Dec 2016 Glowforge Q&A

Yes, we do a bunch of local layout to make the display update quickly, which can bog down on slower machines. We have some improvements for that in the hopper, too, but very old machines can bog down.

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Software features yes; hardware features no.

That’s a lovely print!

If there are other specific questions, please let me know - I’m in and out of connectivity but a new post in the Q&A section is the best way to be sure it gets answered.

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@dan Thank you for the Q&A, that certainly helped to calm me down a little Friday evening. I hope that you all pick yourselves back up, dust yourselves off and learn from your mistakes. All I desire is more communication from you guys. I don’t need to hear from you every day or even every week but I would like to hear something from you at least once a month. I understand wanting to keep everyone focused on delivering Glowforges but I’m pretty sure you can find 30 minutes each month to craft an update for all of us.

I look forward to receiving my Glowforge!

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Thanks for the clarity @dan and @Jules :slight_smile:

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You’re quite welcome! :relaxed:

How to Get Regular Status Updates on your Own



I know it’s not an update from Dan, and it’s in it’s infancy…but there are new threads going up by @marmak3261 about the Pre-Release units that you all might want to go and read through.

He is video taping as much as he can, from the arrival of the machine at his doorstep, to the unboxing, the setup, using the software, and showing the results of his first prints…

He’s just a user like we are, and he’s being open about everything he sees. It’s one of the ways that we are getting information about how to use the machines. (And showing that they do, in fact, actually exist, chuckle!)

This is what we are going to do when they come…it’s worth taking a look at.

(And he might not have figured out how to go about doing fancy things with it yet, so try not to ask him to build a replica of the Eiffel tower just yet. :wink:) He is going to work his way through things like connectivity issues, using the machine on various devices and assorted issues as he goes along.

It’s a pretty major undertaking, so be understanding, just look, and don’t slow him down. The Regular users here have got a lot of things for him to test, working with Glowforge, and you will get to see some of the actual development and testing as it happens.

If you keep following along those threads, you’re going to have a pretty good idea of how things are going overall. So that is an excellent way to get some pretty detailed input into how things stand.

@dan might or might not be able to give regular “official” updates to us…this is one way that we can keep up with what is going on.

And one last thing… @marmak3261 has an outside job as well, and he is not required to show this to us, so this is a voluntary thing that he is doing to help the rest of us, on his schedule … be nice. The development threads are not the place to argue anything, they are the place to work out problems so that the machine can be improved. Further refinement of processes for how to do specific design requests in the software are going to come later, so they don’t need to be asked now. If it gets to be too much, they might have to move the development back to the Beta forum and we won’t get to see it.

(The Betas do have their own forum where they can discuss problems and solutions without getting swamped with questions from us, and switching those threads to that one requires a single click.)

All of the Beta Projects and Pre-Release Projects can be found in the Made On A Glowforge Category.

Also please note that the members are now gathering a list of Weekly Highlights threads in the Everything Else category which will continue to list these and other important posts.

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Thanks for this, @Jules. I think this will help many see what we’re in store for!

Spotlight’s on. But no pressure, @marmak3261! Just act natural. :wink:

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Once alignment is done with the head on the bed, and alignment is done with design on materials, pressing PRINT results in a very fast computation and the hardware print button starts blinking.

Gives me some ideas. Will do some more complicated stuff today: photo engrave the acorns on the puzzle.

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The resin-print is a very interesting one-off. Does it stink? is it tacky if you touch it, or would it smear?
How did you achieve the transfer, was that a simple press? hand roller? embossing machine?

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No smell and it’s dried so not tacky. The printmaking paper was soaked first and the imprint was made with the back of a wooden spoon (very very old school).

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I for one am really glad to read that official pronouncement. To my mind, this is the sort of thing that should go in periodic, locked, announcement threads.

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Here is a direct quote from the press release:

Press release Link: Glowforge plans to start large-scale deliveries in December, and will update their schedule forecast at the end of the month after reviewing final results from beta and pre-release customers.

If you combine this with a similar announcement in the Tested video, it really looks like they were on track for “Large-Scale Deliveries in December” 8 days before the announcement.

Now according to @Dan they are going to create 100? total units in December. Can someone please confirm if this is accurate. The only way you go to “Large Scale Deliveries” is if you already have your approvals and have already had all your parts manufactured and waiting.

The typical turn around time for shipping from China is 3 weeks and the custom nature of some of the parts. The power supply for example, mean they can’t put in a request for 10,000 of them to be delivered in a week. Add in that there is US based assembly of the Glowforge and shipping times added, I just can’t see how there is any way they could have made large delivery in December and not know when they put the press release out.

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The press release was talking about the Pre-Release units. You might want to watch that Q&A session.

It was but it ended with the line @scottmillersb quoted above. The “large scale deliveries” are not pre-release.

Yes, they are. :slight_smile: The units being shipped out early still belong to Glowforge. They are Pre-Release units.

Dan stated this in his reply here:

And in the video, he gives the ramp up schedule. 100 in the month of December, 100 in January, 100 in February…more in March…etc. (Whatever it was…don’t recall the exact numbers.)

So the initial delivered units are for testing purposes to those who signed up for them and in-house. The Production units (ours) will start going out based on the feedback from those initial Pre-Release units and we don’t know yet when that will start, only that manufacturing will occur according to the schedule that Dan outlined.

They are still planning to ship out more units in December. The Pre-Release units. We might not be getting them now, but that does not mean that more units are not being sent out.




And…

If anyone wants to sign up for one of the Pre-Release units, you need to fill out a form on the Glowforge Volunteer thread here: (Continental US only, unfortunately.)

That gets you on the list for testing, but they have many volunteers signed up. If you wish to be chosen, you have to follow all of the instructions, list your qualifications honestly, and understand that you might not get picked.

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Yes but all that came after the Dec 2nd update. Before that all the public info was that still saying production deliveries in Dec.

In this quote “large-scale deliveries in December” cannot mean pre-release because it says “after reviewing final results from beta and pre-release customers”.

And I can’t get a pre-release because I am in the UK and my order is for pro with air filter.

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Yeah, if you are international, you can’t qualify for the Pre-Release program. So you might need to find another alternative to this machine if you need to have it now.

That would be very sad.

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I would agree with @Jules, that would be sad. I’m in the U.S. and ordered at the end of the campaign and would realistically think I’ll get my Pro with filter by June (maybe later depending on how ramp-up goes). It’s my own speculation but seeing where things are at now, and where things need to go, I would guess Dan’s estimate won’t be too far off.

It’s super exciting to see some pre-releases out in the wild suggesting the beta process has been completed!

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I don’t need the machine any more. The business plan I had for it passed its sell by date and by the time it arrives I will be 55 and able to draw my pension. Fortunately I can spare the money, so when it eventually arrives it will be my most expensive toy.

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It does pretty much s*ck that the international buyers can’t get in on the beta, but that’s just logistics according to Dan. Too many shipping issues to fight. :disappointed:

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