Ok… I’m sitting here with my PG box. My thoughts turn to the long run… how did your expectations stack up to the reality of Glowforge?
I’ve mentioned on here that I work for a well known Italian firearms maker and use a Laserstar in production. It works great for repetitive work but as is, would be a royal pain for one-off projects. (The primary reason I jumped on this train.) Anyway I love the idea to go from concept to finished product so fast. Also, @dan I’m wondering how rewarding this whole path has been? Have we been too much of a pain? Ha? (Not me, I mean… I’m an angel. I tell my wife all the time to not bother playing the lottery… the odds are she won’t hit AGAIN after finding ME! Ha!)
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Happy as a clam. 
(I would go into the details but I can get preachy when I get going, so I’ll spare everyone that.)
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I’ve followed you long enough to know you are still in dream land.
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And that’s after a year of using it. So the magic doesn’t fade.
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Pretty much what I expected as far as the design work and the actual Glowforge. Of course, I knew my husband wouldn’t want to do the computer work (or figure it out to do it).
Also, that there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day to add another craft to my world. Couldn’t help but want it it though.
We are thrilled with what we can do with the Glowforge … Just need more time to learn Fusion 360 and Inkscape!
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It’s outstanding. Hands down. Buuuut there’s always room for improvement, and I have been pretty blunt with my criticisms.
That being said it’s an amazing machine. You won’t regret it.
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Ease of use? A+
Build quality: A+
It seems like the production lines are tightening up in attention to detail. I see far fewer posts about stray glue, blemishes, etc.
You know what it has done though? Made me want a bigger and more powerful laser… consider this my beta application, @dan!
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I understand… I notice I’m staring at an x-carve. And 3d printers… so I guess I’ll need to finish the room over the garage. …or BUILD a shop… hmmm
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Make sure you get the GF out of your system first… I bought another tool that I’ve wanted and haven’t really used it at all since I keep having fun with the laser when I have free time.
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From my experience, I don’t know that that happens. 
Case in point. I received my GF last July. I received a Shaper Origin almost 6 weeks ago. Other than getting the firmware/software updates and testing it with a strip of tape on my computer desktop, I havent touched the Origin. My excuse is that I’m not at the stage of my main EV project that needs the Origin and I need to keep focus and not dilute resources playing around.
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Yup, that’s what I’m talking about. Same problem
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First issues.
Software/alignment/2.5 yr wait of delays/catalog. Things that need to get finished, fixed, upgraded, etc. I’m glad I got mine when I did.
2 months in I have not used as much as I would like but getting there. I got this for precision and repeatability. I wanted to cut small letters .5 to limit of GF because I can bandsaw them but they would not be precise or easily repeatable like going from one to another font or size on a dime time wise or set up wise.
What I have made is just simple but amazing because I would not have been able to do it otherwise. But I also see this as the fast and nimble small batch machine with my eyes on a bigger faster machine for possible production runs while comparing to workflow of a CNC router. And all I’ve done is mostly Mdf core ply and some hardwoods and a tiny bit of acrylic which might require more venting.
In the end I freaking love this thing. And now think could I do that with the GF before I go near any fast spinning blades or bits and is it worth the design time. But seriously I love it earning some serious browny points with my family.
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Put me on that list as well. Cutting metals, thicker and bigger materials.
Nobody can fix reality when material I cut don’t fit my expectations of what I can do with them, but I am sure that we could all be like the farmer that " didn’t want to own the world… Just any land next to his"
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Have enjoyed the ride and the community it has created (for the most part ) and having my GF and learning what all I can do with it – so worth the ride to get here!
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In most ways, it’s vastly exceeded my expectations. What has been the most surprising is that it feels way nicer than I expected. I mean, for the money I didn’t except it to feel or look cheap, but it’s way nicer than I had imagined.
I did expect the GFUI to be different. Its not that its bad, its just different. I expected more design capabilities. Like, I expected to be able to through a vector square in and drag it to a rectangle, if that makes sense. I also expected to be able to resize or scale things by percentages rather than just dragging the little boxes.
Oh, I also expected to make more repeated stuff. I haven’t done that once. I thought I would make something cool and then, the beauty of the laser, make 10 more. But there are too many possibilities, too many things I want to make.
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Currently I have a couple negative things I’m thinking about. I didn’t expect to have to worry about cutting right angles correctly, and I don’t want to have to worry every time about my cuts being off-center compared to the rest of the design either (hopefully support gets back to me on that one).
But when it works as it should, wow. I can’t believe I’m doing what I’m doing!
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Better than I expected, owing mostly to the ease of use.
Owning a robot with a laser beam has rocked my world.
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Happily using what I have. Believe far more will come. Expected more at this point in time. Expect it will take longer than I would like. Not going to waste any time believing it’s personal if life isn’t perfect.
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Just wait until he combines them with his turtles!
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