The purpose of this forum is to share ideas, successes, failures and encouragement. We are not a cult, but unlike many online forums, this is a civil place for discussions. This forum is for owners of Glowforges, but this thread was begun by someone that had sold theirs and was only posting to gripe. Usually we ignore the trolling. If you are unaware of the air assist fan, it is very possible you have not owned your Glowforge long enough to take advantages of its capabilities. If, in fact, you have made an unwise purchase, perhaps you should sell your Glowforge. If you have specific problems or suggestions, feel free to start your own thread about your issue.
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It definitely does, If yours isnât working then itâs likely you need to clean the air assist fan.
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Before I purchased my Glowforge I did 3 months of researchâ-about 30 hours.
After 1 week of ownership I realized my 30 hours of research was only 10% of what the machine can do.
The GF is an incredible piece of technology but you must have patience.
It is a constant read an article, experiment with settings, ask a question, yell at the interface, clean the machine, keep a log of your projects, sand some wood, paint a project, sweep your floor, order materials, go to The Home Depot and purchase supplies, watch a GF Youtube video.
Learn a software, call your husband, text your British boyfriend with a question, call your cousin in California to ask her a GF question, try to help someone at the GF forum, Etc.
After you have done these stepsâ you start all over again!!!
The Glowforge will give you what you put into it.
I absolutely love love love love my GF because nearly everyday I come here , read, research and learn.
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and to respond to your first comment - we did not jump in because one person was âunhappy with his purchaseâ. We jumped in because the statement that âthe wonderful features advertised [are] just a bunch of hypeâ is blatantly false.
There are lots of folks who have moved on from 
. Some of our members are still active despite selling theirs because this community is worth being part of if youâre interested in learning or helping others. Some folks have realized that having a larger Z axis is a requirement for them. Some have decided that offline access is more important. Thereâs nothing wrong with that. Stating that lied is where the issue is.
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I have owned a Pro for over a year, and just ordered a Beamo Pro.
Glowforge sets a bar that other lasers should aspire to.
Prior to purchasing the Glowforge I had a 4w Diode laser that was a DIY build it yourself thing. Focusing the laser was a 5 minute process prior to every cut. I had a local connection, but that meant my computer was tied up for hours at a time while I was using the laser. Finding where the cut / engrave was going to happen on the materiel cost me time and materials.
At the end of the day, my issues with Glowforge have to do with things (mainly) other than the machine.
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Lack of hardware engineering progress. The one machine issue I have is with the exit fan design. It is not removable, and this makes cleaning a pain. I get that wasnât dealt with early, but by now we should have seen a hardware refresh to address this.
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Lack of software engineering progress. The list of projects has needed help for a long time, but rather than address this basic issue, a new revenue stream was the company priority. I get the need for an income stream, but as an owner, I am saddened by the lack of effort on the most upvoted support issue.
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Lack of information open-ness. The QR code is cute and clever, but the prices of the materials are a minimum of 4x what I am paying for higher quality materials, and the labor savings of applying the tape is no where near an offset. So why isnât there a nice published standard for me to make QR code stickers so that my materials can invoke my custom settings?
When I considered the trends of the company itself, NOT the machine or community. I decided that my next investment would be in a company that has shown more of the features I am looking for: They have introduced a rotary attachment since launch, their software allows me to use the operating system as my history / organizer for prints.
I give up some really nice touches that Glowforge really excels at, and I will miss them in the new machine. I hope that this community will be able to work with the company and foster a new spirit of innovation at Glowforge, so that the next time I make this purchase decision, it will once again be a Glowforge.
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Yes it is. Pop the side too glass off and you can get to the screws mounting the fan. Just remove it & use an inline fan and you never have to worry about it.
Actually theyâve done both. But the âhopperâ has been filled with basic requests for years that seem like they would be both useful and relatively simple to implement. This is definitely an area they really should address.
Thatâs not the real value if PG. The consistency of the material and the prefinish provide some significant benefit. Iâm not a huge PG user though. Iâve been a big Baltic Birch fan for many years (from my other lasers). I do find pre-finishing an idea Iâve stolen from GF. I donât often mask as a result and just use copy paper underneath if Iâm getting any flashback. I think itâs really most useful for new folks and those who are hesitant about testing and using materials. I have little need for the ability to customize QR codes to save me the clicks needed to apply my custom settings.
Regardless, post when you get the Beamo. Interested in your experience. Might make for a nice addition to the tool stable.
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Interesting, when I emailed tech support on the fan, they did not indicate that I could do that with the fan. I should be more curious I suppose 
The ability to nest folders in the file list, sort by name, or other capability, or search by name would allow me to use the software as a process enhancement, but I have seen zero progress on this. 
If it were the case that the PG materials were more consistent than what I buy, I would agree, but my sources are significantly better than my experiences with the proof grade, so the value is not evident. In addition, most of my work is in 1/16" which is simply not available.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful response.
I will continue to use the GF to produce stuff, so I will lurk here as well.
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Itâs interesting that people thought that GF (the company) has to be defended from the accusations of one of its customers by the community of other customers.
I have not seen this in any other laser CNC/3D printing forum before. Generally the responses would be âseems like your need is different, here are some other machines to considerâ instead of âno youâre wrong, this machine is perfect and if thereâs anything wrong, itâs you.â
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Every point you make is completely valid. Glowforge doesnât innovate nearly as much as Iâd like. Theyâre going to be eclipsed by a competitor eventually.
This is the problem with the new world religion, if any tries to point out something that is factually incorrect people think it is an attack on them personally. You probably think this comment is another attack? It is not meant to be.
I have never heard ANYONE say that the 
is âperfectâ when referring to its design and definitely not its support.
We are simply trying to discuss facts and opinions. These are incredibly different subjects. It is a fact that many people have different opinions. Having differing opinions is not a bad thing, but some people today view this as an attack on them personally. This is a very self-centered view on the situation (this is a fact).
Someone stating that their opinion and experiences are different is not meant to invalidate the opinions and experiences of the other person; they are meant to add additional information to the conversation, additional facts about other opinions.
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I agree with this completely. Hence, the original poster should be able to share his opinion on the GF without getting snarky comments back like:
Hopefully its next owner will be happier.
Why are you still on this forum?
A good mechanic never blames his tools.
Bye Felicia
Iâm not sure if I can agree that those are just âpointing out factsâ and not âpersonal attackâ.
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I agree. But, âsnarkâ begets âsnarkâ.
I do not believe that two wrongs make a right, but in todayâs world view if someone feels that they have been âslightedâ or treated unfairly they want to âmake it rightâ (vengeance).
Based on these facts about our society today, coming to a forum that is for finding help about a tool and complaining about that tool, not looking for help, is going to result in non-helpful comments.
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If he had not already sold the machine⌠and stated that he was looking for a different brand⌠then perhaps he wouldnât be getting that sort of response. As it is, the ONLY reason to post that information is to snub his nose at the company and community. And for that, he gets snubbed back. If he was merely stating his disappointment and reasons why, Iâm sure people would be willing to sympathize and perhaps counter his arguments. But no⌠he doesnât even own the machine any more and just wanted to bitch and moan as he walks out the door.
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Do u hold that opinion on anyone who has ever left a negative review on any web site?
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Come on. @kanati made the scope and specifics as to his opinion on this quite clear.
Man, this thread. This is what I was talking about from the beginning. This dude walks in, spews pointless negativity, and now more and more people are drawn into it.
If someone has criticisms and wants to be constructive, great⌠post about it early and offer or look for solutions. If someone wants to get compensation for something, email Glowforge about your issue.
But if someone walks into my living room and pees in my houseplant like the OP did and thinks they can just walk out without consequence then theyâre not just a buttface (oh trust me this is the censored version of what I think of him) theyâre also stupid.
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