worse for sure and it was starting to make a bit of grinding noises but from the looks of it, you can source this fan as needed, the hard part is installing that fan back, those two bottom bolts are a pain.

[@mikeamy498]

For sure a major pain. I hope I don't need to replace it, but I'm glad to know we can get them. Thanks for watching.

[@bstdias]

Did you or have checked the coolant level?

[@mikeamy498]

No, is that a thing to do?

[@trinalock]

How do you get those bottom screws out of the fan? I am having a difficult time!

[@mikeamy498]

I cut those little bosses out that block the screws. If you have a coil there you cannot do that or if its under warranty you cannot or u void it. Its poor design there.

[@aaronfoster55]

2mm ball head hex screw. $6 on amazon.

[@scientist100]

Getting them out is easy using a ball hex driver, installing them back is where the real deal comes as they are not a snug fit in those fan housing holes, they have so much play, you don't know if they are aligned with the thread guides.