Information on pre-release units

[jrnelson]

Thanks for sharing. Glad to see you’re shipping at least the pre release units with a hose to cut down some delay in time from unboxing to use.

[ianauch]

Nice, cool to see the list of completed and to do items.
Now lets hope that i see this email in my inbox.

[flyingwatchmaker]

Just wanting to check if the ‘18.5" X 10"’ is a typo?

Tom

@dan

Work Area

20" x 12” working bed. Maximum thickness of material with tray installed is 0.5”.

Done: 20" x 18” working bed. Printing area of 18.5” x 10”. Maximum thickness of material with tray installed of 0.5”, maximum thickness of material with tray removed is 2”. Focus range of 0.5”.

To do: When the laser is moving at maximum speed, it needs room to slow down near the top, bottom, and both sides. We’ll be updating the software to compensate for that so it can give you more working space - up to 11.5" x 20.4" for slow movements like cuts; a little bit less for faster motions like engraves.

Bonus: Our original specs for thickness were only 1.5" with tray removed - we were able to increase that to 2.0” for you.

[willcfc]

Oh boy…this doesn’t bode well for Pro users…another kick in our beanbag.

[tom]

If we signed up for beta testing does that mean we are also signed up for pre-release as well? I looked quick but didn’t see it answered. I’m assuming so…

Great update!!!

[julybighouse]

Actually I don’t think the 18.5" x 10" is the typo. I think the Typo is the 20"x18" working bed. @dan or @bailey can you confirm?

Also @dan, since you are dealing with engineers and makers, it might be best to keep the same order in your measurements. Meaning, can you switch the 11.5"x20.4" to be 20.4"x11.5" instead to keep consistency? My brain did a little flip when I came across that.

EDIT: Actually, now that I look at it, is the 20.4" for cuts also a typo? If the working bed largest dimension is 20", how do we get 20.4" of cut space?

Further Edit: I’ve now caught up on the updates and have seen the http://community.glowforge.com/t/specs-update/ post. Things make a little more sense. Still trying to figure out how we get 20.4" of cutting space from an area that is 20" Wide.

@dan

Work Area

20" x 12” working bed. Maximum thickness of material with tray installed is 0.5”.

Done: 20" x 18” working bed. Printing area of 18.5” x 10”. Maximum thickness of material with tray installed of 0.5”, maximum thickness of material with tray removed is 2”. Focus range of 0.5”.

To do: When the laser is moving at maximum speed, it needs room to slow down near the top, bottom, and both sides. We’ll be updating the software to compensate for that so it can give you more working space - up to 11.5" x 20.4" for slow movements like cuts; a little bit less for faster motions like engraves.

Bonus: Our original specs for thickness were only 1.5" with tray removed - we were able to increase that to 2.0” for you.

[Jules]

Great, great write-up @dan! (That should resolve a lot of questions.) Thanks for letting us see the current status letter.

The Bonuses are the icing on the Italian Cream Cake! A couple have even got me pretty excited …(and you know I never get excited…)

Two inches of height is phenomenal, and light/medium/dark engraving at one touch will make it simple to create some spectacular effects on the stuff we design! (And the secret squirrel keystrokes?..awesome!)

Got to say - when you say you’re going to deliver an excellent product - you flat out DO IT!

I’m more than happy with the current status…this is more than what I bought this thing for, and it will be a much more powerful tool. I’m perfectly okay with having to wait a bit for things like kerf adjustment on the proofgrade, DS engraving and continuous auto-focus. There are a world of other things I can do while waiting.

[mspricethelibrarian]

Oh wow. So excited I came out of my usual forum lurker state.

Fingers crossed…I have so many projects for my school library ready to test!

[jdodds]

@dan

Compatible

Print from any device, design program, or file type.

Done: SVG, PDF, PNG, and JPG compatibility. Print from any major browser on desktop. Some tablet and phone support. Convert most file types to be compatible with Glowforge software with Inkscape.

To do: Bugs on tablet & mobile. Add support for many more file types. Fix some PDF and SVG import bugs. Adobe Illustrator plugin.

Is the absence of DXF in either the “Done” or “To do” narratives a subtle way of saying the “DXF to GF” direct feature from the original promotional material may no longer be in the plan for the final product @ dan?

…edit…

Oops, missed the "To do: . . . Add support for many more file types. "

Thanks @Jules!

[jamesdhatch]

Great update & status in one

I’ve bookmarked it so I have a place to find the bonuses easier - I’m going to have to make up a keystroke-cheatsheet to keep track of the cool things key combos can do.

Nice approach on the Pre-release program. Reminds me of GM’s EV-1. They retained ownership of the car as it was being put through its paces giving them a lot of flexibility while reducing issues/concerns for buyers (just hope GFs don’t suffer the same fate ).

I don’t expect the lack of air filter will impact most - until now a hose through a window was pretty much the only choice (I made an acrylic insert for mine when I first got into lasers - probably took longer to measure & design than it did to cut & install).

It’s good to see that the To-Dos are software related. The wonderful world of software says all those features to come can likely be delivered over the air - a huge vindication of the cloud model. Gotta love it.

Kudos to all

[rpegg]

I choose to look at this as a good thing. It means the units are progressing and that the company has given us an update as to which capabilities are ready and which are not. Pre-release units are the final step before production. Not sure how many pre-release units are going out the door but for those lucky enough to receive and evaluate they essentially are getting a loaner on the company dime. No loss of warranty on a future unit. We already knew the Pro S/W wasn’t ready so the folks that need a Pro for a specific use case are justifiably disappointed but it doesn’t mean the Pros aren’t very close. Full production is a lot closer today.

[Dunfee]

waits for email patiently

[jamesdhatch]

@rpegg

We already knew the Pro S/W wasn’t ready so the folks that need a Pro for a specific use case are justifiably disappointed but it doesn’t mean the Pros aren’t very close.

Ditto about the filter. But neither is a showstopper since there’s not been a unit with the Pro feature available to build a business on yet (from GF anyway) and the filter issue has a workaround and was communicated months ago.

And he beat the announcement prediction by two days (three for those of you who don’t sleep)

[rpegg]

These are not typos with the exception of the bed width. Should read 18" X 20.4". And this is mostly good news. Long discussions with Dan last night about the specs, reasons and effect.

Specs update

[Tex99]

@dan “All you need is a standard household outlet (120 volts, 15 amps, with 800 watts of available power) to use your Glowforge.”

Hopefully the 120 volts is a pre-release (US only) restriction and there are no issues with supporting 240 volts for final production units?

[eric2]

If I got this letter, i would hug the mailman.
Looking forward to putting this machine through the ringer. A pre-release would have been good so I could beat it up.

Thanks for the update.

[caribis2]

I recall a very old post saying DXF conversion was tricky (I took it to mean not all dxf files are created equally.) It wouldn’t be the first time a standard was implemented as a guideline by software manufacturers.

[cynd11]

Waits for email impatiently.

[jamesdhatch]

@caribis2

I recall a very old post saying DXF conversion was tricky (I took it to mean not all dxf files are created equally.) It wouldn’t be the first time a standard was implemented as a guideline by software manufacturers.

DXF is an old standard so there are many official iterations out there as well as lots of opportunities for individual implementations to drift. For one of my lasers I have to use the 2000 version of Adobe’s DXF to have it come out right.

Not different for SVG by the way. Inkscape’s SVG is not the same as the standard SVG (be careful which you pick when exporting/saving). I operate in AI and Corel normally but teach laser & design classes using Inkscape and the interchange format version is the first thing I tell students to check if the CAM software doesn’t show the same result as the CAD software.

[Jules]

(climbing the walls)