Discussion of March '17 update

No likes to be had. :thumbsup::heart:

4 Likes

BDM’s post was flagged because he misquoted someone in a way that could cause confusion, so it needed to be removed.

No, that’s not our community guidelines. Please review them and flag any post that doesn’t meet them.

Flags do not result in either hiding nor disciplinary action unless either many community members concur or I explicitly approve them.

Please flag posts freely. It helps me spot potential problems, even though I mostly dismiss them unless multiple users agree. It is actually vanishingly rare that flags are “upheld”. Yesterday, for example, was the most-flagged day in many months… with two out of nearly a thousand posts.

17 Likes

If, for example, your unit is ready in May but your filter won’t be ready until July, we’ll give you the option to receive the unit immediately, or wait and have them delivered closer together. We’ll include an flexible ventilation duct with every unit. Other components are inexpensive and widely available from Amazon and local stores - there have already been a few folks posting ways to adapt a window, if one is convenient.

No, it will be included in what you already paid regardless.

Noted! we’ve got some work to do on that before we roll it out, though.

Indeed, we don’t know yet - we’ll likely send some units, see how they fare in shipping, and iterate based on what we learn.

I would say more like “because they helped build the products they are trying to puchase” given the degree of commitment and value we’ve had.

19 Likes

I was thinking:
You open an art gallery, only you have no art yet. It’s just the gallery. People pay to get in on the promise of the art that will one day be there. Some of the people show up bringing chairs and tables and drinks to make the place better for both the wait and for when the art shows up. These people have shown an above and beyond commitment to the art gallery and so you offer them first dibs on the art in front of people who showed up in front of them but did nothing much but stand around or left and came back later.
Make it a grocery store, or a music shop, or a bar, or whatever; the principle is the same. Reward customers who make your business better, not just come and go.

9 Likes

have you guys done any testing on the exhaust when using accordion vs smooth ducting (not that i’m at all suggesting including the latter :V)?

2 Likes

Found this:

“Corrugated tubing creates three times more static-pressure resistance than the same length of smooth pipe.”

(Edit: the “three times” claim depends on how stretched out the flexible duct is. It can be much more or much less. www.mmmfg.com/pdfs/060601_cc-kw_ducttechpaper.pdf)

9 Likes

Thanks for the update. Not being able to replace the tube myself at home is a let down. My question is that you said there were two options. One was the $500 round trip vacation for our GF. And the second was to just buy a tube. If we can’t replace the tube ourselves, then why would we buy a tube? Or am I missing something, like buying a new tube and having someone else replace it? I’m just confused on this part since it really only seems like one option not two.

The other question I would have is on damage that may happen durin shipments. What happens if the GF is damaged when it is sent to you, or back to use? What kind of coverage will there be? It’s one thing when we start getting the new units if something is wrong, but this will be a few years down the line.

Thanks for the information.

The sale of tubes is to allow people who are happy to replace it themselves at their own risk to do so.

Yes return shipping liability would be a nightmare. It is bad enough claiming damage to new items but with items two or more years old I don’t see how you would get a replacement if it went missing or was destroyed.

3 Likes

Indeed - by designing for corrugated, we left ourselves some significant overhead.

18 Likes

You will be able to replace the tube; but it will not be an easy snap-in process like they had initially expected. It will require some tools and some skills; but it can be done.
Currently, they have engineers doing the job in house.
Some owners will prefer to do it themselves, some because they have the skills, and some because they do not want to ship their machine back (various reasons.)

The details are still fairly uncertain. It seems likely that the details will not be clarified for some undetermined time; but from what I have learned about the clever, resourceful people on this forum, I am confident that there will be good reliable step-by-step instructions by the time my machine is out of warranty.

I am a confident DIY individual and in a couple years I will gladly assist neighboring GF owners that (1) don’t want to ship it back (2) don’t want to do it themselves and (3) won’t hold me liable. [I have said that I would become certified to replace tubes if the company wants to go that route, so the topic of liability may be revisited in that event.]
I expect others in other places would do the same.

I don’t know that that answers your concerns; but there are my 2 cents.

6 Likes

We don’t know yet, but with parts availability, many people feel confident that they can figure out a solution. We won’t have recommendations for a while I’m afraid.

Similarly, I don’t have shipping details for tube replacement, but we’ll work to find a solution if your shipment is lost or damaged in transit, as we do for new machines.

9 Likes

I think that there are more ways to support Glowforge than by simply ordering early. Glowforge did not need our money to get where they are now, as they already had fully funded the project. I would suggest that the people that are getting the perk of getting early Glowforges have helped build the community in several ways. The ideas that have been going “into the hopper” have been grown in this community, and it is the most outspoken, sharing, thoughtful members that have cultivated the experience. The end result is a much better product. Early placement in line is a small price to pay the people that have helped so much.

11 Likes

lets not forget that several of the folks who might be eligible were front-of-the-line to begin with… and that they might not be able to accept shipment before the filter is available anyway.

5 Likes

Funny. That was one of the resources I used when I designed our MakerSpace’s dust collection system :slight_smile:

Big smooth piping is the ticket.

And blast gates to block off the piping run (for our purposes best at the window end to prevent air infiltration when not in use).

3 Likes

I’m personally really excited about the Catalog. I’ve been planning some designs which I’d love to offer for sale. Is there any information about how to make my designs? Is there a beta signup for the Catalog?

Thanks for the update!

6 Likes

I have been waiting for an answer to these questions since October '15!

4 Likes

There has been some conversation about that but nothing definitive. However, it would seem to be safe if you do your design work in Inkscape or a package that can export an SVG file. Since the GF is SVG based right now your design would be ready. Depending on the design, if you’re doing tabs/slots/etc you might want to consider some kind of parametric design so it’s easy for someone to adjust it for different material thicknesses but I don’t think that will be required as PD is a pretty advanced concept and skill.

2 Likes

Not yet I’m afraid - we’ll post here when that changes!

4 Likes

I have two big concerns:

  1. Since GF decided they had to have a custom Laser Tube designed and manufactured for them, WHY have we not heard what the MTBF (mean time between failures) for their custom tube is. I mean seriously were it ME I’d have had several machines burning NON-STOP to find out what their actual observed run time is. Sure they say two years expected life. That doesn’t mean a thing without clarification of a specified rate of usage. Even light bulbs come with a life expectancy rating (X number of years @ X hours/day). Sadly I don’t hold out much hope that we’ll receive clarification beyond the already “light/hobby” vs “heavy” use.

  2. I am PARTICULARLY UNIMPRESSED with the whole we’re shipping units first to those who have been most helpful on the forums. While I understand it, and the underlying benefits from shipping to active forum members the incorrect assumption drawn here is that an active forum member will also be a user that has the expertise, skill level, and ability to assist the community on the use of a GF. How am I expected to browse, comment, and somehow help others with a GF that I don’t even have in my possession. (and I happen to have plenty of CNC Laser experience with multi-kilowatt Mitsubishi & Bystronic CNC metal lasers, and personally created the shop documentation for cradle to grave startup, operation and shutdown for both)

At this point I am incredibly close to just cancelling my order and dealing with just about any other laser supplier out there. I could have been leasing a laser and burning for TWO YEARS by the time I finally receive my GF.

2 Likes

Is that your assumption, or are you quoting something I’ve overlooked? Because my assumption is that they want the first ones to go out to people who will be quick and easy to deal and communicate with if something goes wrong. Like making your family and friends try it out first. They’re more likely to be easier going and communicative. Sure, everyone else could, too, but you don’t know everyone else if you’ve never interacted with them, yeah? You can only really work with what you know.

I can understand both sides, but I’d personally rather glowforge send the first ones to someone who will let them know how the process goes, if there are any issues, if there are things that need to be improved. Because then they can sort the issues and send me mine without any problems.

Maybe I’m being daft because while I understand all of those words individually, I’ve no idea what they mean as a sentence. But the latter part seems to answer the former question. Poke around here for a bit and you’ll see loads of helpful posts from people who don’t have glowforges because most people don’t have glowforges. People have been helpful since the beginning of the forum when glowforge didn’t even have a glowforge.

15 Likes