"3D Laser Printer" Naming

No. I get why they use it, and I remember dan talking about how people would be all “oh i love that laser printer,” etc. But I feel like it’s giving in to the misnomer instead of educating people, and to be honest I think it’s really silly.

Doesn’t change how well it cuts and engraves, however, so whatevs.

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I won’t lie, first time I read “interchangeable heads” my stomach sank a little because it sounded like a compromise on making a good laser for the sake of becoming an attempt at an “everything for everyone” machine. I don’t feel that way now, but it took a little neural reprograming to get past. Now I’m excited about the possibilities, especially if they can figure out a way to turn it into a vinyl cutter, which I don’t think would be overly challenging.

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agreed. won’t lose any sleep over it either :slight_smile:

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I’ve made my peace with it till someone asks for a full color inkjet engraver/cutter

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A 2" Z axis would make a very poor 3D printer (at least very limited in scope of what it can produce).
A Magnetic attachment also precludes it from it ever becoming something like a CNC that can do any hard material.

So you are left with possibly heads that could eventually raster things to speed things up, or do different angles. I don’t really see how it could in practice be much of anything unless the form factor of the unit was redesigned significantly.

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I am naming my Glowforge Squishy. It save will save all of the intricate explainations involved when asked; [quote=“scatterbrains, post:1, topic:3978, full:true”]
Continuing the discussion from Is pre release units production units:

In an effort to not hijack another topic, here’s a new one.

With the announcement of the changeable head, does that help anyone with calling the product a “3D Laser Printer?” Maybe “3D, Laser, Printer?”

To be honest, it didn’t really bother me too much to begin with. It just felt awkward because it was different than I was used to.
[/quote]

What the hell is that?

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love it!

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I don’t believe that the Z axis has to be limited to the distance from the head to the bottom. I think the distance from the bottom to the lid glass is much greater. Still pretty small comparatively, but more useful than 2".

I also think they’ve got some smart people there that can figure out other stuff. I think they mentioned 3d printing and inkjet because those are pretty achievable. I think they didn’t mention CNC because wood bits flying around in that case might not work out so well. Cricut type of setup or something, maybe just has a clamp to lock it on after it’s attached to the magnets.

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There has been discussion elsewhere on the forum about how Glowforge is calling it’s machine a “3D Laser Printer.” It came up again in the topic that I continued.

What’s the origin story for Squishy?

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I think that’s correct. I think it’s being used as the number because that’s what the current material thickness allowance is for the laser head and honeycomb bed. But if I were to decide to put a 3D extrusion head in there, it’s possible to turn the 3D printer on its head. Instead of a bed that moves down as I build a part, how about a head that moves up from the fixed bed that is sitting under where the honeycomb sits now? That’s 5-7" as far as I can tell from seeing the machine at Makerfaires. That’s actually not a bad build volume. Making a 3D extrusion head that rides on a snap-in magnetic mount would require some motor assemblies and things that I would think are doable with what’s out there today - certainly inventable by someone who is doing what GF is doing today.

But that doesn’t make me think that a vinyl knife or some way of putting color down (inkjet or airbrush) isn’t something that I’d want first :slight_smile:

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The name bothered me during the preorder campaign, and I didn’t completely buy the explanation that they thought the name was more accessible…

Until my mom started calling it a laser printer, and she has never seen the promo stuff or looked up the website. I described it to her, and she calls it the laser printer thing.

Then again, she also asks me to ‘print’ stuff on my digital cutter.

I guess if material goes into a machine and comes out different, in any way, it’s been printed in her mind.

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Interesting idea!

Here’s my thinking: Speculation on the Expansion Port

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Yep. They must have some Z motion control in the laser head now in order to do the flying focus automagically. This would just be an extension of that. And if they make the laser tube easily removable, you could mount all manner of motors and filament routing, etc on that part of the rail without having any concerns about moving mass.

Think about a build volume of something near 20"x11"x7" - nothing out there like it.

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I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy. – Dory, 2010

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unless you build sideways (which there’s nothing really absolutely against) the hard limit for a 3D printing arrangement will be the height between the bottom of the case and the gantry.

Which is about 4" as far as I can tell.

Hmm. Can anyone else make a compelling argument against sideways?

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Sideways? You mean like Speculation on the Expansion Port? (sorry to link again if you already saw that)

I missed that. No, I mean really sideways. Something like this

In theory if you have good cooling or use certain filaments you won’t sag. Some of the overhang rules and the within-layer sequencing will be different. But I don’t think it’s completely insane per se.

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I am thinking about calling mine, “The Great White Whale.”

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Elusive and you want to murder it? Those feelings will pass. :smile:

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Ha, the unobtainable, mythical beast.

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