My point was, anyone interested enough in that particular aspect of a laser cutter certainly has other trades and tools that will allow him/her to work around it, quite easily. A tool like this can’t have EVERY feature.
Me three as far as anyone using the pass through and not having access to a planner or other tools. 1/4 inch definitely limits and/or eliminates what I initially l thought of utilizing with the pass through.
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Veneer is always an option.
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Obviously you guys aren’t:
Hi jawad_olabi,
Pass through is 1/4 inch but as someone already mentioned you can do a lamination. If you interested in 3d engraving and other types you can try a carvewright it gets mixed reviews, but it does work. I have one and it works fine. It not perfect and there support is ho hum but for thicker material I don’t know of anything capable of matching it for the money. The machine looks like a planing mill (sort of) but for furniture it might be the option.
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I’m surprised the active water chiller has not been mentioned more. I guess summer is well behind us. The Pro will tolerate higher summer temperatures than the basic will since the Basic is passively cooled. The Basic will refuse to work if the ambient temperature gets above 80 Fahrenheit. This alone is a great reason to get the Pro.
Also @dan posted the following post about 3 months ago. Has anyone noticed a marked difference between what each can produce? Or perhaps he was referring to yet undisclosed functionality?
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Just 2.5C (i think 6F is that right?) is not much a gain over the Basic.
In fact the very limited Temperature difference between the Basic and Pro is the sole reason why i am not going to upgrade my Basic.
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I guess YMMV. It’s a lot easier for me to keep it at 78-80 when it’s 100+ outside than to keep it at 74. That 4-6 degrees F makes a huge difference in my electricity usage.
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Apparently not. Listen, it’s simple. You can’t have something like this do EVERYTHING. If the bottleneck on this device is that the pass through is only good enough for 1/4" material, I’d consider that a huge win. Again, considering anyone planning projects THAT large SHOULD have the skills and equipment to easily work around this issue. Heck, you COULD just use store bought veneers. It’s essentially what my work around for this issue is, just a TON cheaper. For anything that large I’m going to use my CNC anywards.
By long prints do you mean a four foot rectangle or a four foot rectangle with lots of engraved detail? The first will cut fairly quickly, whereas the second asks a lot more out of the auto-alignment and would take hours to complete. Sort of a moot point until that feature is released in software. I’ve done one cut of the former, in cardboard for my venting solution, and the camera was adequate for manual alignment but it would take some sanding after the operation for furniture.
I’m planning on some furniture myself. I had noticed the 1/4" material limitations early on so have always planned on making my own “ply” with a high-grade surface. While I thought I would be anxiously awaiting the release of the auto-alignment feature, “Is it done yet?!?!” I’ve found so many other things I “need” to do, and not enough time to do them, that I don’t even think about it.
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In reply to the OP, like others have mentioned, the pass-through is great when you need it and hopefully will become that much more awesome once the software is updated. Like others, I wish it had been 1/2" instead of 1/4 simply so I could engrave thicker/longer pieces, but I would certainly still take what I have over none at all. Most my jobs haven’t been that long, and I keep the room the forge is in around 75ish (gets a little warmer sometimes) and I’ve never had a hic-up. Though It’s hard to quantify, since I’m using mine as the corner piece for a little side business the improved cooling, improved optics, and slightly more powerful tube made it worth the extra for me. I’ve been going about 3 weeks and I have no complaints or regrets.
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A table with casters fixes that problem.
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It is a win but it’s not the big deal it seems at first blush. I’ve been doing the occasional pass through on the Redsail and it’s a full 9" tall - the front & back doors drop down. It’s a common feature on 100W & larger Cheap Chinese Lasers now 
I don’t expect 9" on the GF but I honestly expected 2" when I bought based on the material capacity. Since there’s a drop down front door already, it seems like a drop down rear door could have accommodated that. I’ll still use it as is but it’s not as big a deal to me as it was when I signed up.
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Huge difference in price too! 
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That’s why I didn’t get all worked up over the lack of Z or the inability to add a rotary attachment. But the slot approach to a pass-through is counter to the way that feature is installed in almost every other laser I’ve seen. They all have drop down doors (with locks).
GF’s implementation of just a slot in a door (the irony is not lost on me) is unique and self-limiting. The whole front of the GF drops down and opens up to the 2" height that is supposed to be the max material thickness. Never occurred to me that the back wouldn’t also just drop down the same way to allow for a pass through of full material height. Still not sure what the rationale was for that decision - it would have saved them the whole thing with the new slot covers, the special rubbing strips used to close the slot down, etc.
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I’m sure there will be plenty of mods for these things within the year. I wouldn’t sweat it.
I don’t. The Redsail still works
Rumor is that you can do a half full-thickness (2") pass through using the front garage door 
I’m guessing the Friendly Neighborhood Lawyer is happier with the 1/4" slot. Nobody’s fingers are going to find their way into the machine this way.
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