(Vader’s voice) Perhaps you feel you’re being treated unfairly?
I doubt anyone would have preferred a unit quicker with bugs, or a laser tube with issues or a power supply that fell short.
17 months now, and what I do get for my patience is the product that is already selling for $1000 more than I paid, gift certificates and a community in which I have met and learned from some great people.
I do think the founders were overly optimistic with delivery estimates, but rabid optimism is almost a requisite for such an ambitious project. It helps armor you from the inevitable setbacks, and powers you through the dark times with thoughts of failure.
I understand the feelings, and I’m not saying they are invalid, just that my perspective differs.
Do what I did. Buy a cheap k40 for like $300. It will help with a few things:
You will have a laser to play with!
You will get some understanding of how materials work with the laser
You can be more prepared for the planning of laser projects
You will have a great appreciation for the differences between basic lasers and something as capable as the glowforge
You will have a laser to play with!
I made a good number of things in my time with only the k40, and once I got the glowforge, it made a lot of things so much easier, and I was so much more inclined to use my laser. I actually highly suggest this to anyone that has an extra $300 to throw around. It was well worth it
I also have a K40 (& a Redsail). The K40’s native software, like the Redsail’s (at least my version) is CAM primarily and CAD secondarily. You can design in it but you’re limited to what the software can do. Better to consider it just as a machine driver and design elsewhere.
The Corel Draw it ships with is pretty good but old and pirated. Better to get a recent version legally. There is an installable plugin for Corel that the K40 ships with. That gives you the power of Corel with toolbar buttons to send the job to the laser. No need to export the file and import it into the machine’s CAM software. But you only get one operation (cut or engrave) per run and power is managed by setting a knob not via software.
Kludgy compared to fully integrated lasers but infinitely more productive than using my Superman x-ray vision to cut & engrave what I want
The hardware is usable out of the box but can benefit from a variety of tweaks and relatively low-cost upgrades for things like air assist, laser pointer aiming assistance, larger bed, manually focusing lens heads, etc. And yes, you can get a rotary attachment
It’s not Glowforge unbox and in 20 minutes push a button and engrave a ruler, but it’s not a horror story if you are the least bit amenable to trade-offs vs perfection.
You will definitely see why dan was motivated to make something more user friendly. It’s usable though, and I’ve posted a few tutorials on here already about photo processing that should help.
The software has issues and quirks that are a pain sometimes and you know will never be fixed. It’s enough to be able run a business off of though once you get used to it, so it’s at least reliable.
Thank you for expressing this with far more diplomacy than I could. [quote=“takitus, post:304, topic:2542”]
Do what I did. Buy a cheap k40 for like $300. It will help with a few things:
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My husband has been pushing for this (I think his inner 10 year old is infatuated with the idea of tinkering with a laser) but I have zero desire to have one in our home. I’m not mechanically inclined, so I fear that I’d be completely dependent on him to troubleshoot everything. I don’t want to be dependent or frustrated and annoyed on a daily basis because things are catching on fire or not working properly. I just want to push a button and have it work … failing that, I want to be able to call friendly and reliable customer service people who’ll resolve the issue quickly. Perhaps I’m a bit of a primadonna in that regard
Not knocking the k40, but based on what I’ve seen and read, it doesn’t look like a good fit for me personally. I wish that wasn’t so as I’d love an interim/stopgap, and I’m envious of those of you who are already lasering … but I suspect that in my world, it’d be a horrorshow. YMMV - it just seems like these may be best suited to those who have some tech/mechanical/tinkering skills. Do you think that’s true, or are these low end lasers more viable than I give them credit for?
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
There are many capable people here, and we have all been in need of something to placate ourselves. Some would eagerly take the challenge, others would have no interest.
Those who did get a cheaper laser will be better armed to hit the ground running, and as takitus pointed out will have a much greater appreciation for the engineering in what Glowforge has accomplished.
If I had a project for it right now I’d be distracted getting pens aligned and swearing about fountain pens. Without a project, however, I wait for a better version to materialize.
The GF though, I’ve got a mess of projects waiting.
@jamesdhatch@takitus - curious question: have either of you considered upgrading the K40 board to something like a Smoothieboard or other third party board?
Which will convert it to a smoothie compatible device. Can run LaserWeb etc. Im in the process of building a large scale frame for it as well so I can engrave huuuge pieces (doors, tables etc).
Yep. I’ve got a guy wiring up a Smoothie X4 (so I can control a Z-axis table & rotary attachment) now. Redoing the power supplies too so I can bump the tube up when it’s time to replace it (my 40 tests out as 32W now).
LaserWeb doesn’t let me send straight from Corel to the laser but the benefits it offers in control and multi-task downloads makes up for that.
Some of the guys using it already are posting engraves that look comparable to the GF 3D engraves. I’ve been amazed at some of the work these guys are doing with a $400 piece of hardware.
