191–200 of 216 posts
It's not just cloud connected, it's cloud dependent. It requires internet access and their cloud services to function at all. That's kind of disappointing.
He has just made a commitment to release the firmware as GPL[0] when the device launches. It is user flashable. [0] http://glowforge.com/gpl-licensed-open-source-firmware-for-g...
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CEO/Founder of Glowforge here. There are a bunch of lasers billed as 40W on ebay and amazon, but please look really carefully before you buy one. The mostly-harmless part is the lousy interface, overrated tube, and inability to cut (the motion controller only supports raster mode). The worrisome parts are the ungrounded case, high voltage wires that are usually but not always firmly attached, and lack of an interlock…
Can you talk a bit about the tube? Is it DC or RF excited? Who is making it?
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Why hell would it need this? I would really like to know as well. Was seriously about to place an order for a Pro but this leaves me wondering...
Just speculating here, but it could be similar to how Google such do voice controls. Meaning that there is some processing that needs to take place that is offloaded to some server cluster somewhere, rather than attempting to do it locally.
This looks like a decent laser but I thought I'd post a few thoughts about this package which might give a potential buyer pause. First, the main unique feature I see is the built in camera which apparently gives you a preview of cut/engraved finished part on your computer screen with the material as it's positioned inside the machine. This also (apparently, it's not clear), allows you to correct for misaligned mater…
I suppose one way to solve this problem is to make sure that as much of the machine as possible in the cutting area is made of non-flammable material. Even if a fire starts it won't spread. Not possible with this one though, as the housing seems to be made of plastic.
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Have some cartridge of CO2 inside that is getting released in such scenario? There's not much volume inside so it should do the job. IANAF, just wondering.
For a while I've been wondering if you could flood the chamber of a laser cutter with CO_2 routinely, not just to prevent fires but to prevent the scorching that laser cutting leaves on wood. If that would consume too much CO_2, would it be workable to instead spray it topically onto the point of the cut, a bit like the inert shielding gases that some forms of arc welding use?
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He has just made a commitment to release the firmware as GPL[0] when the device launches. It is user flashable. [0] http://glowforge.com/gpl-licensed-open-source-firmware-for-g...
Due to the excellent suggestions here, in large part. Thanks for the feedback, both positive and critical.
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> If you have been following the whole Makerbot Industries (and then Stratasys) debacle, seeing the name of Jennifer Lawton might give you pause. For those of us who haven't been, can you give a TL;DR version of why this is significant?
The TL;DR is that she was part of creating a toxic environment within the company, shipped a product they knew was defective (Makerbot fifth generation), misled the shareholders (of Stratasys) and ultimately cost Stratasys hundreds of millions. For the slightly longer version the class action lawsuit conatins a lot more detail: http://www.adafruit.com/pdfs/makerbot/classaction.pdf You can also check out Glassdoor rev…
Yikes. Clogged extruders and many software problems:
http://nicklievendag.com/makerbot-replicator-5th-generation-...
It calls itself a 3D laser printer. It's a 2D laser cutter.
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Is it true the machine requires connection to internet or your cloud to cut or engrave? I was about to order a Pro until I read this in the comments. I expect to be able to use this machine with my laptop running some program and "send to laser", no internet connection required.
Cofounder/CEO here, just finished with Makercon and catching up. The Glowforge does require a cloud connection to operate. We use cloud vs. local a host of reasons including the motion planner, alignment, image recognition, and faster feature development. But based on the excellent point made here that nobody wants a paperweight if we fall off the globe, we decided to make a change. We're going to do a GPL release of…