Wipe it down with a couple of Zeiss wipes - should be good as new…
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“Made with a Glowforge” allows for sufficient ambiguity there …
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They used to have the same issue with aircraft. Fuselages and seats that would withstand a hard landing with nary a crimp, all by transferring the energy to the passengers…
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Anyone seen any update from the owner?
Off to hospital - hmmm… how could you get enough toxic fumes to require treatment without noticing any smell?
… or a CO detector
… or a smoke detector
… or the sound of glass shattering
This was not an explosion. Besides all the other clear evidence of a fire that burned for some time, an explosion of that magnitude would have opened the front door - at least partially. The only situation where an explosion could have occurred would have been if some explosive material, or one that produces explosive gasses were in there, and allowed to continue to burn for quite some time after “the explosion” and, if that was the case, there should not be any soot on the back of the case.
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The sound of the lid glass cracking from heat is probably what clued him in from the other room, loud and sudden, like an explosion. Bad choice of words on his part, maybe ESL issue. If it had actually exploded that pretty white wall and lampshade and so on would be covered with shrapnel and soot. (Maybe the lampshade has some smoke / soot on it but anyway, the picture made me feel better about how good these things are at containing a fire.)
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Yeah, you might lose your machine, but you’d have to be pretty much clueless to get to the point where you lose your house…
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Fires spread incredibly quickly. It wouldn’t take long to go from “oh wow, flames” to “Grab the cat and run for your life”.
Just under 3 minutes and that’s not even counting heat/smoke risks. Object lesson:
Be careful out there, people.
Object lesson #2, this is terrifying.
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Yes, I agree, but you don’t wait three minutes to respond to an “explosion” as pictured above. That’s the clueless part.
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Probably be the total curmudgeon here – but I think we are mostly sidestepping the elephant in the room (and I realize this is about safety, but I think GF will forgive me).
Do-Not-Leave-The-GF-Unattended.
Just because the job is going to take 5 minutes/20 minutes/1 hour/4 hours, do not leave it unattended. Just because one has other things to do with their time while it does the job, do not leave it unattended. It is a laser, performing its work by burning a variety of flammable materials at very, very high temperatures. No matter how safe it has been made, a fire can occur. The fire can get out of control. By being present, you can put the fire out. By not being present, you can have a catastrophe – the least of which is the destruction of your GF. The worst would be destruction of your home and loss of life.
It is so simple. Don’t leave it unattended.
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Not quite sure why you think we’re sidestepping the core issue. It’s in the original post:
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Isn’t there a convenient thread about making those reminder hangers somewhere?
This maybe?
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If I could like this twice I would.
I think my feeling is if we are focusing on creating reminder tags, etc., then we are tacitly saying we are not right there with it while it works and I need to remind myself to go check it, etc. It is different than a bike on the top of the car, which we are with but cannot see. The GF, if we are with it, we can see it and hear it and are keeping an eye on it so it isn’t starting a fire – then we cannot possibly forget it is working (I hope). That is all I am saying…
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i think many of us early on were talking about not leaving it unattended. but the conversation evolved beyond that.
it doesn’t hurt to say it again, but i don’t think it was ignored at the beginning, we just moved beyond that part fairly quickly.
The pic of a tag was sarcasm, I certainly don’t have one - and would never need one, because I would never leave mine unattend. It’s not in direct line of sight when operating, but it’s in the same room, and there is a smoke detector a few feet away.
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There is a higher-than-average rate of occurrence of ADHD among geeks and creative types. Among Glowforge owners I’d be willing to bet the rate is several times higher, since it caters to an intersection of those two groups. 
It’s not that we don’t MEAN to be attentive and pay close attention to our 'forges, it’s just that – Hey! A squirrel!
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I’m sure that’s true, but I (personally) could not go on if I didn’t have my toys, so… I tend to be protective of them…
… and my dogs. I’d miss them too… 
One way the Glowforge has helped me lose weight is that even when I get around to preparing a meal I many times have forgotten that I did so and preparations for dinner end up as breakfast .
I need a sign saying “You have food that needs attention!” With a timer.
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