I’ve been using the GF at my makerspace for months now and have had access to this wonderful forum as as result. As I compared options for getting my own laser, there were a lot of factors, but one of the biggest is how supportive this community is. I couldn’t imagine leaving it behind. The irony is that Discourse has not been my biggest fan and I was regularly being blocked for replying too much! It has a bug where it says that as a “new user” I had posted too much on my “first day.”
Yesterday I snagged my GF from UPS (they really didn’t seem to want me to have it) and got my “Owner” badge. Suddenly, I’ve gone up three trust levels to regular overnight, which means I am now rewarded for my comments instead of penalized. Yay!
In any case, I’m looking forward to having more time to cut things and being able to contribute even deeper content to the community. Yes, this is sappy, but it’s this forum that ensured me that the purchase was a good one, that I already had all the skills I needed to get started, and that the font of inspiration runs deep. Thanks to everyone who has shared their incredible work, answered my questions, or just posted generally helpful info!
You’re going to find having one at home makes you so much more productive. Makerspaces are good for occasional use but with it at home having it “right there” you’ll do more things, experiment more and do more iterations of things. Projects that we’re “interesting” before become easy to try because there’s no need to leave home, get time, be distracted by other folks at the space, etc.
I can’t wait! I’ve been bookmarking inspiration and plotting some project ideas. The kids are back in school, so it’s just a matter of catching up on my freelance work and then a-lasering I will go!
I also bought some brackets on Amazon to hold the Bjorli legs on and I just bought some of those plastic furniture leg caps that I’m going to screw into the top to hold the Bjorli legs in place. Other people used Liquid Nails, but it wouldn’t hold on the slick Besta top. Also, you can’t see it, but the Bjorli legs aren’t screwed all the way in… the screws are too long. I like the additional height it provides, but if you look close, it’s a bit weird - you could drill holes in the bottom of the table to accommodate, or chop off the top of the screws. The Capita legs wouldn’t have this issue.
There are much easier solutions out there, but I’m finicky about the way it looks and the way it stores my materials, so this worked for me. Hope that helps!
)