I ordered on saturday. On monday when I decided where I needed to put it I got the email that it had shipped and would arrive on wednesday. So there wasn’t any time to change the order (which is fine with me. I would always prefer fast shipping over all else.)
As it turns out, having read things about the filter price and how often it needs replaced, I’m glad they wouldn’t let me get it. I ordered an A550 air scrubber and charcoal filters for 3/4 the price of the compact filter.
Hello All,
has anyone seen the “New” GlowForge Filter yet? Has anyone received dimensions? I’ve seen some people ask for its size, but I haven’t seen anyone respond. I’ve done a quick Google Image search and could not find anything worth while. Everything shown is either the orignal concept, the current compact filter or alternatives.
Yes, I know Jules, Dan said it will be similar to the Compact Filter that is being offered now. Just wanted to know if anyone has seen it or got any actual specs on it. LOL.
My GlowForge Air Filter delivery date is still on October 31, 2019. I pre-ordered on 10-17-2015 (Forge & Filter) and I know many people pre-ordered before me so I was hoping maybe someone should have gotten shipment confirmations by now or actual units.
No, the GF filter has not been revealed.
I was afraid you were going to say that. Oh well.
When I bought my Forge and Filter in August 2017 the delivery date was Oct 31 of that year, It did show up the next February. I am wondering if history will repeat. I need to see what it is before canceling and wishing I hadn’t canceled when it does show up.
Man if I ordered something FOUR YEARS ago and still didn’t have it I’d be talking to lawyers. 
Or just take a refund?
Hi Dan,
2 Questions
1 why not use a material that is most detrimental to the filter. Henry suggested oak but maybe something you have used in your Thursday company build times. I know hours are typically used to measure filter life, but the single use material suggestion does not take into account the environment. I understand running proof grade in an office is not the same as running it in a wood shop. The air filter pulls in the environment not just the material being cut. The measured life of the filter can be expressed for environment say a curve labeled office environment.
The way to express the result is fairly simple linear feet of cut. You can track distance the laser has moved since the last filter change. This can be a single on off measurement or more sophisticated taking into account the depth of cut. The curve would be say CFM versus Linear feet of cut. I would expect a diminishing CFM with increased length of cut. The curve could have a safe operating area and provide a possible way to extrapolate to other materials for instance oak 33% depth of cut acts like material ABC at 100% depth of cut so if I am a business using ABC I can read the curve project a useful filter life base on filter consumption by my use of material ABC. Its just a thought…
2 The filter…
I understand the difficulty your have after placing yourself into a small box on the design side (pun intended). The filter design is really nice fits with the Glowforge really well.
I will miss the seeing it come to fruition. I am curious why your holding yourself inside the box, you always seemed to be an out of the box kind of guy. Well your goal was to make an “under the forge” filter not and under the forge and on the desktop. Why can’t the filter be part of the support a table option incorporating a filter. You can still get the great co design look and offer your customers a place to store material and extra filters etc. This would allow the filter dimensions some flexibility of size and configuration. The current Box your talking about probably fits inside the dimensions of a well designed table. Personally I would drill holes in the base under the forge to allow smoke to flow downward similar to a laminar flow hood heck done right you could loop the air for better filtering.
Just some thoughts
There were actually terms that had to be accepted before placing the order. I waited about two years to get my machine. I could have gotten my money back at any time (and I’m glad I waited!)
I would guess that any filter design would not be able to reflect a test of the real world. You could account for the most extreme possible, by having a powerful fan as much square footage as available and even several pre-filters with the first two washable, and have the filters themselves match the ones most widely available to get the price down by volume sales. But to attach a specific expectation of usable time or cut length or any such measurement would not be possible or vary so widely as to be useless if you could.
Well we will have to disagree, I continuously do design of experiment for work. There are ways to provide base information that can allow the experienced user to extrapolate regardless of the nuances. Unfortunately we have zero visibility on the shortcomings of the current filter or the design of filter media.
hopefully the final filter won’t be as ugly and cumbersome as I suspect it will be.
I see folks predicting all the time, Some are in the ball park more often than others but while you can quantify things like materials in a design, where the butterfly effect can show itself you can run the numbers and get an answer but not the reality.
who said anything about prediction, extrapolation derives from data, this is done every day by engineers who use tables for design. There are as many real life examples of extrapolated design as there are non realistic butterfly thought experiments.
A different take from what I sad. Extrapolated data is very different though blends into it when taken too far. Calculations taken to 128 significant digits will be in error on the 129th and though tiny in the extreme; multiply that a few million calculations each compounded to that same amount that error builds in complex systems. Flow calculations are classic to that as indeed James Glick reported in his classic text. I have books from the 1960s before such as understood that talked about Reynolds numbers and getting ballpark figures and how what became the self similarity of fractals that spirals in your coffee creamer and galaxies was noticed but not understood at that time.
Fractals, Chaos theory, love that stuff!
Stephen Wolfram did a fantastic TED talk about the building of complex systems from simple structures I would recommend watching it to anyone interested.
Interesting information on complex systems is great, but this is not about the flow of the fluid going through the filter or its complex path just basic particle removal and absorption versus adsorption.
The laser places a certain amount of material into the air and the Glowforge team wants to remove it. The companies that create the filters have a way of setting maintenance schedules for filter replacements, they MUST have a method to determine the life of said filters especially if the material being filtered can be unhealthy (in high tech solder fumes must be abated) . The key is liability of the supposed filtration media. If the filter fails there is a need for determining failure and warning the operator. If you do not have the ability to detect failure you test the filter media using worst case material and specify a safe operating zone, usually this is much lower than the determined failure point of the filter media. Its not that hard to do it just takes time. The box they are talking about using now really doesn’t sound all that appealing. I would want to see what is supposed to look like… are there photos i missed. If its just a box on wheels then keeping the vent outside would be a way to go and building my own version into the desk allowing for easy cartridge removal is where I would eventually get to.
I am trying very hard to be patient. But it’s been four years and now I have to choose whether to take the refund or take delivery of a filter at the end of November. Without knowing the dimensions, noise level, or even a design mock-up.
That is completely unreasonable. Give us details or admit the dates are still slipping.
How big is this thing supposed to be? What’s it supposed to look like? Is it really shipping by the 31st, as my current estimate shows, if nobody has even seen one in the wild and there is no picture of one?
What is the refund amount if I no longer want the air filter?
Whatever you paid for it up front.
Do you know what the upfront price was? Can’t seem to locate that info! The email receipt I found just has the total I paid, not by components.