Cleaning the Glowforge

In our Facebook group Live this week we showed you how to clean a Glowforge.  If you missed it, this article will give you a little help with ideas and links.

To start with, make sure your Glowforge is turned off.  It isn’t good to move the laser head when the power is on.

This link from Glowforge support is a great link to follow to get detailed instructions on how to clean a Glowforge. https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033633614-Clean-Your-Glowforge

I think cleaning in this order makes sense so that you don’t have to reclean any surfaces.

1- Turn off the machine

2-  Check out the crumb tray and poke through any stuck pieces.  An Allen Wrench works great for this, also Q-tips work well and clean the little holes too.  Take the crumb tray out and empty it.  Wipe it down with a soft cloth.  If it is really dirty you can pressure wash it or wipe it with rubbing alcohol too.

3- Leaving the crumb tray out, use air or a soft cloth to clean out any debris and dust from the crumb tray area and sides of the laser.  I use a small vacuum with a hose to suck out all the dust from cracks. Wipe down the laser tube and the lid to the Glowforge. 

4- Clean your air assist fan.  I like to follow the Glowforge tutorial on cleaning it.  Here is a link.  https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034142513-Cleaning-Your-Air-Assist-Fan

5- After cleaning the air assist fan, before you put it back on the laser head arm, clean the little fan on back of the laser head.  I do this by blowing it with compressed air.  Next, remove the lens with the blue tool.  Clean the shaft where the lens sits with a Zeiss wipe. Clean the Lens and the 2 small windows.  For instructions on cleaning the lens, follow the link https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033633614-Clean-Your-Glowforge After cleaning the lens and windows put the lens head back on the laser arm.

6- Lift up the lid to the lens house and clean the little blue mirror. Put it back together and secure the lid.

7- Wipe the mirror on the left hand side of the laser head and on the left hand side of the laser.  Make sure these are always clean.  Even a small speck of dust will make cutting not work as well because of a pin point laser the beam will be scattered.

8- Make sure the dimples that the crumb tray goes into on the laser bed are clean from any debris.  

Put the crumb tray back in, make sure it fits completely into the dimples.

You’re done!

Here are some supplies I like to have on hand when cleaning the Glowforge:

• Cotton Swabs
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Soft lint free cloth
• Allen Wrench for poking debris through the crumb tray
• Compressed air.  I use this one. -->
  
• Zeiss wipes
• Small vacuum with a hose