I am still mulling over whether to upgrade to the GF Pro and trying to work out the approach for working with longer materials. As far as I understand without a clear specification being listed anywhere, the pass through slot on the Pro only accommodates materials up 3/8" ? If this is the current spec, is this a fixed absolute or is there still any consideration for the final design allowing the full 1.5" for pass through?
Will the Pro have any sort of mounting hardware for securely mounting the machine? I am envisioning a bench setup that has surfaces on either side of the GF at the perfect height of and level to the pass through slot, with the GF securely fastened down to keep everything stable when feeding larger materials through.
Thoughts?
I don’t think we will need any hardware on the machine itself for mounting. I see myself building a work table around the Glowforge, so that it sits in a depression. This should allow me to easily place materials in line with the slot (just set them on the table), and secure the GF physically (slot cut precisely to GF dimensions.
Though my plan does rely on there not being any protrusions around the sides of the GF, or just making sure I cut slots to accommodate any that there may be, as well as any required ventilation for cooling or venting.
Actually, the passthrough is for material .25" or thinner - there’s some reason my CTO explained to me that I have since forgotten as to why it’s a 3/8" slot for 1/4" material. I don’t anticipate that changing.
Will that work for say the flap of a satchel? Approx 1/4" thick, but not being cut through, sort of like a floppy MacBook in a way… (We’re going to have an awful lot to do on this by the time it turns up 
)
Tom
I’m not sure I follow @flyingwatchmaker - the leather is more than 1/4" thick? If it’s that or less, you’re golden.
1/4" or less, but not even, so it’ll fit through the slot, but have contours (it’s not a flat leather, more of a wrinkly cow finish) I should probably start/find a topic that is more relevant… Fitting through the slot won’t be an issue though 
Thanks
Tom
Is there any way (even warranty voiding) that the slot could take pieces thicker than 1/4" ? Was really hoping the slot would take a more reasonable thickness of material when I preordered. That really limits the freedom you gain with the passthrough ability. Larger pieces are also more likely to be thicker, so doing something like engraving a larger sign that’s only 1/2" thick is now not possible. 
Thickness constraints doesn’t restrict too heavily, as long as you are willing to accept some more post-processing. And in the case of a sign, it is actually better to accept a degree of extra post-processing.
Glue together multiple layers to get the extra depth, and since you already have multiple layers, don’t be boring, go ahead and make some of the layers considerably different (at least in color).
As a regular laser user I can say that the thickness constraints will have an unavoidable impact for me. I often find myself doing engraving work for clients on exotic woods that are on average between 1/2" and 3/4" thick. In that case, I’m working with a solid piece of wood and would not be able to build up a thicker piece from many thin pieces as you suggest. I do this on an Epilog laser which allows for larger pieces to be slid in from the front.
It’s not the end of the world, it just means that the passthrough slot on my Glowforge will likely be of no use to me (unless I mod it and void the warranty as I expect I will have to), and that I’ll still have to rely on other lasers to complete some jobs.
Although I must recommend against it for safety reasons, opening the lower door in front and overriding the safety interlocks by placing magnets against the sensors would not void your warranty.
The slot in the back, however, doesn’t have a corresponding door.
–dan
I hadn’t thought of the case with specialty materials which aren’t thin enough. Would come up when using found or vintage wood as well (many amazing projects with those that I have seen).
Given the ability to cut ½" wood by cutting both sides, I would hope the sides should be able to accept ½" wood so we can cut long, thick pieces of wood. If it’s a matter of making the flaps ¼" taller…
Has there been an answer yet to the depth issue. Is there a reason the full 1.5" depth cannot be handled. To be honest this is a make or break issue for me on a Pro, having pass through is what sold me on the entire idea of the glow forge, if I can only pass 1/4" material through then I might as well just have a basic, or even not bother at all.
The pass through really needs to accommodate at least 1/2". Ideally it should accommodate whatever can be cut in the unit.
You can only pass 0.25" material through - if that doesn’t work for you, drat! We’ll get you a partial or full refund as soon as the insanity of the next few days finishes (bailey and jason are swamped). The specs for this aren’t going to change now.
This makes me a bit sad - but not enough to cancel my Pro order. Hopefully there will be a way to mod the case to support ½" or thicker pass-through pieces.
I don’t think that came off as cute as it probably was when you were thinking it.
I think the biggest question is why won’t it accept 1/2" when it is advertised as being able to cut 1/2". I understand we are free to walk away but I’m sure there’s some very good reason why the device can’t accommodate it and we would very much like to know that reason since it may likely prevent a bunch of people form taking a dremel to the back and bottom of the case as soon as it arrives and if it is a safety reason you might just prevent some injuries. If it is simply that it’s too difficult to make the slot a 1/4" larger then say that and people will do what people always do.
I second that request! Sadly, I suspect it was an arbitrary decision that didn’t get a second thought until it was too late in production plans. On the bright side, if that is the case, then cutting a larger pass-through slot might be feasible. (Hopefully I’m not offending our beloved Dan with this post!)
The decision was made ages ago. I think it was an extra safety measure (hard to accidentally stick your fingers in), plus structural integrity (know how convertibles wobble more than sedans?).
Believe it or not, though, I don’t make all the design decisions on the device personally. I don’t know for sure off the top of my head and I’m not going to bother the engineering team to dig up the relevant emails when they could be off making you Glowforges!
OK so I saw a reply that I need some clarification on please… The part where you say that the slot in the back of the machine doesn’t have a corresponding door. How does the material leave the back of the machine? I have no problem using quarter inch material and building layers with what I want to do with the machine.