Hello. I have not received my GF yet. I have only received the materials starter kit. When I looked at the store link, I was surprised not to see any paper or paper materials like Bristol Board or Illustration board. That’s why I specifically bought a GF. I make paper/paper board models in 1/4" scale. Is this something that will be coming soon to the store? I want to spend my credits on paper products. I’ll only use that materials that are currently on there for things like gifts for people.
There are many examples on this forum of people successfully cutting and engraving paper, cardboard, illustration board and fabrics. The places to look for examples are the categories " Made on a Glowforge," and “Glowforge Tips & Tricks.”
I also intend to use Bristol Board for model making when my Glowforge arrives as it is lovely stuff to work with and doesn’t degrade with age, unlike “ordinary” paper.
The inspiration to use this was the work of Roye England who used it to construct 4mm/ft model buildings some sixty odd years ago. Here is a link to his work: https://www.pendonmuseum.com/
At the moment I am busy acquiring “things” for use when my machine arrives, one of these being something to prevent bits falling through the crumb tray and to keep paper etc. in one place whilst cutting. I looked at Seklema but it is a tad expensive, so I had a trawl through the internet to see if there was a cheaper alternative, and I discovered this:
www.mastergrave.co.uk/catalogue/detail_photos.php?product_ID=1115&photo.
so I ordered some . I will do a review when it arrives.
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Oh dear, that didn’t work. I’ll try again. It’s called Roland Engravers Hold Down Mat.
www.mastergrave.co.uk › Catalogue › Adhesives & Tapes
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Yes, unfortunately they don’t offer Proofgrade paper products yet, but they might at some point down the road if enough people are interested, so they’ll make note of your interest in them.
And you can easily cut paper products in the machine. For holding down the papers and lightweight materials like fabric, you are definitely going to want to either buy or make a sticky mat, to hold down the paper while it is being lasered.
(I make mine, because I’m too cheap to buy a Seklema mat. All you need is to spray a sheet of flat plywood with a couple of coats of repositionable spray adhesive and let it dry thoroughly. Works like a charm and you can refresh the stickiness when it eventually wears out. Krylon #7020 Repositionable Spray Adhesive.)
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The good thing that I’ve found about paper products is that they are incredibly consistent batch to batch, if you stick with the same supplier/brand/product.
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I think the more easily ignited a material is, the less likely we are to see it offered as Proofgrade material. Too much potential for a fire if the paper is not properly held down, which means too much liability for Glowforge when/if a fire starts while someone is cutting Proofgrade paper.
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The silly thing in not offering paper products yet is, one of the main items that they show in every video is the cardboard globe being made. They could at least create a chart of settings where people can contribute settings for specific materials like 3-ply illustration board or crescent old press… I primarily bought it to make models for theatre but have not had the time to do the searching and testing of materials. It’s even harder to search on the community boards sometimes. Once page exclusively to look up settings for products. Not 100s of pages of user tests with 30 messages of different attempts. You maybe able to tell this has really irritated me. I have used the machine twice since I received it in March. It’s frustrating.
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