Can we please have the option to calculate cutting time whilst the GF is off?

I make a lot of quotations based on cutting time, and often I’m not around the GF when asked for one. It would be awesome to have the option to quickly fabricate a draft of a project on the spot and directly be able to give a price estimation for it.

Who’s with me?

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If you’d like to add it to the list of items in what is called “The Hopper” just post your request in the Problems and Support section. :slightly_smiling_face:

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This is one of those ideas that has been around for literally years. Not a bad thing to periodically bring it up.

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Here we go, previously:

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I think the cloud has to actually process the file to have any idea what the time requirements would be. That’s your answer, just process the file without running it. :no_mouth:

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You can’t do that if your machine is offline.

I agree it sounds like a reasonable request, but the processing is the same as if you were about to print, in other words, it costs $$ for cloud services.

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It is a little silly to turn on the laser to only get a time estimate on a project, but I’ve definitely done it more than a couple of times! After running lots of projects and tracking their times, in a google form/sheet, I can guestimate better than before or look up a similar project to base my estimate on. Definitely would be a nice detail to have :smile_cat:

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I almost never turn it off. Even if it’s days or weeks between uses. It’s not using that much electricity at idle.

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Isn’t the run time dependent on the location of the material on the bed? I.e. if you have a fast cut set up and the material is at the edge of the bed, it will take longer than if it is located in the middle due to the head needing to slow down .

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Not to my knowledge. The settings are the settings. If you’re cutting then none of this matters, margins change when engraving only, and again either you can run it at your settings or you can’t due to margin restrictions.

It should be the same amount of time to run except for the very very small difference in how long it takes to get the laser to and from home.

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That’s what I mean. Let’s say I set up a piece to be engraved at high speed. If the gf is off, where does the system assume the piece is located? What if it assumes I’m engraving in the middle, but in reality I’m In the margin where that speed isn’t an option? In that case it would underestimate the cutting time.

I guess it could calculate based on where you place it in the app, and assume that is where it will be when you actually put it in the machine.

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That would be user error. As you say, it should use the placement in the UI.

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Ah, yes, that is an option. My house is pretty quiet though, so I can hear the extra noise of another machine on, and it would slowly drive me nuts!

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Another option for offline estimating is figure out how quickly the laser is cutting for a given speed. For example I would figure out that at a particular speed it is cutting at 50 in/min. Then in AI, it will tell me the total length of paths I have for a particular design, say 250 in. So I can estimate that it will take about 5 min to cut.

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Even if your glowforge is off you can drop a file into the GFUI. I do it all the time. So, it would know where the file was placed.

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Totally behind this request! I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to know how long a job would take without having to go down and turn the machine on just to find out. Even a close guesstimate would be nice.

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But how many times have you loaded a design to just see the time, make a tweak or two and checked the time again? If someone wants to know the time they will run the job process request anyway.

Never.

I do this every day, multiple times! I agree with Dave, with us probably are many more which upload a file multiple times before the actual print (in my case also regularly due to errors I find after the last check in the GUI). I don’t think the extra $$ would be breaking the bank for them.

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I mean with some experience, can’t you make a pretty good guess?

I am usually within 10% of actual time just by knowing the file. Maybe that’s not good enough for your estimation process.