Dec 2016 Glowforge Q&A

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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Well if they all have to be shipped back and replaced then that is three times the eye wateringly expensive overseas shipping cost. Plus the problems exporting without regulatory approvals. So I can see why beta and pre-release are only domestic.

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True. Still feel kind of bad for y’all.

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This would be great as a separate topic too so people don’t miss it

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Which one?

(Never mind…I followed the link. I’ll set it up in the Q&A section a bit later.)

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The Catalog has long been scheduled as being made available soon after the Glowforge ships. With pre-production units now shipping and the production release once again being moved back, what are he current plans regarding The Catalog? Any chance we can start browsing and wishlisting in there while we wait?

Presumably you had planned for it to come online within the next month or so given the planned launch, so it shouldn’t be a huge burden from a technical standpoint. Obviously we can’t yet purchase anything, but we could at least ‘ooh’ & ‘ah’ over our upcoming freebies.

Bonus points if people are able to start creating and uploading designs for sale to others…

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This has been a while so forgive me if I’m wrong, but based on comments made in response to similar questions, I think they don’t really want people uploading things that haven’t been tested on a glowforge, or something to that effect.

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One of the staff members I chatted with at NYC Maker Faire works primarily on the catalog. I cannot even remember the gender of the employee at this point… pretty sure it was a lady, but I apologize if it was not.

She said that the catalog is pretty much done. But they are able to continue making it better every week. Once it gets public eyes, they won’t be allowed to tweak as much (Imagine the massive outcry if Amazon marketplace were to do something so simple as move the “Add to cart” button at this point…).

She did not give away anything about what the catalog is like, but was very open to hearing stories about what people are hoping it will be like. So I have high hopes that they are absorbing all kinds of ideas and finding ways to implement them.

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@dan I’m sticking around… after watching the live Q&A I feel sweet about it to be honest!! I trust you, inventive man with voice and face on internet :slight_smile: haha. I just really hope this is the LAST delay… I’ve talked it up too much people will start thinking I’m telling them porkies!! hahaha
Right, get on with your work… and get us this incredible Glowforge that IS going to change my world!!! Wooooop. Thanks for taking time to reply.
I hope your server can cope once all us crazies get our piece of kit!!! :grin:

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Nope! can pretty much guarantee the servers going down the first day someone announces they’ve have “the email”.:grin:

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