Just Pre-Ordered the Glowforge Laser Cutter!

Guys this is a nice little hobby machine and I am sure that they will sell a ton and get the bugs worked out but let me say a few things about laser cutting

1) The filter on this is SO small that it will need to have the activated carbon replaced VERY often. (Google laser cutter carbon filter and look at the size of most of the ones available and you will see what I mean)

2) If you put this thing in your house, do not be surprised when you burn your whole house down. This is a laser and it BURNS through stuff and yes things do occasionally set on fire.

3) If you do put it in your house (See number 2) and you put it in your kitchen your house is going to STINK! I don't care what they say if you cut leather your house will smell like burning flesh. If you cut acrylic your house will smell of plastic that has been set on fire, not to mention that laser cut acrylic off gasses for a while after cutting and it smells terrible. If you cut wood your house will smell like a nice cook fire which some people like and some people hate.

Laser cutters are dirty, stinky, smelly awesome pieces of machinery.

My recommendation, don't be fooled by CSI style marketing videos.

Greg
 
I agree..

I'm not saying it junk (to be clear).. I'm saying learn what you get and dont.. and what the limitations are.

only being able to print on something .5 to max 1.5in in height is limiting out of the gate IMHO..

but I suppose it DOES fit A LOT of the most used materials, *cast acrylic, thin ply, paper, leathers...etc

ALso the tube wattage also usually dictates how DEEP it can cut (and through materials)



question for you fans:

So it has a 'multi-purpose' head on it?......yes?

I know it laser cuts somewhat... but would like to know about the print/3D printing aspects..

Where does the 3D part come into play from the name? Does it really do 3D printing?

What about the printing part? ink? any special kind? cost on replacements?
 
Guys this is a nice little hobby machine and I am sure that they will sell a ton and get the bugs worked out but let me say a few things about laser cutting

1) The filter on this is SO small that it will need to have the activated carbon replaced VERY often. (Google laser cutter carbon filter and look at the size of most of the ones available and you will see what I mean)

2) If you put this thing in your house, do not be surprised when you burn your whole house down. This is a laser and it BURNS through stuff and yes things do occasionally set on fire.

3) If you do put it in your house (See number 2) and you put it in your kitchen your house is going to STINK! I don't care what they say if you cut leather your house will smell like burning flesh. If you cut acrylic your house will smell of plastic that has been set on fire, not to mention that laser cut acrylic off gasses for a while after cutting and it smells terrible. If you cut wood your house will smell like a nice cook fire which some people like and some people hate.

Laser cutters are dirty, stinky, smelly awesome pieces of machinery.

My recommendation, don't be fooled by CSI style marketing videos.

Greg

I totally agree. Anyone using that in their kitchen unless cutting chocolate is a dolt. LOL
Even with a filter, it needs to be vented outdoors.
 
question for you fans:

So it has a 'multi-purpose' head on it?......yes?

I know it laser cuts somewhat... but would like to know about the print/3D printing aspects..

Where does the 3D part come into play from the name? Does it really do 3D printing?

What about the printing part? ink? any special kind? cost on replacements?



I find their 3d claim to be one of the biggest red flags. This is pretty much a standard laser-cutter/engraver with perhaps some innovation in the camera system. But is only does 3d in the sense that you can cut out flat parts and then assemble them.

No machine is maintenance free. Hasn't happened yet, probably never will.

But the biggest red flag is their laissez faire attitude that I see in the videos. As others have stated, this is a laser. It burns things, it can and will catch fire if care is not taken. Guaranteed, someone will burn their house down with one of these.

Not trying to poop on anybody's parade. I've been running lasers for over 15 years and just trying to say be cautious of all the claims GF is making.
 
ok.. so this is just a 'laser cutter' then? (I want to be clear)...lol

what were the pieces being cut out and then 'coloring' red? (two tone/layer material/wood, .. and not not 'spraying/coloring' of some kind?)

If thats the case, your in the same league price wise as an FLS system, which I have to say is probably more robust/versatile in comparison.

I have a big exhaust on mine, vented from basement to outside... I wouldnt want to be making runs of parts cut from baltic birch ply or anything.. ha

also.. is there an 'air-assist' anywhere?

Let me tell if you dont have 'something' in place for that, you'll be catching fire in no time!

not what I think that Cricut target audience is ready for.

Cricut also has a proprietary cartridge business model...no? (And thats what these guys might be going toward as well?)
 
ok.. so this is just a 'laser cutter' then? (I want to be clear)...lol

what were the pieces being cut out and then 'coloring' red? (two tone/layer material/wood, .. and not not 'spraying/coloring' of some kind?)

If thats the case, your in the same league price wise as an FLS system, which I have to say is probably more robust/versatile in comparison.

I have a big exhaust on mine, vented from basement to outside... I wouldnt want to be making runs of parts cut from baltic birch ply or anything.. ha

also.. is there an 'air-assist' anywhere?

Let me tell if you dont have 'something' in place for that, you'll be catching fire in no time!

not what I think that Cricut target audience is ready for.

Cricut also has a proprietary cartridge business model...no? (And thats what these guys might be going toward as well?)

This is a laser cutter. It cuts up to 1/4" stock. Plywood, plexi, etc. Can print double thickness with their software that once the 1/2" thick object is flipped over, the software rescans, aligns, and mirrors the image for the second cut. You won't be doing any of that with any home use laser system on the market.

Cutter has air assist, obviously. The piece with two tone is an example of materials you can buy directly from Glowforge for two tone cutting/etching. They will be selling their own materials, for non-makers for ease of use.
 
Other places sell the same 'two tone/colored' materials.. paper/ply...etc..

I just thought it was a bit mis-leading with the name (3D/printer).... and they show that in the vid.



I'd be curious to see how well the 'flip me over' and cut again to do 1/2 thick materials really works.

Where are the specs on the air-assist? (I must have missed them)
 
This is a laser cutter. It cuts up to 1/4" stock. Plywood, plexi, etc. Can print double thickness with their software that once the 1/2" thick object is flipped over, the software rescans, aligns, and mirrors the image for the second cut. You won't be doing any of that with any home use laser system on the market.

It is absolutely no problem to flip material and engrave the other side on any laser. Do it every day.

I'm sorry, but the more I look at their website, the more dangerous I think their approach to selling this is. They say that their basic laser is "just like a DVD player" and requires no special precautions. Uhh... Hello, it's a 40 watt CO2 laser that burns things. It absolutely requires precautions.

Again, not saying it's not a good product. I just see some misleading and downright dangerous things in the way they are advertising it.

- - - Updated - - -

Laser Engraver: No Special Precautions Taken.

sqh6r7.jpg
 
Flip and ENGRAVE is no problem, they are saying you can easily cut halfway through a material then flip and CUT the other half of it. It is incredibly difficult to line up cut lines when you flip something, so much so that I never do it.

It is absolutely no problem to flip material and engrave the other side on any laser. Do it every day.
 
I've used laser cutters during the fab. academy course I partook in a few years ago and have been reading up on laser cutters ever since. I could never justify spending 15 0r 20k euro's on an industrial one. When I saw the glowforge on tested I was really excited and I took a couple of days to read comments, reviews etc before I decided to spend my money on this. Now I've preordered the Pro version of this incredible machine. Even though shipping to Europe is $954!

I like the "apple" approach of this machine. Easy to use without needing an engineering degree. I love the camera system. Really hope that pans out as they say it does. I'm very excited and am aware of all the 'could-go-wrong" scenarios on cloud computing, venting etc etc. As soon as this arrives (I'm thinking end of Q2 2016....) I'll be sure to partake in the community to share my experiences.

iDD
 
At first I thought it was a laser printer,. then a laser sintering device,. Then I realized it was a laser CUTTER!!! I'd always wanted one. So me and my brother is pooling our moneys together.

We should try and get a dedicated glowforge (and laser cutter) forum on therpf for sharing tips and tricks, settings, experiances and files even. I might have to recut my early Dredd productions as I wasn't too good with the blade then..

Name of the forum? Glowforge buddies, haha

Anyway, here is my referer code:

http://glowforge.com/referred/?kid=XWScsz
 
Glowforge Laser Cutter: Many Questions Answered

Hello all, I'm not sure where to post this thread so apologies if it's misplaced.

So, I've been researching the Glowforge for awhile now and I finally pulled the trigger to buy one, but not before asking them a TON of questions first. SO to any prospective buyers out there I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some of the things I've learned about this thing.

Here is my email exchange with one of there customer service people, who responded very quickly to all my questions:



Air filter
If I go with the glow forge basic, Can I Purchase the filter separably and add it on? If so will it cost $500 or the $1000 at full price? Does the air filter use a proprietary refill? if so how long will it last and how much do refills cost?

You can buy an air filter, upgrade from Basic to Pro, and add units to your order. You can upgrade any time between now and shortly before we ship your Glowforge (we will notify you when that is about to happen). To do this, click "owners", set up a password or log in, and click "upgrades" in the upper-right corner. However, we have not announced pricing after the preorder campaign is over - upgrade pricing will likely not remain the same.
It's difficult for us to predict how often your filter cartridge will need to be replaced because it depends not just on how much you use it but on the material you use. Hardwoods aren't very taxing but plywood might be, depending entirely on the glue (which is usually hard to figure out). It's varies a great deal, with light users pushing past a year between changes, and heavy users who are cutting nonstop turning them over as often as every month or so. When you do need to replace the filter, though, Glowforge will notify you. It's a custom filter and we're working on filter pricing, but we expect it's going to come in under $250.



Software
I know that using cloud computing is a major reason why the Glowforge is cheaper than competitors, but I'm also concerned about what would happen to my Glowforge if for whatever reason we can no longer use the Glowforge servers. Is there any plans on releasing software that can run the Glowforge locally? Also I've heard rumor of a subscription model in the future, Will I eventually have to pay a monthly fee to use the cloud software?

Many of Glowforge's coolest features are possible because we are running the software in cloud servers. At some point we'd like to make fully offline printing possible, although it may not have all the features of online printing.
Most print jobs fit in the Glowforge's local print queue, so you just need the connection to start the print. If you lose connectivity while printing it will finish. However, bigger jobs may not fit and are sent down in smaller pieces. If you lose connectivity during a big print it will finish what it was doing, pause, and wait for connectivity to resume.
In the mean time, should something happen to us, the firmware is flashable by the owner. You can read a bit more about this here:
http://glowforge.com/blog/gpl-licensed-open-source-firmware-for-glowforge/
There's no cost for you to print things with the Glowforge cloud service. It's free, included in your purchase price. There is no paid subscription required, and everything that we describe doing in the crowdfunding video is included (except for purchasing premium prints from the Catalog, of course).



Maintenance

The way the video on your site looks it appears that there is little maintenance needed. But I know laser tubes don't last forever, what is the projected lifespan of the tube and tube specs, and where will I be able to source a new tube when the time comes?

The Glowforge tube is custom made - it's bigger than most desktop units (850mm) and has some modifications for longer lifetime and smaller spot size. It's rated by the manufacturer for 2 years, but we're doing lifetime testing now to dial that in a little more closely. We plan to have a replacement available for for less than $500.
We're working to make Glowforge incredibly easy to use. In fact, at Maker Faire, we did 150 prints - most of which were done by children! But the software and hardware are also powerful, and we want to be sure you know how to use them efficiently and safely.
Glowforge will come with online training information to help you learn how to use it quickly. You will also have access to support staff online for any problems that you might have.




3D Engraving
I know other laser printers can cut using a grayscale image to vary the power of the laser that will engrave at different depths to create a 3D relief. In the Tested video Dan hinted that this would be possible, do you know if this feature will be added?

Glowforge has very flexible engraving capabilities. It can engrave multiple passes, removing a little each time. It can change focus with each engraving pass. It can even engrave with variable power. To accomplish this, you use a greyscale bitmap. The darker the pixel, the more power the laser will use when engraving it.

I'm not sure if everyone can view their forum or just people who have pre-ordered, but here is a link: http://community.glowforge.com/

I've always wanted a laser cutter, but they've always been super expensive and this one is under $2,000 (while the pre-order lasts, only 6 more days!) which is crazy cheap and the software that comes with it looks super user friendly and can do some really cool things that other laser printers can not. It's not perfect of course, It can't engrave on objects that are thicker than 1.5" (not a deal breaker), it mostly relies on cloud computing (although it sounds like that will change), and I'm not a big fan of their over use of buzz words to advertise the thing calling it a "3D Laser Printer" whatever that means. I could also fault them on not being up front on some of the questions I asked above, but it seems like they are still hammering out the details. Plus you can cancel anytime until the thing ships (probably Q1 or Q2 2016). But overall I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this!

If anyone wants to chime in with concerns about this thing or more questions I should find out about please let me know! I hope this helps!!

P.S. If this was helpful to anyone please consider using my Referral code to get us both $100 off, I could sure use the help! http://glowforge.com/referred/?kid=rKrumF
 
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2) Cloud Tech.
[...]
b) If glowforge goes under, upgrades to a new machine in a few years and decides to no longer support the old machine (happens all the time!) then you again have a several thousand dollar paperweight.
This! This is the biggest reason why I am not too excited about this machine.

It does have some nice capabilities, and seems to be very easy to use, but a machine that needs the cloud even though it should not have to is just silly and not something that I would be willing to lay my hard-earned cash on.

I wouldn't mind having to subscribe to firmware updates, as long as that is clear up front, and the machine is not automatically bricked when the subscription runs out or they decide to stop supporting it. I don't want uncertainties. I want to be certain about what I pay for is what I get, and that I get to keep it.

The other discrepancies seem to be able to remedy with some tinkering. Not that I would really want to. I don't want to tinker with tools before they are ready to be used - I am too impatient.
 
The mirrors cannot be misaligned due to the enclosed system they use. It will never need calibration, or adjustment.
So the issue with it being in injected molded plastic housing is moot, as is the cloud tech. As I previously mentioned, they are releasing the full software under the GPL so you can run it on a local machine, removing the need for internet access to use it. =)


That wont stop a fire starting if a mirror cracks and the beam fires everywhere.

Judging by the size of the machine the custom tube is nothing more than a 700mm 40w DC tube so cutting 6mm stock is going to be tough for it.

A few other points, I didn't see an air assist so thats a major downside(it may have one, but I didnt see it). The software is kind of cool but nothing new and the autofocus has been done before(by me :D).
The air purifier seems like a gimmick too, not the idea of an air purifier just their purifier. My purifier costs me £2k and £500 a refill and the fan isn't small and it's quite noisy. I wouldn't trust my health to a small purifier that could have been designed by someone without a clue, these fumes cause cancer guys!
13mm focus adjustment is daft too, most can do at least 50mm, more if the bed is adjustable too.
Cutting thick plexi or plywood by flipping wont work, all lasers cut at a slight angle because of the way the laser is focused(hourglass shaped at the point of focus). The edges wont be straight.

It's coming across as the Apple of laser cutters, add a fancy gui onto a chinese design.
 
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