@michelle, I hope you like this post. It’s from the heart.
How did you see it? Sorry to plug another company, but I saw it in the sidebar of Facebook and watched the video. But, I can happily say that the GF community forum has surpassed my social need. These people are fantastic, helpful, giving, and don’t post inane things about where they are every day. I haven’t been on that other site since my first GF arrived a month ago.
What did you first think? I thought the video was amazing. I may have pressed “buy”, right then and there. The gatling gun drone was cool, but the Trace function really got me. This is a significantly shortened answer from a story that starts in 1926 when my Dad was 12. He was born in 1914 to a businessman and a mother who was always striving higher. She was one of the first women graduates of her high school in Plainfield, NJ and went on to spend considerable time helping others. My Dad’s grandfather was a entrepreneur. He had the first radio station in NJ, a blacksmith shop, a mill working shop and other “maker” spaces of the time. In approximately 1935, the Plainfield electric company raised my great-grandfathers electric rates. Why not, they probably thought. What can he do about it? Well, he told them to cut the power, he wasn’t paying. He built a large diesel fuel storage container out of concrete and bought diesel motors and generators. He was off the grid. But back to my Dad. When he was 12, he started a woodworking shop in his parents attic. His grandfather probably had a hand in that. Soon after, he was inspired by a Singer sewing machine base, and started making coffee table legs with similar grace, and wood tops out of cherry. He advertised in Good Housekeeping and shipped over 1,500 tables across the country. These tables were the staple of his first business in 1946, that became a well known and respected furniture store in northern NJ, called the Valley Furniture Shop. They sold a lot of high end furniture including Stickley, Henkel Harris, and Hooker. The store outlasted my Dad and only closed a few years ago.
For that company he built a two story warehouse and needed a freight elevator to the second floor. The prices were crazy from I assume Otis, so he built a hydraulic platform outside to get the furniture up. There are two of these and they are still in operation. He retired when I was 12, and that’s when I began to learn about his never ending desire to build a better mousetrap. He inspired me to become an architect because he required me to make a drawing of anything I wanted to make in the shop, and he general contracted our houses, and during my college years, other peoples houses. He built floating docks, boats, furniture, widgets, etc. And, not just in wood. He designed and built Franklin stoves, cannon, jewelry boxes for sale, maple building blocks for kids, and more table legs. He went to the local foundry in 1980 or so to have more legs made, and didn’t like their prices. So, he built his own foundry by the side of his house, bought aluminum ingots, and poured them himself. Last example: When he was 74, in New Hampshire, he was on a board that was going to build a tall ship from scratch. (It was a famous one, I just don’t recall whose.) The ship had twelve, 5’ cannon on board and he volunteered to make them. The board scoffed, and he set out to prove that he could do it. He didn’t want them to be cast iron - too heavy, but if they were aluminum and someone decided to test it out, it would explode and kill someone. He settled on aluminum with a thick wall stainless steel pipe core. He again went to a foundry to have the barrels made and they told him you couldn’t mix metals. He said that he would show them how. Now, they make reproduction cannon barrels.
So, this is still a shortened story of what got my wheels turning about all the possibilities of having a laser. I could see the future… My work life needed a significant shift and this could be it. I live across the street from a gift shop that sells mostly items made by the local artists. I have written two books and they are sold in that store as well as online. When I go into the store, the owner is always asking what else can I make that she can sell. And, now… I have a LASER!
I still send friends to the GF link to show them how amazing this machine is, and recommend that they buy one.
How long did it take you to decide? It probably took under an hour. I started a company due to the above book sales and a separate bank account. I also do historic preservation consulting and that money is separate. I had been thinking about what business expense to use that income for, and the GF was the answer. BUT, I only went for the Basic. It was still kind of a lot of money to spend on an unresearched dream. Ultimately, over the next year, after thinking about all the things I could do with a pass-through slot and MORE POWER, I upgraded to the Pro.
Three weeks ago, another buyer posted that he couldn’t use the Basic that he bought without the air filter and wanted to sell it - unopened. I jumped at the chance to have another of these fantastic machines. He lives in Manhattan, and my girlfriend’s house where I spend about half my week, was only an hour from there. We made a deal and two weeks ago, I drove into the big apple, and bought a second machine. He was heartbroken to sell it. It’s as if this community has known each other for life and have a shared mind. I absolutely knew how he was feeling. I told him that “his” machine would be a mere 40 minute ferry ride due south if he wanted to come down and make things. That seemed to brighten his day, and get his wheels turning.
What, if any, reading did you do or discussions did you have before deciding? Before, not much. I did a lot of web surfing over the next two years about what I could make. And, after getting the golden email, I read up about lasers more, and I’m fully sure that I did the right thing… twice!
Was anyone else a part of the decision? Not literally. But, I could see in my mind the creativity that it would inspire in my kids, (ages 14 and 17.) And, that has come true. They have already done some things that have inspired them to do more.
What do you hope to get from your Glowforge? I hope to start a new business near my girlfriends house, to taper off architecture and follow in my Dad’s footsteps to “make” for a living. There is a little store downtown with some garages behind it. I’ve thought of buying the building, having a shop in front and small makerspace in the back. I’d like the shop to sell items from local makers, and maybe the space behind it is a co-op of sorts where we share knowledge and machines, and sell our wares in the store and online. Something that maybe singularly we wouldn’t be able to do.
If the purchase was wildly successful, tell us why and how you feel about it! I think this answer is mixed in with others above. I bought a second one… although in hindsight, I wish it was a Pro, but now the price is just a little too much for an as-yet unrealized dream. Maybe in a few years after I’ve recouped my outlay, I’ll sell the Basic and get a Pro.
Lastly. The community and the GF support are phenomenal. The Glowfolks I’ve interacted with to learn their background, the responders and the beta testers are all an amazing group of people. I look forward to the evolution of the software and the knowledge base as we all make together.
, I forgot where I came from.