With absolutely no artistic skills, I intend to use my Glowforge Pro 100% for parts production. It will give me the flexibility to do one off’s, small runs, prototyping and on and on in my small pickup making business. I have a number of customers (luthiers) that are in as much of a hurry for me to get my Glowforge Pro as I am.
One of the things I hope to do is find a killer part for some niche and sell it on ebay or something to defray costs. I also think that one of my friends I could help him with vintage gaskets for his 60or70s defender he is ground up building
Not a parts maker, but sure enjoyed your sequenced photos of what you are involved in, and what inspirations and aspirations you have waiting in your head.
These are so nice, so nice that I have to call shenanigans on your first phrase. An elegantly designed part is a piece of art unto its self. As I have been hanging out here and considering myself parts maker I have had to come to realize that while yes, while parts and assemblies may have to have certain dimensions fixed to work, that doesn’t mean you can’t tweak the noncritical dimensions to get the best possible aesthetics.
I look at my first knife sharpeners and the ones I am turning out now and while there is no inlay work or any of that. The ones coming off the printer now are oh so much more pleasing to the eye and hand.
I also plan to make parts on my Glowforge. I run a product development business and have built several prototypes out of acrylic and other materials that would have been a snap with the Glowforge. I plan to use it in correlation with my herd of 3D printers.
I also plan to use it to make woodworking projects. I have a project in work that would be great for it; I want to cut hardwood inlays to be touch-sensitive buttons for an alarm clock project. The Glowforge will be great for this.
Well what I really meant was…this is a grayt idea in itself…and was thinking…once we step aboard the USS Glowforge…maybe…some of us…ok ok just talking about myself…would not mind helping to make some of these for you to boost your sales…I know I would.yeah yeah yeah money aside…I still would…as long as it didn’t cost me too much…is all I’m saying.
My partner, the co-owner of the future MorganForge, is a biomedical engineer who is CHAMPING AT THE BIT for the laser to be ready for parts prototyping. I’m also planning to use it to make parts that will contribute to art objects (Delrin molds, stencils, etc.) without being art objects themselves.
I spend my day making medical prototypes and parts (at least in between seeing patients and writing code at the hospital). I can’t wait for the ability to cut parts out too on a laser. Once I have the GF, I will have the big 3 (printer, CNC Mill and Laser cutter) and for prototyping they are an awesome trifecta.
With these I can so rapidly turn over prototypes we do agile development as we learn what works/doesn’t for a given application. Some people spend months making a spec from an idea, and then iterate over designs over months. With these devices I try to do a redesign during the day, and print out the next version overnight, so you can make functional prototypes (or usable practical parts) daily.
I need to connect him with you when he gets his own account. I imagine you and he might share some methods and modes of inquiry. What’s your practice specialty? Jerome spent most of his career in limb and joint prostheses, but he’s also designed cardiac devices and drug delivery systems, among other things.
I am dual boarded, in hospital medicine and clinical informatics. I have started a set of maker courses here for the staff. I decided that too many people were thinking about huge devices (like the next surgical robot) and there was so much low hanging fruit of little devices that take care of little throughput and quality issues, and working with my surgical colleagues we have built quite a pipeline (most of these end up being a few dollars worth of plastic, but can save 10-15 minutes per operation) and we can just crank them through. I am working on some novel devices as well in thoracic surgery and colorectal surgery. Since I am also a programmer, some of these have embedded controllers, but keeping with the keep it simple methodology, they are all super rugged and cheap.
I’ve also tried to make my prototypes to be functional, so we can try them out on models and simulators using 3D printed functional plastics. Amazing what you can do now (here is a torture test of a part that people said wouldn’t be tough enough 3D printed) with 3D printing on inexpensive printers. I also have a faculty appointment at Tufts Veterinary School and we will be collaborating on many devices to get them dual use for human and animal medical FDA approvals (I am married to a vet, and I used to be a vet tech too)
