The only way to tell with the filter is when smoke stops being pulled out of the Glowforge fast enough to keep up. The filters don’t last very long for a lot of materials, and even if the HEPA part of it is good, the charcoal stops working pretty fast also. If the official numbers are to be believed, you’ll be better off paying extra for hardwood and saving the filter. Even if the airflow as fine, I never got more than 30hrs out of plywood before the odors became a problem.
I got an email two days ago, that my Air Filter is ready, and instructed me to fill out the “GF Air Filter Fulfillment Form”, and I did. After submitting it, I didn’t receive any kind of confirmation that GF received the form. In this form is the address where I wanted my AF shipped, and I’m concern that since i didn’t get any confirmation, that it’s not going to be shipped in the right address. I check the shipping address in my GF Account and it is still my current address but that’s not where I want my AF shipped.
Do I update the shipping address in my GF Account or just assume that GF had received my fulfillment form with the address where I wanted to receive my air filter?
Any favorable response from GF or anybody with info, are greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
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GF staff don’t monitor this forum. You need to email them directly, or post in Problems & Support.
Tnx for the info! I will do what you suggested.
I got my ready to ship email as well back on the 17th, and have heard nothing since. My day on account page says arriving Jan 8th but it has said that for months so dunno. Guess I will wait and see… Also am a bit disappointed it is a separate ground unit now so extra floor space needed, but on the other hand not having to lift the GF to change filters will be nice.
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@brady.emmett your last line had me in tears from laughter. I know it’s not a funny situation, but that was brilliant.
And yeah, I wish there was a bit more transparency from GF, but I’ve been saying that since the first delay happened when I bought it from Kickstarter and the first delay happened, then the second delay happened, etc etc etc.
Filter showed up on my door Monday while I was still waiting to get email saying when it would ship.
From what I can tell from others and the Tube of You it is almost identical to the compact they offered few months back wish I would have known that sooner.
So it works, one thing though I didn’t see mentioned online since there is no physical directions for it is that when the knob is at the new position it is off regardless that the power toggle switch is on. Smoked up the room a bit before I figured that out.
First print is going odor has calmed down now that filter is actually sucking air out of the GF.
Almost is the key word. According to GF the differences include better filtration and the ability to add a prefilter (although they don’t include one with the unit).
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Not sure I buy that myself. The differences are minor enough that I’s say the one that was offered first could take a pre-filter. The differences I’ve seen granted are from pictures but are these.
The Filter housing itself had it’s plastic housing replaced with a sheet metal (which is exact same filter you buy today for either unit).
The Off indication on the front at the knob of the ones being sent now has been removed why I have no idea would have saved me a bit of smoke escaping if I realized New meant off instead of foolishly thinking it was the setting for a new filter and therefore the lowest filtration needed.
And minor and I maybe wrong on material the knob of the pictures I saw from posts was a metal of some sort maybe aluminum by the looks of it? Is know plastic.
Don’t get me wrong I’m happy I have a filter and it works and after 4 yeas and some change I’m glad I have everything I pre-ordered.
Mine’s supposed to be on its way. I’ll only be using it for indoor show & tell or Makerfaire type of events but it’s not likely to get a lot of use due to the form factor and cost of filters. Instead of an integral part of the GF it’s nothing more than an ancillary accessory for me.
Mine is integral use at this time. Will be talking to landlord if the will let me modify a window to vent outside Monday. So far answer has been no.
I got the “your air filter is ready” notice before Xmas and finally looked at it, and I’m disappointed. The shape is completely different, and so it can’t fit on the table under the GF. We don’ have floor space nearby, so I’m planning on cancelling my order. But before I do, I want to know how much will be refunded. The receipt I got in 2015 from the original crowdfunding run doesn’t break out the separate price of the GF and the filter, and I can’t find the prices elsewhere. Does anyone know how much the air filter originally was (back in 2015) / how much will get refunded?
I’m thinking it was around $500 + shipping, but I cancelled a long time ago, I rolled it into a machine upgrade, and that information didn’t make it into the new storefront.
You are correct. $500 + $99. I just checked my order history.
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Thank you both!
Hi there,
I got my Air Filter last Dec, 2019, and was able to put it to use just recently, last week to be exact. It’s working great, I don’t see any smoke seepage nor smelling any weird smell! I think it’s working the it should be. But then again, I was only cutting medium draftwood, cardstock, and paper.
Now that I have the Glowforge Air Filter, is it safe to cut all those materials that the forum is saying can produce toxic elements when laser cut, like chrome-tan leather?
I’m planning to cut acrylic and leather in the near future how would I know if the Air Filter is really doing it’s thing without any expensive tool or sensor to detect hazardous chemical that might be coming out out of the filter?
I don’t want to sound paranoid, but I just wanted to make sure that the air filter is really working right.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
BASTi
No! The filter does not have anything to do with what is safe to cut in the laser.
The filter is not an air purifier, it simply filters the exhaust. Acrylic and veg tanned leather are safe to use in the laser. You will still get some odor when you open the Glowforge and the small amount of smoke trapped under the material is released, or the object off gasses the usual odors.
Also, cutting/engraving draftboard fills up your compact filter very fast as indicated in the instructions.
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Thanks for the info @dklgood!
Just to clarify, when laser cutting materials that can produce toxic elements, the air that comes out from Air Filter is not clean, meaning it still contains the toxic elements?
thanks again!
- BASTi
Just don’t laser cut anything with toxic elements. Many of them can directly harm your machine itself and corrode the parts.
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Don’t laser anything unsafe because it isn’t just potentially damaging to humans, but also the machine as stated by @jeffreyp