I’m considering a second laser printer so I can have the 1st laser constantly cutting material for a big project, and use the 2nd laser to design things while the 1st laser is constantly producing product.
I would like recommendations for a second laser printer. Should I buy a second Glowforge or should I look to a different machine?
I’m OK if it’s a CO2 laser, but maybe I should try something different
Check out this other thread from yesterday where this is already being discussed!
For your use case, since the design & settings format of the GF is proprietary, you’d be best off getting another GF. If you go with another manufacturer, although you can share a non-GF SVG or PDF, the settings from the non-GF laser you’re testing on won’t do you any good on the GF or vice versa. Also, some of the GF design quirks won’t transfer correctly - like shapes with fills being engraves. You also run the risk of something working fine on the non-GF but failing on the GF because the design has clipping paths. Outside the GF ecosystem there is far more compatibility between different manufacturers but with the GF in the mix, a non-GF will provide limited additional usefulness.
If you use a lot of GF specific designs (anything downloaded from the catalog), you’re only able to use those on the GF. So getting a second one would allow you to share designs between machines as your uploaded projects (& any catalog downloads) will be available on either machine.
If it helps you any, I have 2 GF pros. I added the second as a GF to leverage existing work files, skills, and SOPs basically. I run all day so not having a second option meant I had no continuity for my business should something go wrong.
Nice to know that amidst the stories of down machines and business suffering there are success stories.