Extension cords are technically only for temporary runs. The “proper” method for a permanent installation would be to get a longer AWG-NEMA15 power cord or to have a permanent extension installed.
That said, a good extension cord of the proper gauge will work fine for a temporary installation… just don’t go daisy-chaining a bunch of powerstrips and ungrounded 20ga strings!
please none of this:
Also consider a surge protector and/or battery backup unit, especially if your area has frequent power fluctuations.
Would something like this work?
I would feel comfortable using that with my GF.
Absolutely. That will have no problem carrying the laser. But as @jbv said, don’t lean on it.
Oh. My. Gosh! People are, um, amazing aren’t they?!?! I promise, that’s not what mine will look like.
I’m not home but there is one post from @ben1 who measured it at 8’
I have heavy extension cord/power strip that I use.
Reminds me of the guy in that Christmas movie 
Pretty funny. 
Long time ago, the company I was working with at the time was putting up a huge new building and we were weeks from moving in when it caught on fire - the plumber doing final install work on the sprinkler system set the ceiling on fire with his torch…which spread without a sprinkler system to put it out Delayed moving 5,000 people for 6 months.
Or the case I know of where the 5,000 sf house was almost finished. Some walls needed to be repainted - I think due to the clients changing their mind when they saw everything put together. Painter left solvent soaked rags in a pile in the house or garage. Spontaneous combustion. House destroyed. This was a couple of decades ago.
I was a LT(jg) at the time, serving as Navigation division officer on an aircraft carrier. We had a lighting fixture needing a 3-prong plug wired onto it, but the EMs kept putting us off. Knowing that the team that did electrical safety checks was separate than the one that did wiring, I did the logical thing – wired it myself and told my guys to get a safety check. My thoughts were if I wired it correctly, no harm, no foul. If not, the safely guy would see it immediately, fix it, sign off – task complete. What I didn’t count on was someone seeing the installed plug and, assuming the checks were complete, and plugging it in.
About an hour later I heard the “Fire, fire, fire!” call on the 1MC and was horrified to hear the compartment number specificed – the Navigation office. 
Luckily, the electrical fire was extinguished when they pulled power (hadn’t caught anything else on fire quite yet), so the damage was limited to one lamp, one power socket, one bulkhead (guess who re-painted it?), and my reputation.
For about a month afterward, the ship’s Electrical Officer (loudly) greeted me with “Hello, Electrician’s Apprentice Ward!” every time he saw me. In the passageway, in the wardroom, in front of my guys, in front of the Captain, etc. 
Yikes! (Look at the bright side…could have been worser.) 
We had an electrician doing work on a fan in the ceiling at work several years ago. He left. Around five we smell smoke. Then see smoke coming from where he had been working. Shut off power at the electrical panel and all was well. So it could have been more embarrassing.
OK, if you are going to admit that, I’ll step up.
Making a power connection to an existing outlet for one in the unfinished furnace room on the other side of the wall, I had three wires for each pole that had to connect to the screw-down terminals on the outlet, and they almost fit.
A little voice in my head said “You know, you should really accomplish all those connections in a junction box…”
A couple of months later, I’m reaching in the fridge for a cold one, and my eye lands on that outlet.
Yeah, that’s my work. Needless to say there is a junction box to the side of that outlet, and a nice picture to shame me every time I see it. Just wanted to share that with the world.
Edit; Moral is, if you hear a little voice, listen to it.
You dodged a bullet on that one! My lesson learned was that black=negative/ground is more an automotive thing. 
NS. Can we all just agree on a standard here??
Oh man, I’m lucky to still have a house.
But you know, after Naval fire fighting - I am my fire dept.
I thought you weren’t supposed to use a power strip or UPS on the Glowforge. It would invalidate your warranty I thought…
Don’t think it has ever been said that the warranty would be invalidated. Support has said they recommend you don’t do it. Probably because they can’t control the reliability or quality of third party power strips or UPS. Some discussions that daisy chaining the surge protectors and built in protection inside the Glowforge could be an issue. Personally consider it more based in an electrical engineering possibility than real world experience but guess it’s possible.
What @rpegg said. What they advise and what is ok are two different things. Reading that whole thread I referenced showed why one might not want to give a blanket approval to power strips and extension chords. Mine is heavy duty and part of a government surplus computer desk. Fairly robust and it is the only thing I have plugged in to the outlet and the Glowforge is the only thing on that outlet.
