Beta day - one (Acrylic Dividers)

Probably will adjust thru the cloud service. @dan posted a while ago that the speed of the fan is variable and controlled from the cloud.

Sorry I forgot the link How loud is the glowforge with and without the air filter?

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I’m sure it’ll be corrected in software at some point, but if the intake fan is creating too much pressure and making the machine stinky, an easy solution is to make the intake fan less efficient by blocking some of the airflow.

Only an idea to fix a problem with this beta unit, not something for the final product. Man, I hope my sleek Glowforge doesn’t come with a piece of tape with the words “do not remove” stretched across the grill!

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A few years ago I designed a top mounted ac unit for out of date trains that companies used on site only. In that case you are correct, I was limited to 72VDC power supply so everything was manually constricted or opened depending on the air flow needed. But in this case it would be easier to simply slow the fan down. I am assuming they used highest rated cfm fan they could get that would work with the specs they have with power supplies and voltage regulation already in place. I doubt they want to have a physical choke on it when they can simply control the speed. But that is simply an assumption on my part

I remember when I attempted to make a dust collection system in my wood working shop and found that the corrugated dryer vent pipe really restricts air flow. With the length of the vent pipe, I am sure that there is a lot of back pressure so that would cause a positive pressure inside of the Glowforge and likely contribute to the smell coming into the house.

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I got the impression that the fan speed parity was a known problem and I assumed they would have changed it if it was as easy as typing in a different value or flashing a new firmware. I believe a resister could be put inline as well. I figured a baffle would be an easy and temporary fix.

I guess allowing the smell of melted acrylic out into the room might be preferable to whatever might happen if the intake fan was slowed down though (overheated laser thingy?).

Hopefully the tape will at least be engraved with those words instead of marker being used.

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@jkopel

Quick question-

Was that in the vector? Or an error in the cutout?

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if you look at the second arm, it also has the same mismatch. I’m hoping its a problem in the vectors.

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Somewhat similar to the artifacts in the bone cutting/engraving test Aeva did.

The bottom ones here look more like a resolution consideration whereas the top ones look like the beam was a one instensity at a start/stop point where it sat longer with the beam on. Not sure though as my first experiences with lasers will begin when the GF lands at the doorstep.

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The bone I tend to agree resolution is probably the culprit some how.

I suspect the wood is the start stop points with floating point rounding on the vector contributing to a misalignment likely overlapping or putting the start stop of your shape on a mostly straight or sharp peak could work for smoother curves, likely someone with more laser experience can help out there.

Good eye!

Slight misalignment between the start and end of the cut?

Was it cast or extruded acrylic? It does make a difference.

I am not sure, perhaps @dan can chime in here. I don’t think any acrylic would make this a useful tool though. You want the legs to be fairly rigid and they would have to be much thicker.

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We use exclusively cast acrylic, although we’ve found that’s challenging - many vendors pass extruded off as cast. You can learn more about the differences here.

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Excellent! That is good to hear. Extruded isn’t nearly as nice when engraved.

I’ve had the same issue with some local vendors.

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What are the symbols better the touch pad and the keyboard on your Mac?

Very nice. I like the choice of blue

They are some of his awesome doodles!
You can see the rest of his laptop here (where he explains that it is decorated with a paint-pen), along with some glowforged ‘doodles’ that he made.

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Thanks @jbv I am on the road ATM so have only had sporadic access.

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