Regardless, I’d still like to know if it’s repairable or adjustable. This is not something I plan on tossing if it dies after the warranty or toss out and just get a new one. Even though the price point is attractive- this is not something I’d like to have to repurchase every couple years because of a small component failure.
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Understood. Wasn’t suggesting that you can’t repair everything or that Glowforge hasn’t planned on repair parts. You can’t have a warranty without having every part available. Just that the company has been very non-committal on component specifics and has said that spare parts won’t be available initially. All spare parts would only be going toward building the units, and warranty, for the foreseeable future. Doubt that any announcement as to what parts will be available is coming anytime soon. Also doubt they yet understand which repairs will be user performed and which are needed to be done by them or approved technicians. Given how close the design specifics are held I would be surprised if Dan told you the fuze sizes.
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@rpegg is, unsurprisingly, right on. We’re not sharing component details (like the cooling fluid) and we don’t plan out of the gate to have parts available for sale. I don’t know if that’ll change over time; it’ll likely depend on how much demand there is, and for what parts. In terms of questions I can answer:
- We’ve designed with the belts we’re using before and have taken stretch into account
- I’m not going to share the homing procedure, but I will tell you - there are no limit switches
- We have definitely thought about “super pro” usage, extra warranties, etc; we need to put machines out in the field before we know how to price them fairly, though. If we priced it now, we’d have to be conservative and overcharge, which doesn’t seem fair to you.
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Being in a similar situation of launching a new product soon, and being pestered for a service plan, I asked, “it’s brand new, what’s going to break that isn’t in warranty?” and then I answered, “everything is dropable.” For those few instances we can take out of the inventory for production.
@dan this all seems reasonable. The challenge you are facing is you have folks who want this to be like their regular laser printer at home (black box, feed consumables into - get result out) and those of us who own X-carves and have endless debates about dust boot design. I’m the guy when the FiOS tech was installing the box and forgot his punchdown tool, my question was “110 or 66”, and I have a box with GT2 belts as spares, while others will stare blankly at this message and wonder what a GT2 belt even is.
It’s a tough crowd to please, as my wife (brilliant surgeon, technically incompetent) will just want to know about it in a black-box manner, while I want all the details. Since things like high-quality belts, idler wheels, etc are pretty available to all us makers already, unless there is compelling reason you probably won’t have to sell them yourselves (unless you use a non-standard material/size or something). But recognizing the community is split like this, once the product is out and in use, giving info on replicability will keep maker folks happy.
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I’m the guy who Googles FiOS and punchdown tools to make sure I understand what geeks are talking about and am wistful when I don’t have one of my own.
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hey! I don’t stare blankly! I am highly offended sir 
! I happen to have finally gotten the hang of doing G O O G L E searches
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apparently I’m that guy too lol I wish I knew more, but all I can do is learn. and want. I do a lot of wanting in these forums…
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I used to stare normally, then I looked into the wrong end of a laser tube to see if the laser was coming out… do not recommend.
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_“I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.”
- Richard Feynman_
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Ooh, that’s a good quote, Me likey
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Excellent!
He gave a lecture on culture here in Denver to a packed auditorium I was fortunate to attend.
Very educational and thought-provoking! I love that guy.
How poetic that Carl Sagan personally encouraged a teenageer to follow his dream of becoming an astrophysicist - a young man who eventually presented the next generation of “Cosmos” to the world and now carries Dr. Sagan’s title as “Showman of Science” forward.
For a teacher, igniting a young intellect is the highest achievement. Dr. Sagan would be so very proud.
There is a legacy!
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Was reviewing the discussion from last night about homing switches. Wasn’t able to comment at the time. I can think of a half dozen ways to determine head position without homing switches. Standard desktop printers use some interesting techniques. But Dan mentioned one registration technique that they use below.
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I work with laser measuring devices. We have safety signs which state… “Do Not Stare Into Laser Beam With Remaining Good Eye!”
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So know we know that it’s not closed loop. It uses the optics for the homing. I believe they said that they use the glowforge logo on the gantry as the ‘target’.
The next question would be- Is that handled locally or via the cloud? That’s an interesting amount of overhead for as simple process of referencing the machine. I get they are trying to reduce the cost of the hardware- but that’s a bit hardcore. But, If it is cloud based, that going to be an interesting curveball for anyone wanting to attempt to take the FW and modify it to operate cloudless. (Here) & (Here) Short of just adding endstops and using a traditional BoB or MCU as the motion contoller of course.
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So I’ve been hanging out on the facebook page for laser cutters and such…i also own two Universal lasers.
Heres my take on the Glowforge vs chinese lasers.
@dan and team are building you a ready made out of the box piece of equipment that you dont need to tinker with to get it to work. You dont have to build it and besides making sure you have an exhaust setup and the right room temperature…its pretty much plug and play.
This is a high thought out machine that will have amazing integrated software that is built specifically to work with the unit. I dont see it as anything close to the DIY machine you can buy and build. So many problems I see people having setting up those. Ive had my Universal lasers for quite sometime…in 6 years ive not had to replace anything in my newer one and my older one has only needed the piston lid lift thing that keeps the lid open …lol
I wipe down my lasers often to keep the air flow unrestricted…they are in optimal temperature at all times…between 60° and 68°F
I’m expecting a solid machine from Glowforge…
I dont see how @dan would want to put junk out there…I dont know the guy, but he seems to have integrity. I understand why he cant devulge every little detail either…I’m sure there are lurkers that may want to steal ideas etc…sad but true…
Im staying positive…I know its a wait but I really think the Gloworge will be worth it…the whole camera integration and positioning concept is pretty unique and is the main reason I’m purchasing this…
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