Ok. Sorry if my question may deviate a bit or if it links up.
Question: I am considering to make the glowforge ‘portable’ for example to bring to my local makerfaire held one a year. Will I require stable wifi to show its capability? If yes, what kind of speed should I be looking at in order to feasibly get it to work on site? Similarly I might show it off around local schools and such. As such, if i were to want to conduct say a workshop with one such machine, how will the accounting system work to make this happen?
Hello eternasky, yes you will need a stable wifi connection for the Glowforge to work. I am not sure of the required speed that may be needed for a good experience. Remember that you will need to use a window or other opening to vent the Glowforge outside or use the optional air filter. As for the accounting system, as long as you have an internet connection, browser and an active account with the Glowforge server, you should be able to use your Glowforge.
AppleTv(I’ll assume the new ones are basically the same as the last gen) lets you take your iPhone and bop the AppleTv with it. The phone then just tells the AppleTv whats up with the network settings and you’re good to go. This happens without you having to leave your own network.
Will setting the GF up leave you needing to setup a new Wifi connection on the (insert device of choice), tell the GF one’s actual Wifi settings are, and finally switch your device back to the original Wifi connection?
Use of a filter or a vent to outside will be dependent on the model of Glowforge you have, plus what kind of material you are using. As far as I understand it, not all materials will require venting or filtering.
Didn’t see how the guy in Colorado connected to Dan’s Glowforge in the video, but hoping that is something that can be done fairly easily…
My brother is an architect who lives about an hour away from me & loves his 3d printer, so I already know that he’ll want to get his hands on my Glowforge. I could totally see a similar interplay for us as shown in this video—he knows Adobe programs and can totally design whatever he wants, then we just facetime/video chat to coordinate printing it on my machine sometime when I’m around to set the material & push the button for him. Then I can just mail it/pass it along next time we get together.
You don’t actually connect to the Glowforge directly. You connect to a cloud server that then does the calculation and sends the commands to the Glowforge associated with the account. Someone then presses the print button. No direct connection or direct commands involved.
What @rpegg said.
Dan just gave the guy “permission” to have access to print to his “GF”.
Once you have your unit, anyone will be able to use it from any place in the world. All they need is access to the website and the account info. and of course someone to load material and to press the print button.
No, I get that… but my curiosity falls on the detail of how my brother an hour away jumps into the cloud and connects back directly to my glowforge and doesn’t accidentally connect to yours. I’m assuming that all works from the web interface, but the specifics of how my GF is tied to my web account and how he could log-in are the details I would need to make this work for us… Obvious the guy in the video was able to do it, but when he opens his web interface it’s already showing the video feed from Dan’s GF… you never see how he got there.
I have no idea if @dan said it or not.
They could use a ser#, but that can be ripped. so why not use the standard that’s already in place.
The ser# should be tied to the MAC address as well.
Every WIFI device has a MAC address. It’s the standard. It’s how the system works.
I’d assume that it’s a combo of the serial number or some kind of on the fly made ID number during the reg. process. Thou MAC address could be used. But by your own logic of serial numbers- MAC address’ can be spoofed also. (I deal with that type of crap at work). But who knows. The only thing I care about beyond the registration process is changing SSID after it was initially configured. We know it possible as GF are obviously doing it. Just no info how it’s being done. As in can be done on the fly when the unit is configured? Or does it reset its self (network config) after it spends a couple mins hunting? Or is there a secret UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT B A SELECT start combo you need to do with the start/stop button.
@dan addressed the wifi configuration method earlier in this post:
I assume that means you’ll connect your notebook, tablet, or smart phone to a glowforge SSID and open a browser. The browser will be redirected to a configuration page where you specify your existing SSID and security information. The GF will then connect to your wifi network.
I withdraw my statement about the GF using a MAC address for paring.
It was meant as more of a “concept” statement, not fact.
That is how I would do it.
The GF could do it another way. but it is some type of unique code that each GF unit has.
I only hope that they do think of the people that do not own wireless devices when it comes time to configure the GF.
I have a wireless router, but no notebook, tablet, or smart phone.
Unless you set up your wireless to be separate from your wired network it should be easy enough(though a pain) to set the wireless to the GF settings and let it stay there if you wanted.
This is assuming a wired connection for all other devices in your network and that they have no wireless capability. A “desktop” that connects wirelessly is no different than a laptop, phone, or tablet.
Or maybe the fine folks at GF have looked into the 1 touch authentication button of various wireless routers.p
You will need to have some device capable of joining a wifi network. Because the GlowForge will be acting as a router, sending out a wifi signal. You need something to join that wifi network and log in to the glowforge to configure it to then turn off the wifi network you are on (and it is broadcasting) and instead join the wifi network you tell it to find, which will then provide it with a link to the internet.
Ideally, nobody has a wifi network without also having a wifi device. But, if someone has absolutely zero wifi capable devices in their life, then they will just need to borrow one from someone else (Hey stranger, wanna come see my laser?) for about 3 minutes to configure. After that, so long as your wifi router purchased only for the GlowForge doesn’t ever change, you should be okay. Well, I would assume a prolonged loss of power to the GlowForge will send it back to factory default and require borrowing a wifi device again to re-configure.