I have had my Glowforge Plus for 8 months now. I have to say that the machine and the company have been a disappointment and not worth the money. I decided on the Glowforge because of the wonderful features advertised and to be honest it is all just a bunch of hype. I have now sold my Glowforge at a big loss and will be looking for another brand of laser that is priced in line with its capabilities.
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Sorry you weren’t able to utilize all the features of your machine. Hopefully its next owner will be happier.
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Why would you take the time to post this here? We’re a bunch of users, not Glowforge staff. All you did was worsen our day, as far as I can see. Misery does not love company, this was uncalled for.
For that matter, why am I bothering to reply to this? You don’t deserve any of our time from what I’ve seen. Oh well, maybe you’ll read this and take a minute to think about how you are perceived. You probably think of yourself as a decent person, and maybe you are, but this doesn’t put your best foot forward.
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Why are you still on this forum? We are a community of people trying to help one another and sharing our projects. I’m sorry the Glowforge wasn’t what you wanted, but please don’t troll those of us happy with our purchase.
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A good mechanic never blames his tools.
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I have had my Glowforge Pro for 3 years now. I have to say that the machine and the company have been amazing and totally worth the money. I decided on the Glowforge because of the wonderful features advertised and to be honest it is more than just a bunch of hype. I have now established my Glowforge as a valued tool and am convinced it is priced in line with its capabilities.
(Fixed that for me.)
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It’s really funny you should say that because you yourself have complimented my work before.
I’m not saying a Glowforge isn’t a working laser, it is. But all those wonderful features you paid extra for, they don’t work as advertised. And a dashboard that you have to pay a monthly fee just to get a few basic features… One of the hardest things for a person to do is admit they overpaid for something. If you want to live in the fantasy that a Glowforge Plus is worth $4000, go ahead. I don’t mind paying extra for a good tool, most of mine are brands like DeWalt and Milwaukee. But those tools have to be worth the extra money and a Glowforge is not.
You’re certainly entitled to your opinions, and I’m entitled to disagree. The Glowforge has been a fantastic tool for my purposes, with a great set of free (non premium) features that suit my needs well.
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"But all those wonderful features you paid extra for, they don’t work as advertised. " I find everything works exactly as advertised. In fact better than I originally expected since improvements were made over the years. You’ve seen the projects people have made with a GF so I don’t understand why you think they aren’t capable of all the claims they’ve made. It takes some time and effort to learn some programs in order to do things for yourself but I hardly think that is any different with other tools a person buys. My carvewright had a steep learning curve too. I also have an arc welder that I still haven’t mastered to my full satisfaction but “it” isn’t the problem.
Sorry to hear you gave up on it.
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I pay for the Premium features. I didn’t think I would, but every one of them that I have used has worked perfectly. I have done projects with them that I wouldn’t have done without them and several of the projects I have designed elsewhere were made easier by those tools.
Looking at your profile, you have not shared any of your issues with the forum. That means either you only talk to support via email or you have never reached out to anyone about those issues. Maybe your problems could have been solved?
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You are so right. There are lots of brands of lasers. If you want to see what you could have gotten for your $4000 go over to OMTech’s website and take a look at their lasers for an example. I’m looking at the 60W model with a 28x20 working area, pass through doors, and air assist. Add on software, an industrial chiller, rotary axis, and auto focus sensor and it still comes in at under $4000. But hey, you keep enjoying that Glowforge. I’m done here.
Thank you.
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How many profiles does Jason have anyway???
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Bye Felicia
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I owned a glowforge for a couple of weeks, and I already am disappointed too. Having owned a K40 at 1/10th the price, I can report that the Glowforge is definitely not more powerful nor easier to use than that cheap Chinese laser. No way to work without the web interface, need to be always online, no way to use g-code, to way to mount an air-assist nozzle, and having to pay extra just for basic features that could have been easily done client-side.
It’s funny seeing all the hate in this thread. It’s like we’re in a cult, and one unhappy owner of a product (yes we exist too) cause the whole mob to jump in and criticize the person instead, as if one guy being unhappy with his purchase somehow invalidates all your utilities of your own laser.
I’m sure there are wonderful features of the GF that I’m not utilizing, like scan-design-directly-off-material-and-cut, but everyone has their own use cases, and unfortunately I am not ones to utilize all those features, and is now regretting my purchase. Is using the forum to vent about something bad I did such a bad thing?
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GF has an air assist already, are you trying to add a second one?
I don’t think it does. It has a vent but that’s it; there’s no air blowing from the lens down to the material to make sure the laser path is clear of smokes, and to ensure the material doesn’t catch on fire.
Ah, interesting, so that’s what that fan is for. No wonder my plywood still catches on fire occasionally and char. I wonder if there’s a way to turn up its power.
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Clean it? I’ve never had a fire and my most used material is cardboard.
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