It looks like they took it as a challenge to incorporate as many possible textures and patterns into one image as possible! And the design still works! Beautiful!
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Thanks for your repost of the link - I had missed it!
Quote from Dan… (not tagging or doing an official quote as to not add to his notifications…)
“The wood is 0.5" thick - you can see me hold it in the live Q&A if you’re curious.”
It’s at 33:35 for anyone who wants to jump right to it.
(It looks good! The live stream was filtered through a potato, but it’s still a better look than the single low-res photo from the email.)
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I’m gonna chime becasue I contemplated going another route too so this kinda hits home for me and makes me feel good about my choice to stick around. I knew I could only afford something comparable to the GF so that severely limited the choices. I started hanging out at a laser group laden with Chinese machine owners and I kept my head down as they are decidedly anti-glowforge. Between all their posts about how silly people are for waiting on the glowforge, I read their posts about machines catching fire, using duck-tape to fix things and all the retrofitting and home-made air cooling etc. they do. Someone over there made a great comment when talking about going cheap vs spending big money for a laser. It was basically, do you want a laser to constantly tinker with and modify or do you want a laser/tool that works out of the box that you can make things with. On top of all the hardware issues is the poor software they seem to deal with and that kinda sealed the deal for me. I am willing to wait on a user friendly, safe, capable machine that I can spend my time making things with.
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This engraving is EXACTLY the thing I have been dreaming of! I’ve been anxiously waiting and hoping this could be done with a GF. I know now I will be making amazing, beautiful things with my machine and I am happy to wait if these promises are fulfilled.
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“Glowforge: Dreams to Beams”
- Tom
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You’re right, but I believe it was the filing itself that was pending. I worked for a patent lawfirm for a while. It takes a shocking amount of effort on the applicant’s part before you can even file.
- Tom
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There really is a different mindset/context with the laser group dealing with Chinese lasers.
They are tinkers/makers who want to strip down and rebuilt many of their own things (tools, equipment and various other hardware). Reminiscent of the VW Bugs/Vans and Harley Davidsons being field stripped and repaired in the 60’s and 70’s. They have their dedicated “Tech Cave” where the “magic” happens.
What is forgotten is that their environment is a niche or microcosm of the daily routines of the average person. Nothing wrong with their focus, just need pan around to see that it really is not the norm.
The type of focus and approach works really well in unique and specific situations (which they are a part of), but that part is much smaller than they are attentive to.
Easiest way to reveal that blind spot, is to ask has their spouse, kid or close intimate friend been able to come over (while they are not there) and run the laser to produce the item(s) that they wanted. Now there are exceptions (maybe less that 5 to 10 percent), but I would guess very few would acknowledge that could happen. (It is also an unfortunate way to start an argument)
Glowforge 
takes that precious tech-necromancy out of the “wizards” hands and brings in the house and allows the “uninitiated” to do the same things.
FWIW: I am of the “Tech Cave” Clan
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Even then I don’t think it’s quite a fair assessment of things. Regardless of whether you’re able to do something, it doesn’t always mean you want to come home and spend hours on it. Sometimes people with tech caves want to be able to just smack a button and go, too.
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Years ago, when I was a much younger / more arrogant version of myself, I was BIG into building my own computers. As someone from a Hong Kong immigrant background, I had a few family friends who would accompany their fathers to computer trade shows on the weekend, who augmented their family income helping people build computers (this was before Dell became a household name and when AOL came on floppies - we used to reformat them to trade warez way back then.). It wasn’t just a geeky pursuit, it was considered also a path towards a better life and for us kids a chance at real entrepreneurship back then - afterall, selling computers sounded much cooler than helping out at the family restaurant or selling Chinese pastries.
And of course, every machine we had at home was lovingly assembled from generic Taiwanese components that we sourced, with hours spent flipping DIP switches and inserting jumpers and generally hoping things would work. And I had a huge disdain for those who go the easy route and go to their local computer store and pay twice as much for what I perceived to be an inferior product - don’t even get me started on Mac users.
Fast forward 25, 30 years - I now have a Macbook Pro and a nice water-cooled rig from Boxx at Glowforge, picked out of a catalog. I became one of those that I had disdained - not because I can’t keep up with technology, but I just want my computer to work, and the small price premium paid (if it even exist now) meant that I can just go on with my job. My time is more valuable to Glowforge adding value designing stuff and doing things to get the product to ship ASAP than it is to fiddle with RAM speed and CPU overclocking. Or, as one of my former bosses puts it, “I don’t want a f**king story. I just want it to work”.
Before I started this job I’ve given our local hackerspace (Metrix Create Space, Seattle) more than enough business to buy a laser cutter of my own. I had thought long and hard about buying a Chinese laser myself and realized that my time was better spent designing things than keeping a laser dialed in. (I now have a Glowforge Pro on preorder myself). I have huge respects for those who take a cheap, generally inferior piece of equipment, be it a Chinese laser, a cheap camera, etc, and rise to the top of their craft. I took this picture that made it all the way to the front page of Flickr when I was a relatively new photographer and before I can really afford fancy equipment. I since own a camera much more expensive than a starter DSLR, but I have yet to duplicate that particular shot.
And that is one of the big perks about this job - knowing that what we do makes it easier for a lot of people to create things. Not everyone has the skills, patience, equipment to get and maintain a K40 in peak operating conditions. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me feel to see my 65+ year old mother walk into my garage, load a piece of Proofgrade Beta walnut into the machine that I had taken home that weekend for testing, and minutes later peeling at the protective backing to expose a perfectly engraved and cut name tag for her grandson.
-=- Terence
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Haha, I identify so much with this post.
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This is probably my favorite post on the whole forum. Partially because it sounds exactly like what it was like for me growing up (minus the locale), and how things have come to be.
I spend my life working on things to make them accessible, intuitive, easy to use, and yet still contain all of the subtle complexities possible so that the user can continue learning and growing with experience.
To be able to work on something like the GF would be a dream for me, and I’m so incredibly jealous of you for that, but also glad to see that someone who has a lot of the same motivations and experience that I do is able to channel their passion into something like this.
I’m really excited about all the progress you guys have made and I can’t wait til mine makes its way into my home. Keep up the good work! We’re rooting for you on so many levels
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That picture is stunning Terence!
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I remember reading an article (which I can’t find now) talking about the guiding goal of Apple products being removing the technological barriers to creativity/art - both in its creation and consumption. As much as I hesitate to get all gooey (or is it GUI?) about Apple mythology, the article was illuminating as to how and why products were developed.
I agree with you entirely about the initial rewards that are present in mastering technology (creating and maintaining custom ROMs for my devices, overclocking, custom kernels, yada yada), but at a certain point, that itch is essentially scratched and instead of finding fulfillment in mastering the tools, you really want to clear that overhead out the way and just get at the work! (Like not hand sawing a metal grate to create a working bed for my K40, like I did last night!)
I am really interested to see the effect of democratization (or furtherance thereof) of design and fabrication by the Glowforge! Keep up the great work!
- maybe this is the article. Probably not: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904875404576532342684923826
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Agreed! It looks incredible 
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LOL! I’m a network engineer. When I come across a device with DIP switches, and then actually know how to use them, newbies are amazed: “You mean you can’t just login to the webpage and change that?”
- Tom
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Holy crap that’s a pretty picture! And really neat that you’ve had the opportunity to capture such a shot!
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Beautiful shot of my favorite port from my Navy experience. (1974)
I had never seen a more beautiful city! Like something from the future. Loved the people and the food.
Thanks for your perspective, and that iconic picture!
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