I seem to recall Dan saying that they were replaceable but didn’t anticipate needing to… And they were cleanable with a simple wipe.
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Either way, you’ll still have something to clean.
Every aspect of life requires cleaning, don’t you think? I’m sure I’ll be dusting the glowforge too. It hardly demands specialized knowledge or skill…
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Before cleaning of the optics becomes an argument, links to prior discussions.
http://community.glowforge.com/t/how-to-clean-the-optics/2275
Post 3 links out to the two most relevant comments by @dan on the subject. Post 11 in the thread I linked is relatively relevant (in asserting the non-technical nature of cleaning).
Optics rarely need cleaned, and cleaning is no more complicated than cleaning your eyeglasses.
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I’m sure there will be Glowforge Premium wipes available!
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As well as a deluxe leather glowforge cover. Anyone will make overpriced anything available so long as suckers buy it. I don’t think there will be one from the actual Glowforge company though.
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That’d be a good project for the store. (I actually think so.)
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As most of you know, I run 2 lasers. On the laser with air assist, I rarely have to clean the lenses and never had to clean the mirrors…I use it to cut various materials like wood, mdf, acrylic, etch glass, silicon and sign plastic.
As for the other one, it doesn’t have the air assist, I don’t cut wood on that one, only polyester film and the fun foam and have not needed to clean the lens or mirrors except maybe 3-4 times a year. That’s after cutting everyday for several hours a day.
When I was there at the Glowforge office, the machine we used was a “no clean” one…it had some residue on the rails but it still worked just fine.
It really depends on what you are cutting… rubber stamps and silicon give up lots of debris, most woods produce smoke and the more sappy it is, the more smoke it will produce. Acrylic is pretty clean.
Then again, I have a pretty powerful exhaust drawing fumes and smoke away from the machine…
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And so people who don’t read many other threads know: A “no clean” Glowforge is a test unit at Glowforge HQ where they are purposefully not cleaning it, and have not done so in quite a while (pushing on a year now?), just to see how long it can go without being cleaned.
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Also depends on what kind of work you’re doing – if you’re doing deep engraves, you’re essentially turning all that volume into smoke/gas. Which is why ventilation.
We could feed France with the dead horses we’ve flogged here 
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A while back wasn’t someone trying to hawk Glowforge books or projects on Amazon or Ebay?
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I forgot about that. Gotta give the guy props for realizing a market opportunity.
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Silicon? Could you elaborate?
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I think she means silicone 
As in silicone bracelets and cup wraps that are easily engraved on a CO2 laser.
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silicon would have been cool 
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Of course I guess the question is what would the Si have reacted with? Maybe O2 in the air?
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My fresnel lens solar furnace is claimed to get to 1093C 
So maybe the GF can?
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Apparently elemental Si is a good reflector of IR light in the CO2 laser range.
Probably not a good experiment to try!
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