No, for the price I’m happy with what the machine seems to be able to do. Really all I’d like to see improved ASAP is accurate positioning and kerf offset built in. Other than that I can’t expect much more for the price.
But it’s a hobby laser not a production laser so it is going to need more work and maintenance and not have the same level of support. Being in canada without an easy way of getting it across the border so repairs shipping is covered means there will be a bunch of added costs over the lasers life. I would just spend that cost up front on a production machine and get more bang for my buck.
October 25th you said your PRU was barely working. Does that mean it’s been barely working this whole time? I’m still waiting for my machine and trying to decide if it’s worth waiting for (will it meet my needs). Information that appears to be contradictory is very confusing.
@takitus received one of the first Prerelease units, it was still in very early development stages and lacked a lot of functionality that the later units had.
So his has never done as much as some of the later models. (He still managed to get some really beautiful things out of it.)
Takitus pre release build would’t take any of the major updates. None of the fine power control we have is available to his unit - he can hard engrave and cut, but can’t manage the degree of control he sees others enjoy.
When I got it this pre release it compared to his, but was updated with the rest of the new ones. His description qualifies. This is a different machine now than when I first got it.
If I’m not mistaken, that Hawaiian order is one that had to have the first field-replacement head gantry, though.
I’ve broken down and asked Glowforge to ship mine to Sweet Grass MT for pickup. I’m not entirely confident it’ll arrive intact (it’s not like I’ll be getting it from an airport hub, it has to be ground travelled to get there)… but we’ll see.
You could always cancel your order and put the money into Bitcoin… it’s gone up 550% since the start of the year, and about 15% in the last month alone…
I can’t do a lot of things on my laser any more due to the recent software changes that were made (like 3d engrave etc). My older hardware doesn’t work with the new software.
I also had a bad tube from the beginning and it is still the same tube, so I’m missing the bottom 2/5 of the grayscale range for Engraving. Anything in that range comes out as tumory looking static.
To go along with that my unit doesn’t have a temperature sensor shutoff, so it will run at any temp. This means it is slowly killing itself. The power output isn’t what it used to be, but when I got it, it already wasn’t super great. The output of a new unit with proper temperature tracking is so much better, like the one I got to use at MakerFaire:SF.
On top of that my head cuts at an angle instead of straight down, so no right angle joins for me.
Having said all that, you can see that my PRU was not the greatest unit to have (compared to a standard basic), but has definitely been fun in the meantime. However, compared to the new units out there, I am very very limited in what I can do with it. It’s not because it’s broken over time, it’s just because it was a PRU with limitations out the gate. It’s continued to function just like it did when I got it and I could probably use it for another 1-2 years before the tube goes out. Do I want to? Nah I’d like my pro please!
They’ve obviously worked the kinks out, which I got to see firsthand at MF:SF, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting my real forge ever since. I think if you wait it out you’ll be pleasantly surprised!