Tend not to like drawing attention to what I do (unless it’s tongue in cheek), but Glowforge has kindly sent a Pre-Release unit my way. So first impression. I must say the darn thing is built like a tank and pretty much idiot proof. The S/W will need to add features and evolve but it’s capable. Only had time so far to print the standard founder’s ruler and the luggage tag shown below. Both of course were flawless.
Last summer I ran across an old rotting 1966 Scotty travel trailer for a couple hundred bucks. Took about 2 months to replace the entire front, back, roof, half of both sides and much of the interior. But we’re on the road and ready for the August solar eclipse trip.
So, the wife wanted to print a little Scotty tag. This morning she quickly sketched a Scotty design, we superimposed it on the Glowforge luggage tag, dropped in some Proofgrade Maple and pressed print. Pretty painless. 7 minutes later voila.
So good to see these things rolling out!
We all look forward to seeing your slant on using the laser. Your quality assessment is encouraging also! Thanks.
But I’m concerned… If that’s the sketch you used, the forge seems to have really messed with it. The dog lost his eye. (Well, if I zoom in on the forge I can see there’s a slight distinction that could signify the eye.) He also appears to be almost touching the awning in the forge and not in the sketch. The wheel in the sketch doesn’t connect to the body on its left edge, but it completely does in the forge. The top line on the awning doesn’t touch on the left of the sketch but does when forged.
It’s a reasonable facsimile, for sure. But I don’t know that I’d call it “laser precise.” I dunno… I was expecting better.
NOTE: The sketch itself is cute as hell! The artwork was a perfect test, IMHO!
i’m guessing you didn’t view the full res file then, because you can make out an eye like mark as well as see the separation. that said, it wouldn’t bother me too much because this was obviously shrunk quite a bit, considering it’s next to a pencil for scale.
I see what you are saying, but taking the finished product picture and zooming in – I think what you are referring to has more to do with the photo quality and definition of the picture. Not having the actual tag to look at, I can’t be sure, but zooming in on the photo definitely gives me that impression rather than any imprecision on the part of the lasered design – the places you see connection on the finished piece look a bit like smoke discoloration to me, and I can see the tiny eye when I really zoom in.
Wouldn’t worry about it. The entire dog is less than 1/4" in size. And I used way too much power for the etch of the scotty. So things are a more charred than they need to be. I could try it again a less power but have zero interest in doing so.
Here’s a picture from my phone with slightly better focus.
Had a box of these 2" octogons, probably tile but feel like slate, that I threw behind the shed. Picked one up and put it in the laser. Definitely need to cut the power back. This was an engrave not a score. I can put my fingernail into the logo. Not the effect I was looking for. And the laser spot was impossible to look at. Felt like staring into the sun. Not gonna do that. Live and learn.
Could be over-power as well. This pic looks way different. Guess the only way I’ll know everything is when I get to make my own and see everything in person.
