Is the print head considered to be a consumable?

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Looks like the the print head was designed to be easily changed, a la MakerBot 5th Gen… Yikes!
Is it considered to be a consumable, how long will it last and what is the replacement cost?
Looking for an official answer, not speculation.

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First thing I wondered when I saw it. Good question, I too would like to know the answer to this

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I would think so, that’s how makerbot brings in some nice extra cash.

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planned obsolescence

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Is this a play on words I’m not getting?

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planned ob·so·les·cence
ˌpland ˌäbsəˈlesəns/
noun
noun: planned obsolescence

a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and so require replacing, achieved by frequent changes in design, termination of the supply of spare parts, and the use of nondurable materials.

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I think it was just an accidental typo

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Very familiar with planned obsolescence. There’s a really cool documentary on the lightbulb cartel, and how they bilked the world for decades. Highly recommend if you haven’t seen it.

Anyways, It must have autocorrected it to opalescence lol. Sorry didn’t mean to call you out, I was just intrigued by the potential of that meaning something that I wasn’t aware of

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it auto corrected and no worry’s i seen it and corrected my spelling.

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I really dig your work btw. You ever hit cons on the east coast?

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not unless we have a request and the con is willing to pay our travel (we have to drive to every con due to i have a backpack that is not allowed on airplanes and i do panels at con’s with two penny farthing )

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Could it be related to the fact that the head’s at risk from fire/smoke compared to other parts? Maybe it’s just a good move for cheaper repair down the road in case of accident, rather than yet another “consumable”?

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Upgradable, not consumable. More on that shortly.

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i hope to see some data on what kinds of upgrades you can get in the future so we know what to look forward to

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Can I haz upgrade? :smiling_imp:

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You know, if I could alleviate the need to buy something like a Cricut® Cutter by slapping a simple knife head on my forge to cut vinyl stickers since I can’t laser them, I’d be a pretty happy guy down the road. That, or making ink drawings by holding an actual pen/pencil type tip …

3D extrusion is a little less interesting to me in a forge, just due to the height limitations of the bed.

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I laughed out loud at this, I just thought you should know that.

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Glad to bring some comic relief, especially right now. I’ll be hanging around longer but I can’t say I’m not disappointed… :cry:

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The head contains an incredible amount of complexity in it - it would break my little electrical engineer heart if it was a consumable.

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Is the small fan at the top of the head that can be seen here: Pre-Release Glowforge: delivery, unboxing, setup, first prints! :glowforge: the air assist? It seems too small but as the head plugs in I can’t see any other source of air.

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