Just incredible. Wow!
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Holy CROP! (I think I just squeeeed myself.) 
Okay, sorry people, don’t flag me…
(It’s so rare that I get to actually pat myself on the back for making the right call…pardon me while I indulge in a brief moment of realized conviction…)
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I’ve always had an uneasy feeling about the similarity between that word and the other one! 
edit: not CROP
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This is really stellar. I noticed in the first GF image that the mandalas around the edge of the image seemed really faint compared to those in your K40 engrave, but seeing the original file made me really that the GF image is holy-heck more congruent with the original. WOW. I’m so excited to see engraving projects like these.
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A) wow, that looks spectacular
B) slightly concerned that we will have to use proofgrade to get decent results. Hopefully this is just that the software isn’t polished yet
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so on that note, in order to get an engrave to run well on the K40 requires a LOT of pre-processing. I had to sharpen the hell out of the image, crank up the contrast, etc. I made a thread about it somewhere… lemme dig it up.
Here is the thread: Preparing a Photo for Raster Engraving (NOT NECESSARY FOR GLOWFORGE)
and heres what the image looked like that I had to use to keep the edges clean during the engrave. If you read through the thread youll see how much work it took to get a good engrave and why im REALLY glad I dont have to do that anymore.
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Im pretty sure its the latter of your statements. I didnt run through all of the settings possible because I was close to burning through the remainder of my test piece of cedar, but I think that it will work down the road. It just burns a lot more easily than the birch does. They will account for that im sure. How could you not want the smell of lasered cedar in your house =)
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Wonder if the natural oils in cedar made it more susceptible to burning along the cut lines. Not asking for an answer just an out loud thought.
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Wow!!! That’s incredible!!! All this is making the wait so much harder and so much more worth it!!! Keep up the good work
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Yeah im not sure what causes it to darken so much quicker than other woods, but it does.The spot size on cedar is a lot larger and more noticeable as well.
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In general most species of cedar seem to be especially flammable when dry, I’d also venture that the oils play a big part in this.
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Dude… Awesome!
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This isn’t the software - this is simply the Regular Laser Experience. Sourcing your own materials for any laser is challenging. You have to ensure that the material is laser compatible. Then you have to experiment a lot to get the settings just right. When you’ve made it the best you can, it might not be very good. Then you toss it and start again with another material.
You can do this with a Glowforge as well as any other laser. Expect a lot of time and challenge, some additional risk (it’s not easy to conclusively determine if a material is laser compatible), and the results will be, after a great deal of work, somewhere between “terrible” and “as good as your first print on Proofgrade material”, depending on your luck and skill.
And in some cases, what we offer in the Proofgrade line is simply not available commercially as far as we know (e.g. laser-compatible plywood that’s presanded and prefinished with laser-safe finishes).
Look at Proofgrade as a solution to a big set of problems that you’d have to deal with otherwise - you don’t need to use it, but we think you’ll want to.
(And yes - you will be able to get a meaningful upgrade from non-Glowforge lasers by upgrading to Proofgrade materials too).
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I should have been a little more clear in my statement. The cedar im using is really difficult to get a good engrave on. Its even more flammable than the older cedar I had on my k40 engrave., and that one took a lot of messing around to get anything acceptable.
my k40 is supposedly a 40w but actually runs a tube thats closer to 30w, so I can run it at a bit lower power than the GF. even then it was hard to not burn it =/. I do have a 2500w diode laser I could run some cedar tests on, but thats something I think ill save for a day when im really bored haha.
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Haha! I remember when you posted that in the K40 group. It was pretty amazing back then 
Still is really. Just not as amazing as the GF’s.
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@ glowforge staff:
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I haven’t played overwatch but I think I get the gist. 
–dan
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Dude, you make my heart sing with this kind of stuff! I love the building of things, but art is what my GF and I will be doing. Keep experimenting and sharing!
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The engraving looks fabulous. I like the way you showed the comparison of the others. This is one of the main reasons I wanted a Glowforge. 
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Really nice Philip. Great to have all the comparisons. That is a perfect file to work with and demo.
Chiming in on the differences wood makes to engraving and cutting: The fact that the ProofGrade is skinned in maple is a significant as you say. Maple is denser and the ProofGrade I have is remarkably even in grain and density, so it makes a great surface for engraving. The walnut is good too but still a different grain than the maple.
Cedar definitely is soft and cuts well. I couldn’t cut through a 5/16th piece of walnut I had planed up at 80% 15 in/min, but some white cedar I had that thick and thicker it cut all the way through at those settings.
I’m glad you and Yves are working out all these things. It does give me indications to start pushing my work some more. I spend way too much time in the design side of things, it’s getting faster, but is still tedious.
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