I recently found an item at my local crafts store called “the hobby holster”. It is a silicone holster that grips to any surface is relatively smooth, and has a pocket to store things within a convenient reaching distance.
It’s great for keeping things used often with the GF like calipers, Sharpie markers, bed pins, magnets, tape or whatever else you should prefer to use as hold downs for the laser bed. Some have rulers on the portion that lays flat, and it won’t scratch or mar the glass. I used the Michael’s coupons that always available and I paid less than $15.00 for three different sizes/styles. Here are 2 of them on my GF,
(one is on my computer desk, holding my Surface Pro Dial and Mouse. I chose all grey, but they come in several colors. I’ve seen them on Amazon as well, but more expensive.
I paid $10.99-40%=$6.60 at Michael’s for the exact one I see on Amazon for $19.99. Often Amazon is the best place because the seller competition is so out of control that it drives prices way down (speaking from personal experience, I have been an Amazon FBA seller for over 2 years now. Even before my Handmade at Amazon store opened) but sometimes it is the opposite…mostly when it is a restricted item that is only sold by a select few approved merchants.
These will even stick to a vertical surface, even with a fairly impressive amount of stuff in them. I believe because of the amount of surface contact they make. They even work on surfaces that have some texture.
No adhesive at all. Vertical surfaces need to be smooth, but I’ve seen them on painted wood, and on wood with only a light matte polish, and on frosted glass.
What?!?! Am I the only one who prefers to stack things haphazardly on the side of the glowforge, touch the teetering pile and then crawl under the table to pick up what fell only to put it right back and repeat the process.
I do, however, have a claw foot tub that needs a purpose in life.
Great! I have done some engraving and some cutting with my other laser. It will take some trial and error… wait has anyone done this on the forge yet? I have a couple of sheets I might just have to slap in as i sit here talking about it.
I just got back from Michael’s with 4 of these (2 for me, 2 for mom for her birthday) - they were already marked 50% off! I may be going back tomorrow for a couple more. . . .
Thanks again for the tip!
My issue with things on the side of the Glowforge is that there are some critical air vents there, and it physically pains me to see a blocked air vent. I also had a weird intermittent buzzing noise once and discovered it was a small scrap of paper that had slid under the machine and was flapping against the air intake. So the space on the right, at least, is completely off limits, and on the left I have a couple of small containers that are required to stay away from the edge of the machine.
The ones I picked up don’t extend past the solid part of the machine- I don’t think they’re obstructing the airflow. They do a nice job for me of keeping things off the top of the GF…
vents anywhere near these when they’re on the side.