I think that’s a common misconception about the ambient temp aka start temp. Whatever the start temp is, the glowforge is design to bring that down to nominal levels for operation.
So of the ambient temp is truly 95F. The cooling is going to bring that down to some number which we don’t know. What we do know is the Pro has active cooling and the Basic has passive cooling.
It has been posted that 70F was the design temp for the Basic. It would be impossible to get the Basic any cooler than ambient even if the tube was off.
Of course the Pro has the Peltier cooler that can cool some amount lower than ambient as long as the total heat load isn’t too much for it to handle. Ambient temps are still part of the equation. I’m betting at extreme temps the cooler wouldn’t keep up with the load.
That hourglass shape might be caused by where the laser is being focused in the material. Are you changing the focal point manually with your cuts, or are you just using the default from the interface?
If the total material is a certain thickness and you focus the laser halfway up that thickness, then the profile on the cut will have that hourglass shape. If you set the focal point at the base of the material, you will get a cone - widest gap at the top of the material, smallest gap at the bottom.
OK. You must have found a focus setting that I have not. Can set the material thickness but as far as I can tell that only sets the overhead camera distortion compensation. The laser head itself was taking the height measurement automatically for focus.
Edit: I see it now. Will try it.
It’s in the Manual Cutting section. (Too quick for me!) 
But in case you missed the significance of the question…you are getting through almost half an inch of material with a dodgy focal point - I think I can see where it is in that curve, about a quarter to a third of the way down.
(Damn, that thing is powerful!)
I could have sworn that said “Material height” before not “Focus height”.
It’s my understanding that the hourglass shape would result from the focus or beam waist being below the material surface. Convergent to point of focus and divergent below that.
I see that other lasers have optional lenses that change focus depth, and I wonder if there will be any other offerings for our Glowforge, or if that even matters with the limited Z.
Can of worms!!
I wonder if they are testing this possibility.
Perhaps compare tube diameter?
Maybe they aren’t worried about pushing it since it is a pre-release.
Super impressive no matter if it is a pro tube or not. You certainly don’t see anyone claiming it is just an over powered cheap tube like the K40’s
Edit: see?[quote=“Jules, post:47, topic:6566”]
(Damn, that thing is powerful!)
[/quote]
By the way. Is there a link somewhere to the manual online? I don’t have a manual that talks about focusing that I can see. I’m going from the version I downloaded from when I first signed on for a prerelease.
And @rpegg got me excited. And @dan deflated me. I put in some .437 white oak. Nope.
I live in Arizona and inside my house is 80-82 degrees in the summer, any cooler than that is almost unbearable. 
Now, my garage/workshop is often 110-120 but the Glowforge is not going out there (neither do I, unless it’s 3 or 4am.)
Just to clarify…the ejaculation (as in abrupt exclamatory utterance, not the other kind) was non-exclusive to Basic or Pro tube… I was commenting on the shape of the curve and how whatever it was managed to cut through that thickness in a defocused state.
As far as @dan mentioning that some of the Pre-Release tubes are juiced… Basic tubes obviously won’t do it.
So if we ordered a Basic (which I did) we shouldn’t expect to be able to pull off what @rpegg is doing here.
That’s good to know and maybe now that @rpegg is outed, we should point it out in the Highlights as well, so everyone who ordered a Basic unit won’t go bananas if they can’t do it too.
The manual didn’t mention focusing…I did some research last year while I was waiting. 
What are the chances that @rpegg doesn’t just have a pro tube in his pre-release, but that he actually has a full-on pro machine wrapped in a basic (no pass-thru slots) case?
The Basic exchanges heat to the environment doesn’t it? If that’s true than the Basic tube can’t get any cooler than ambient temperature. The Pro with it’s (presumably) Peltier cooler can cool below ambient but GF has so far not released any info on what cooling capacity it is rated at. 5 watts won’t do much for you and 3 kW would be terrific, but reality is somewhere in between.
My GF will be in the basement where it is always 72 °F or less, even on the warmest of Chicago summer days. That’s one of the benefits of cold air sinking. That may be a bigger benefit in the GF future than it has been in the GF-less past.
If that is the case then I would expect to see some differences in the appearance of the cooling and such.
Now I want more pictures 
You would assume that someone like @takitus or @karaelena would have noticed and pointed something out… but when you assume you make… well, you know the saying.
I know, can’t spell it any other way though.
Missed going all the way through by about 2mm in some places, in others less that 1mm. It’s old white oak barn siding that about 70 years old.
I’m not a wood expert by a long shot, but don’t some woods tend to harden significantly as they age?
Yes, there is bound to be a difference between farmed and old growth. Old generally has much tighter growth rings (harder).
