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Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

glowforge.com

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Re: Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

#91

Post by jstsch »

fit2rule wrote: post #32
3dfan wrote: post #5

In the video, at about 13:40 they reveal that to print you have to use the web interface which runs "On Googles Cloud". I would not like the interface to my own printer to be "In the Google cloud". Does that mean when the company goes out of business, the printer is bricked? And right after, they admit that they plan adding paid services. Oh oh. How will thesed paid services be announced? I can imagine how. Whenever…

Open source to the rescue: https://github.com/kallaballa/ctrl-cut

Ctrl-cut is great. I love that it uses SVG plus some additional XML DTD attributes as its file format.

Time for some reverse engineering if you can only cut via Glowforge's servers...

Re: Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

#93

Post by rellik »

cptskippy wrote: post #49

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.

What a shame... I am in the market for a home laser to replace the Epilog I use (at a makerspace), and this looks amazing. I won't be buying it if it's cloud-only, though. :(

Re: Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

#94

Post by llamataboot »

mindo wrote: post #89

Looks like a great toy until you go through comments here. Honestly would have bought this for my woman, since she's into crafts and stuff, but cloud-only cutting/engraving, comments on fumes and filters + dealing with customs (if they even shipping int) quickly changed my mind. I've seen laser engravers on kickstarter before, hope to see more machines that do not require clouds to cut/etch a damn thing.

I really feel like if there are enough of these out there and the company somehow decides to brick all of them (not that likely IMHO) that someone will be able to come up with an open source solution for controlling it. I'd like to know what their privacy policy is but I'm not particularly worried about it becoming a multi-thousand dollar hunk of plastic.

I do wonder why the pre-order price is SO much cheaper than the actual price. At pre-order it's a still. At regular price it's kinda a bit meh.

Re: Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

#96

Post by Pxtl »

This is going to be epic for schools and print-shops. I think only hardcore enthusiasts will want a home-home version of this tech, but I've spent enough time with paper-cutters and cutting out letter shapes that this is really cool.

Also, the boardgame industry can prototype cards much better with this - printing out Catan-like hex-tiles and the like.

Re: Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

#98

Post by alexisnorman »

I can't count the number of times a fire has started in my university woodshop because of smoldering debris and general lack of safety knowledge with laser cutters. I would assume this is something to be aware of with the Glowforge but I don't see any safety information on your webpage. Is this something to still worry about with 40W and 45W lasers?

Re: Glowforge launches consumer-grade laser cutter

#99

Post by bmsleight_ »

tomkinstinch wrote: post #42

I have a 40W hobbyist laser cutter. It's fun, and a great tool for various projects, like making board games[1,2]. That said, sometimes materials inside the machine catch fire, and sometimes the beam reflects or dwells on a section of the metal enclosure. It's interesting that they've chosen to make the entire (?) enclosure out of plastic, itself a combustible material. I get why they went with plastic (cheaper to fa…

Wow - Great way of generating Carcassone tiles. Thanks for posting. (Runs off to hackspace with files in hand)
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