I realized the other day that an amazing transformation has occurred. My Glowforge isn’t a cool toy that I approach with awe and reverence any more. It’s a tool now. Sometimes I need a thing and it makes sense to laser cut it, so I just do. Maybe it’s slightly less exciting and new, and I’m spending a bit less time on the forum, but overall I’m really happy. The problem with toys is that interest in them isn’t sustainable. Glowforge has settled into a space where it’s going to stay for a long time.
On that note, I bought a power supply for some LED lights, and it comes bare with exposed terminals and no cord socket. An ideal opportunity to make an enclosure in Fusion 360 and Glowforge it into existence.
The other day I needed a support for something. A couple of quick measurements and a decision to make it match the thing it’s supporting by making it black acrylic… and mere minutes later… I have a custom support.
But then there are the other times when I think “I have a frickin’ laser! What’s something fun I can make with it?!” and I gather the kids and we make awesome Marvel/DC night lights.
So there’s nothing wrong with keeping the “fun” in “function.”
I work in mental health. In the springtime, it always seems like all my seriously mentally ill patients (and a good number of the usually stable ones) destabilize. There’s suddenly SUNSHINE, and happiness, and energy lifts and everyone starts becoming manic and psychotic and my days are filled with endless crisis interventions and emergency med changes and desperate messages from caregivers and family members, and even MORE fights with insurance companies, and I come home at the end of the day exhausted and overwhelmed and collapse in limp, mute hopelessness.
This year is different. Now I have a Glowforge. Now, I come home exhausted and overwhelmed and go downstairs and burn stuff with lasers.
It’s amazing therapy. There’s nothing more fulfilling than burning stuff AND making beautiful things.
I have been thinking the same thing lately and its a totally good thing. But not only has it found its place in the tool arsenal it has a prominent spot!
Yep, you’re right on with this. My wife is happier because I’m not lost to the basement for days anymore
But it makes me crankier when I just want to knock something out and then something on the GF side makes it impossible like the fill rule issue this week
The GF is great for doing a lot of stuff. As far as therapy goes… I used to be the least stressed person on the face of the planet. But after reading 265 thousand posts on this forum I find myself regularly beating my head against the wall. If the GF project kills me I promise to haunt you all.
If you do, would you please leave me a note about who else is haunting my place? Feel free to use the glowforge, bleeding walls, whatever. Everyone who has lived at my house for any amount of time insists it’s haunted. I don’t believe them, but I would believe you. Thanks!
We can wander the afterlife together…it might get me too. (At least I’ll get some music out of the deal. You would just get to listen to me chatter, which should be incentive enough to stay alive.)
I love what you said about the ‘transformation’. I’ve been thinking like that a lot now, too…but just never took the time to put it into words. I knew there was a very different feeling about all of it, though. My feelings of intimidation about the laser itself and the insecurities I’ve felt learning to design are slowly fading away and in their place is a really warm feeling of comfort and confidence. And for me…I don’t thing the sheer fun of it all will ever go away.
My home machine took a vacation from working properly, the replacement had serious issues with short-term memory, and now the new one has me energized to get caught up on the long list of things I want to make!
Maybe you just need your machine to break so you can appreciate it again
I know how that goes, I have people come through my makerspace and are totally blown away and I’m like “oh yeah, there’s cool stuff in here!”
I am right there with you I’ve made a few artistic kinds of things but mostly it’s been functional items that I would have built much slower utilizing a different technique in the shop.
I learned the value of using multiple layers to build up items and by staggering those layers and creating all kinds of New Dimensions.
