Anyone taking the Glowforge on the road?

What type of business do you do?

I am so envious that you live the way. One day I will do the same.

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Your telling me dmcintosh! I still have to pinch myself from time to time just to make sure its not a dream. The wifey and I really feel lucky to have pulled this off so early, I was 43 when we started. I hope you get your chance, you will love it!

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Tim, I initially plan on fabricating custom items for the RVing community, such as small pieces of furniture, shelving, signs, holders, storage solutions etcā€¦

I also plan to travel with my glowforge. I am in the process right now of getting ready to live the ā€œVan Lifeā€. Mobile hotspots are what I (am now) going to rely on to do the work required to use a GF. I have a few designs I plan on selling at music festivals I go to. Traveling with one of these is going to take so TLC but Im sure ill be able to build some kind of protective casing for the device.

RBercher, have you thought of how youre going to travel with your yet?

Hello Mason_Jar! :wink:

I havenā€™t come up with the exact plan of attack on where we will store the GF while traveling, currently we place anything that is ā€œtravel sensitiveā€ on the memory foam king size bed. So there is a chance we will move it from the work area we have and secure it on the bed so its riding on a few inches of memory foam. Most of the time we will be working from the RV, so moving it anywhere else will probably be very limited. We may also simply strap it down on the work area we have in place. Perhaps put some rubber or foam under the GF base?

I would enjoy seeing what you end up making on the GF and I will do the same. Stay in touch!

Thank for your reply! Strapping to a bed seems like a good place to start. Let me know what you end up doing and ill be sure to post back here as well. Take care!

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I definitely plan on travelling with my Glowforge. Its the main reason Iā€™m getting itā€¦to cut products on site.
Keep the packaging it was shipped in. Make a box with a custom cut (on the Glowforge) foam insert to secure the laser tube. Laser tubes are shipped all the time worldwideā€¦think of lightbulbsā€¦they are not going to shatter easily when you take care of them. I highly doubt the Glowforge one is going to be any more delicate. Correct me if im wrong @dan.

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Instead of attempting to use a portable WIFI hotspot these days I am finding I am doing better when I use the WIFI hotspot in my 2015 Chevrolet Colorado as I travel around the East Coast. It has even worked up in the Blue Ridge where there was not cell phone signal.

I wish I had had this type capability back in 2000-2005 when I was taking embedded computers and computer racks around the country for trade shows and company evaluations.

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Given your loads of experience, do you have any concerns or tips regarding grounding? How about portable power, such as a generator?

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Places that I would take the Glowforge would be tradeshows and/or conventions. Those places are usually pretty good about reliable power. Although I thought about taking it to outside events too and would most likely use a generator but honestly havenā€™t thought that far in advanceā€¦lol but you can run alot of things on a generator including household appliances so I donā€™t think it would be a problemā€¦ ?

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Weā€™ve been waiting for you to get back so Tim could get his answer :grinning:

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And youā€™re back! :slight_smile: Thanks for the reply.

Ya a gen will will have the power out out personally I donā€™t have a smell O scope wo I do t know how clean it is so I would run it through a ups

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For clean power, make sure you get an Inverter-Generator, and not a traditional (old-fashioned) genset.

Honda, Yamaha, and Generac and others all make good, relatively quiet, little 2kw inverter-generators, for $700-$1000 MSRP. Much cheaper traditional generators can be found, but their efficiency and power may be questionable. I had a 4000w ā€œhuskyā€ brand genny from home depot that cost around $500 and it put out remarkably clean power, but it was heavy, loud, and bulky; you wouldnā€™t want to have to run it very near your outdoor trade-booth.

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Iā€™m guessing you never take your current lasers on the road. Is that true?

Noā€¦ they are too big and I donā€™t have a filter for themā€¦

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Thatā€™s what I thought.

I would love to take mine to conventions, but I got a pro, so the whole class IV thingā€¦ yeah =\

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I was thinking of taking mine to some of the education conventions I present at and cut projects for those that attend my sessions on using a laser cutter in the classroom. I have one coming up in mid July (fingers crossed). Regardless of timing, could I just plug my Glowforge into an inverter in the cigarette lighter of my car? I know generators have been discussed, but I was hoping it wasnā€™t necessary if I plan on keeping it in the car. I thought Iā€™d put it in the trunk of my hatchback and run the exhaust through a side window away from where people would be standing. Iā€™d also only cut wood, so the exhaust wouldnā€™t be toxic. Anyone see any issues with this plan?