The Gloworge is amazing but it does have one exhausting problem what's up
I'm Jonathan and welcome to Maker Tales where I'm showing my maker journey to
help you feel further in yours so don't forget to subscribe and hit that little
bell icon to never miss an opportunity to keep making yes the glowforge is a
great laser cutter so far when it comes to cutting quality I would say it's one
of the best I've ever used however one of the very key things of any laser is
maintenance especially when it comes to cleaning so getting right to the crook
of the problem that glowforge is extremely compact and with such
compactness comes a huge downfall in accessibility if you're watching this
there is a good chance that you've had a glowforge for a few months and have
noticed a buildup on your exhaust fan or maybe even a few years and have been
battling with this problem on and off trying all types of awkward solutions to
clean that exhaust fan but never getting quite the desired outcome of getting
that fan looking good as new before I go any further I need to point out right now
that what I'm about to show you is not glowforge approved however in my eyes I
would say it's easier and perhaps even safer than their current solution to see
the official glowforge exhaust fan cleaning solution please check the link
in the description lastly and unfortunately for you glowforge pro
users this guide is not going to be of much help as you have a giant heatsink
in the way however for you glowforge basic and glowforce plus
users here we go to be able to clean your fan really well we're
going to need to remove it from the glowforge to do this you're going to need
a two millimeter hex ball end allen key plus a little secret custom tool that
I'll reveal later on when it's time to put your fan back into place so watch
this video in full before trying this yourself if you don't have a ball and
allen key I strongly recommend the investment I tried for two hours without
one to no success to be able to do what I
can do now within five minutes with a ball end in other
words it's almost impossible without a ball and allen key now with the correct
tool let me try and help guide you through the maze that is fan removal
first and most importantly unplug your Glowforge from the wall now let's head
into the back left side of the Glowforge here you will find your glowforge
exhaust fan secured by four screws the top two screws are very easy you can
just undo them pull them out and keep them somewhere safe now the challenge
begins starting with a bottom left screw align that Allen ball hex key to the
center of the screw once the key is in the screw lower the angle down to as
shallow as you can to then undo the screw once undone you will need to take
the screw out to be able to remove the fan to remove this screw pull it as far
out as it goes until it hits a little stub on the base of the glowforge
enclosure at this point you need to push the screw head to the right to be able
to pull out the screw on the right hand side of that stub it can be a little
fiddly but this is the easiest point of entry for this screw three down one to
go this last one is exactly the same as the bottom left one apart from the
removal process find the center with the key lower the angle and undo once undone
and once again you're going to have to pull out this screw to be able to remove
the fan so what you're going to do is pull out the screw until you hit a
little stub that again is on the base of the glowforge enclosure and once again
you're going to push the head of the screw to the right however this time you
are also going to grab the fan and give it the slightest of rotations
counterclockwise to be able to help the screw come out on the right hand side of
the stub once you have removed all the screws is time to
plug your fan while doing this be gentle and make sure you press the release clip
on the plug I'm not going to guide you on how to clean laser gunk however please
keep safe use a mask gloves and any other protection you think is necessary
one thing I will tell you is don't let the fan spin freely at high speed while
cleaning it as there is a high possibility of frying the internal
circuit board if you do let this happen now with our good as new fan in hand
let's reinstall it the steps are relatively the same as the
removal process but reversed and with a little secret custom tool which are
these 3d printed screw guides these guides are needed to reinstall the
bottom two screws as it's almost impossible to align the screws with the
fan mount without being able to see them trust me I know I tried for two hours
before I made these guides so with these guides in hand let's install them onto
the fan before putting the fan into the glowforge they are both exactly the same
and pressure fit into place the bottom-right-hand one stays flush to the
fan and the bottom left-hand one comes out a little bit on the bottom left the
key thing here is to make sure that the holes align
when it comes to the installation you're starting with the bottom right one first
I you can't really put this in with the screw already in because there isn't
space between the nub and the screw hole to have the screw in to be able to drop
this in and then press it again so you have to put the screw while it goes in
so you put this down in you push this into position then you grab your screw
and what you're doing is you're going from the right coming in from the right
you go in at an angle you remember that you twist this fan
you carry on pushing it in you get past the nub you can then twist the fan back
you then push this screw this way cause it presses against the 3d print and then
you push it to the end and that there will be reaching where it needs to
tighten now usually I just spin this with my thumb a little bit just so it
bites and then I go back small edit then I put in the two top screws to
carry on putting in the two bottom with this one remember you're coming at it
from an angle a shallow angle like this because it's a ball you'll be able to
still twist it when you're at that angle is your closer look there
because it's a ball hex you'll still be able to twist it at that angle and then
that's how you tighten it up remember only use two fingers it doesn't have to
be nucular tight because this is only plastic and the same with the other side
this time round you have the nub right here you're coming at it from the right
it will stick out from the left you go past the nub then you can pull it back
to go into the channel and then go back to tighten it up with all that done
you now have a method to remove clean and reinstall your exhaust fan in
minutes all useful links are in the description and the 3d printable file is
free to download for the next three months and is forever available for my
patrons however if you don't have a 3d printer and still want to get a hold of
these guides I'm offering a place where you can buy them where they were created
by me in the description to a huge thank you to my patrons as you guys are
awesome I really hope this came in handy thanks for watching keep making and
let the quest continue