Is there potential for the glow to be able to cut and engrave glass/woods etc

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Hello Glowforgers

Sorry if this is a silly question or if its been asked before, but i’m wondering at some point in the future will the Glowforge get an upgraded head for cutting and etching harder surfaces like glass, thicker woods, ceramic etc.

I believe this is my first post so hello to everyone, iv been reading a lot of posts and am gob smacked at the ideas and projects everyone is doing, keep up the good work.

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To quote the immortal @dan …“It’s in the hopper.” (They’ve got a lot of ideas about interchangeable heads.) :relaxed:

Welcome to the forum!

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Gaaaaaah!!!:fearful:

Hello and welcome! My comment above is just a goofy joke, so don’t let it scare you. This forum is uncommonly helpful, so please pull up a chair. Surf around the site and ask away - if we don’t know the answers, you’ll at least get some good ideas from everyone here. :slight_smile:

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I like goofy, goofy is fun, Iv been reading a lot of posts and seeing some truly amazing work, August needs to hurry up HAHA.

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The head doesnt control what it can cut… That would be the power of the laser.
Co2 lasers can not cut glass or most ceramics. Etching, however, can be done on the current models.
As far as wood, depends on the thickness. It should already be able to cut through 1/2" double pass double side I believe…
Is there something specific you are wanting to do??

Please feel free to post more…lots of help can be had to those who speak up. :wink:

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Hey Lazersmart, welcome to the fun forum! I believe there is already a small amount of Glowforge-produced items on glass, ceramic, and various woods.

For instance:

And

And

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Everyone seems to have answered your question. So I have nothing left to say other than…

WELCOME!:tada::confetti_ball:
Feel free to post more and ask questions. If they have been asked and answered before, we’ll point you in the right direction! If not, all the better! :grin:
Don’t worry, we don’t bite.

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Except on Taco Tuesdays.

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Welcome!!

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I thought that went without saying. We’re going to have to dock you some forum points for writing down one of the unwritten rules.

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Or if it’s a reply from me, really bad and useless ideas.

As one of the resident Canucks, I was lobbying in the early days of the campaign for a maple syrup head. It could use maple sap as coolant, then evaporate down to syrup. But no… The rest of the forums yelled me down and voted for 3d printer heads.

As stated, it is all in the hopper for new heads for new functionality. Absolutely nothing official as to what type of heads right now.

So welcome!

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Thanks for joining us :sunglasses:
You will find answers to many of your questions here, and we always appreciate more forum involvement. It’s the members who make this place what it is.

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The “removable” head does lend itself to the possibility of lenses with different focal lengths - which can affect slightly deeper or more intricate lines… :thinking:

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Hey @jason.fuller0, congrats on your badge “New User of The Month!” I didn’t know there was such a thing!

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Which would be a lot more useful if the base could be removed…

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Thanks. I didn’t know either, until I got the notice. Apparently, they pick 2 new forum members a month for it, based on contribution to the forums. Apparently, I managed to fool them. :grin:

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Seeing that there’s only two people with this badge:

https://community.glowforge.com/badges/44/new-user-of-the-month

I would assume it started last month.

And of course congrats to Jason!

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Cool! And congratulations! :relaxed:

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It would have been a lot harder without being able to bounce off so many of your spectacular posts.

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Thank you for the info guys i appreciate it, i’m definitely going to get involved more over the next few months.

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