Glowforge - Desktop Laser Engraver

[culturejam]

I do love me some gadgets.

https://glowforge.com

They have a model for ~$2.5k (40W). Not too shabby for a laser of that power. And they have an optional air filter so you don't have to vent the machine through a window or other opening. And it's got a built-in camera! Pretty sweet.

[alparent]

WOW! To bad the CAD$ is worth crap these days 

[groovenut]

That's a pretty well thought out design and the initial buy in @ $2400 for the basic no air filter model is a good price point. Now, where can I find $2400 my wife doesn't know about......

[pickdropper]

I'm a bit skeptical that it will do all that it say (not that it ever happens on Kickstarter) but it could be cool.

The camera tracing filter part looks cool.  If that works as advertised, it's really neat.

The lack of ventilation and air flow would scare me, though.  I've seen acrylic burst into flame while being cut.  Our FFX laser actually pulls air across the acrylic as it is cutting; this is needed to put out the flames.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zombie_rock123]

I recently got burned on Kickstarter - Peachy Printer, gutted for the founder and hope he can continue - but love browsing the technology sections for ideas like this

[selfdestroyer]

I recently got burned on Kickstarter - Peachy Printer, gutted for the founder and hope he can continue - but love browsing the technology sections for ideas like this like this.

more info:
http://www.peachyprinter.com/

wow what a interesting read that was.. never heard of this "hot mess" of a kick starter.

Cody

[zombie_rock123]

Yeah it seems like the perfect 'I told you so' for people who treat KS as an online shop. Im more bummed out for the creator than my money.

[matmosphere]

When you said laser printer that is not what I had imagined.

That thing is cool as hell.

[pickdropper]

Well, it's going to be delayed 6 months:

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/glowforge-delays-shipments-28m-crowdfunding-campaign-ceo-says/

A bit surprised the delay is because of a power supply issue.  I'm curious what the extent of the issue is.

[Martan]

Just started using a laser cutter for some pedal stuff. Etching powder coats and etching Rowmark Laser max reaks! And that's with an industrial air filter/fume hood vent. It looks like they are suggesting having it in the den to make stuff with the kids

[lousaad]

This is very cool, but I'd like to see the price drop by half to be realistic for home use.

[pickdropper]

Just started using a laser cutter for some pedal stuff. Etching powder coats and etching Rowmark Laser max reaks! And that's with an industrial air filter/fume hood vent. It looks like they are suggesting having it in the den to make stuff with the kids

This x1000.  And that is just etching.  Cutting without proper ventilation is just flat out unsafe.  You can burn your house down.  When we got the FFX laser, we didn't put it in my house because I don't have the space to run proper ventilation.  Going by memory, I think we spent about $1.5k on the fan and duct work alone for the Epilog laser we got.

Maybe they have some unique trick to avoid that, but I'm not sure what it is.  If I believed this was viable, I would've bought one already.  I could really use a smaller, cheaper laser for prototyping at home.  I'll wait and see how it works out, but I'm skeptical.  I'd love to be proven wrong.

[pickdropper]

This is very cool, but I'd like to see the price drop by half to be realistic for home use.

Good laser cutting is annoyingly expensive.  There are cheap Chinese machines out there for half the price of the Glowforge if you want something inexpensive for home.  I believe some even have proper ventilation.

[pickdropper]

On a positive note, I do think some of the features the Glowforge claims might push the bigger laser companies to incorporate some of the camera features.  I think some of the bigger companies maybe aren't pushing the envelope as much as they could as far as innovation.  Kickstarter is great because it puts new ideas out there.

[culturejam]

Yeah, I really want to see how this works out. It certainly *looks* like a solid machine.

Regarding the cheap Chinese units, if you already know a lot about how laser engravers work and know how to adjust/tweak them, they can be quite workable. But if you're new to it, you probably don't know enough to overcome the flaws in the machine. That's my assessment after reading a lot of reviews and forum posts.