Pro Passthrough Slot

It only seems worth it to upgrade if you going to use the laser a ton, for me thats not the case and I just wanted the passthrough, but since its so small it doesn’t have much if any use for me

“Furniture” related… the computer monitor stand in the promotional video is something which the Pro can make, but the Basic cannot.

Well, for some monitors at least. Not sure if that specific one pictured is more than 20" lengthwise. And MAYBE it could fit in the basic on a diagonal. But if the total width is meant to allow a keyboard to slide under the stand, then the keyboard in front of me right now is 18" long, and the legs on the stand look to be well over 1" wide (plus you don’t exactly want a tight fit here).

So to make that stand, you are cutting multiple thin sheets of wood, staining them various colors, then gluing them together. And there you have furniture which is laser cut, and needed the pass-through.

I plan to mostly be making enclosures and other structural elements for small demo apparatus. So in my case 1/4" is almost always good enough, or gluing a few sheets together is great if 1/4" is not strong enough. And many times I will want to make something rather tall or long, at least as a stabilization/alignment element.

Now… if you want to make a couch, or a coffee table, then doing the entire thing in the Forge may be unrealistic. But you could just do the decorative bits here, and do the structural with more traditional methods.

You designs on skateboards may not be able to be laser etched, but you can still make nice stencils to spray-paint through, or even guides to use old woodburning techniques with (I assume people still do woodburning, but I haven’t seen the stuff at all since I had a kit as a kid, so I call it old)

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@jacobturner hit a nail on the head, mentioning the stencil option. As launch was approaching, I was perpetually telling people that if the GF can’t make a thing, it can assist in making the thing to make the thing. :smile:

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I know the purists in the audience may cringe, but there is no shortage of furniture that is made out of slabs of cheap wood with a thin veneer of nicer wood over it. If you are willing to accept that as an option, the 1/4" limitation becomes less of an obstacle. Also, there are options to laminate a Glowforge - engraved 1/4" layer (possibly with Glowforge - created inlays too) onto a thicker slab of the same species. As long as you’re not using a species with widely variable grain and coloration, the seam could well be nearly invisible.

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I also bought Pro for the passthrough.

So GF confirmed that the slot is 3/8" and designed for 1/4" material. It seems rediculous not to increase that to 1/2" - anyone know why? But at least we may be able to use maybe 3/8" for cutting…(?)

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I said this elsewhere, but just to be sure it doesn’t get missed - don’t buy the Pro (or the Glowforge, regretfully) if you need to use material thicker than 1/4" with the passthrough. Hopefully this was clear in the specs, and if not, my deepest apologies.

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The tech specs on glowforge.com don’t actually say that the height restriction is 1/4" (site copy is pasted below). Only the Material Capability section mentions 1/4" as a height restriction, except where the material is flipped, and is not in the context of the pass-through:

PRO UPGRADE
Passthrough slot allows the use of material that’s 20” (50.8cm) wide and as long as desired
Passthrough software uses the camera to maintain alignment as long material is pushed through
Laser tube is upgraded from 40W to 45W
Higher quality optics provide for more beam power at the head
Upgraded solid state thermoelectric cooling

MATERIAL CAPABILITY
Thickness: Varies by material; can cut most 1/4″ (6mm) plywood and acrylic on one side; twice as thick by reversing and cutting from both sides with optical alignment

I personally don’t think I’ll have an issue with it–I can’t wait to see what I can do.

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No upgrade for me then, Maybe the glow force 2 can make the passthrough slot a more usable size. Like its said above its not listed anywhere on the specs for the passthrough size.
Not a problem, the basic is fine for me! Still very excited

I bought the pro version and can live with the 1/4" limitation on the pass-through slot. But I sure would feel better if I knew that there was some technical/economic reason for that limited height, and that it was not just an arbitrary design choice.

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Good catch. Fixed that, thank you!

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The cynic in me wonders if the passthrough slot being only available on the Pro is a money grab. From a manufacturing cost perspective, it would seem to make sense to build only one enclosure and put the Pro or Basic components in it. But then, how many people would downgrade their order to the Basic if it was built with the same pass-thru slot enclosure as the Pro?

Personally, I would love the pass-through slot but, as a hobbyist, have no need for the other features of the Pro.

We’re a company. We have a few things to do here. Grabbing money is one of them. Making you awesome products is another. They are related.

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Understandable, but I might just have to take a Dremel to my enclosure once my 6-month warranty is up. :wink:

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@dan - ‘grabbing money is one of them’. Love it! In reality - if you are successful, so are your customers! Love it so much I upgraded to pro!! Man - can’t wait to get my hands on it. Gotta make money to stay in business. Staying In business means more features and better experience for all of us. Keep up the hard work!

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I guess I lied, I folded and upgraded to the pro

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@dan
We are the makers. We have a few things to do. Spending more money on a Glowforge pro to get infinate material lengths is one of them. Making awesome products, some of which are 1/2" thick is another. They are related.

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Ok. That’s a fair deal. :smile:

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I couldn’t stop laughing. Great post!

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Sounds like you ordered the wrong machine. Buy a cnc router.