@Dan, it seems that the filter unit’s development is lagging somewhat in the effort to get the Glowforge itself up to snuff. This is understandable, but some of us don’t have a way to vent one from where we plan to put it, so for those of us in that situation that ordered a unit with filter fairly early in the presale period, is there a chance that we will need to find a way to vent it for some period of time before we get the filter? Or do you expect that the test time for the filter will be so short it won’t impact delivery time?
We’re going to ship GF units the day they’re ready, and that will likely be before the filters are ready - a day before or a month before, I don’t know yet. So that depends on your degree of patience. : )
We definitely won’t be leaving the Glowforge in the box while we wait for the filter, so a plan b is in order, it would seem. 
@dan you said “Just be sure you don’t get foam under the Glowforge as the air intakes are down there.” I’m planning on having my Glowforge (w/filter) on a table top by my desk. Is that kosher? As an apartment dweller, I’d love to have a stealth setting, too – slower cutting, perhaps, in exchange for lower temperatures and less noise. If that’s an option…
Definitely something that’s in the feature hopper.
Having it sit on a flat, rigid surface is exactly what it’s designed for. Just don’t put it on your… couch? Bed? Nothing soft.
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Air intake: or as the Glowforge mascot thread would say, “gills”.
But does the Cloud know the ambient room temperature that any individual GF unit is operating in? Depending upon room conditions & time of year, I can easily envision individual temperature variations of 40+ degrees (Fahrenheit). I would imagine that such variances would create vastly different cooling profiles???
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I use roxul safe n sound for various sound muffling activities. Can be mounted in woood frames and covered in fabric for a more visually appealing solution, or another trick i have is to wrap it around a wire mesh tube and sealed in a plastic wrap which is then used as an inline fan muffler. http://www.roxul.com/residential/create+a+quiet+home/which+safe+n+sound
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I can’t remember how many temperature sensors we have onboard and the particular exotic configurations but yes, the cloud will have a very good sense of the cooling required. : )
@dan Is this referring to the GF without the filter or with? (I know there will be some noise either way) I am considering renting out an office and am wondering if this would be too loud for the environment.
Also, related to the office space, the laser is pretty clean in operating correct? No dust and such (obviously in prepping or finishing pieces there may be)
Sorry to bring back an old post. Ha-ha
This is an old video but should give you some sense of the fan noise. Design may have changed but probably still noisy. Go to about 2:00 minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=598oAg4PuSw
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This does give perspective. Thank you. This may limit my ability to rent a space ha-ha!
(For reference I ordered the basic without filter)
I watched that video and heard the forge powered up. I must say that’s pretty loud, way louder than I expected.
I hadn’t considered the noise level of the machine before, I always assumed it would be fairly quiet considering its a laser and lasers themselves don’t make noise (at least I think they don’t)
This may change when I can use it as I live in a townhome and I would place the forge in my garage. During the week I would only be able to use it after work/dinner so 8-9pm so it might just be too loud at that time.
Is it the fans themselves that are that noisy or is it the echo or suction noise that they cause that makes it like that?
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I’m assuming it is the fans. Now when these folks operate offsite, like at CES, there must be some sort of non-Glowforge, filter unit under the table with it’s own fans. I don’t have any idea whether the fan noise you hear in the video is just the Glowforge or whether it is representative of the current design. Also a camera microphone tends to pick up sounds directionally and may not represent true relative volume in the room.
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That was an early prototype, so production units could be more or less loud. FWIW, I run 3-HP CNC machines in the basement of our townhome and there have been no complaints in the past 8 years, so your neighbors might not hear much noise from the GF, especially if you can keep the overhead door closed.
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Good to hear. There is hope for this. Worse case scenario… I put it in a sound proof box. (Kidding)
I tend to think it was a bit of a directional mike thing too, as Dan and the ARS guy were still talking to each other at what sounded like basically normal speaking volumes right beside it.
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I agree, although if it got that bad just unplug it.
Actually, the cloud service knows starting temperature plus exactly how many watts are going into and out of the Glowforge, so it can forecast how much airflow is needed. Short of turning on a space heater and pointing it at the air intake after the cut begins, it will run correctly, open loop, through the entire process.
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