Just a thought, is it possible to laser sand?
i.e. To get it to vitrify into the lasered pattern?
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So yes, people have SLS’ed sand. I don’t know what the power range was…
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would this make glass? sounds fascinating 
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Oh, that is an interesting idea!
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I was also interested in laser sintering sand. I’d just think you’ve have to at least dampen it against the air assist, wouldn’t you?
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What’s the status with the latest production units re control of air assist? Can we adjust or turn it off yet?
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I don’t know if the GF can but that weird kid on YouTube that eats everything he lasers has done it on his diy rig before.
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Yes, there are machines/processes which do that. I don’t think anybody’s actually tried it with a glowforge though.
Sugar has a lower melting point, and the CandyFabb from like a decade ago would do prints in a 4’x8’ bed of plain white granulated sugar…
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EMSL did that with the CandyFabb; even open sourced build plans for it.
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Yes! hot-air reflow!
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Looks like if the sand was much finer i.e. powdered then it would give better results. Or perhaps powdered glass. Then you need a device that drops a build platform and adds another layer of sand on top and you have a 3D glass printer.
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Shapeways used to offer sintered (not cast) glass as a 3D printing material probably some 6 years ago. I still have two small pieces; they are really nice, and I wish they still offered it. I still hope for the day I can print glass in my studio 
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It’s enabled in hardware for all units but has not been enabled in software yet.
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You could make edible cupcake toppers (if you weren’t afraid of the potential chemicals)!
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Well, that’s a critical first step…
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It can be, certainly. I was pondering filling a tray with damp sand (damp to prevent blowing about with air assist) to try this. The fusing the sand would keep the sand from blowing around the dried part…in theory.
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I… I don’t… He… What?
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I think the Candyfab was the first 3D printer I ever saw! It used a laser to fuse a layer of table sugar. IIRC, the x-axis was done by spreading a new layer of sugar and stepping the bed downwards. The laser must have been on a fixed arbor. I don’t remember if the y-axis was on the platform or the laser.
Could the Pro could accommodate a dropout z-axis platform underneath? Can you disable the fan?
No and not yet.
The first is prevented by the shallow depth (1.5" for the crumb tray top to the bottom of the machine) and the latter is software controlled so is a “hopper” development item.
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