Processing batches of swag faster

Today I’m reminded of my “That is actually a great idea for a feature” from two years ago.

Continuing the discussion from FEATURE REQUEST: Repeat Last Print (Fast & Offline Compatible):

As I’m mass producing 200 luggage tags, 12 at a time, with a jig made out of magnets.

I’m wondering: what ever happened to that “send it to our product team”?

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There are SO many things that would be useful that’ve been asked for for years. But none of us will know any more than you. So I’m not sure why you’re asking us. You might want to reach out to Glowforge for that answer. Certainly share with us if you learn something!

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Because the last time I asked someone from Glowforge answered.

I suppose there’s always that hope. But it’s not very likely since that would set the precedence that they will answer such questions here again. And I don’t think they have any intention of doing that any time soon.

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Support stopped monitoring this forum about / over a year ago…so, that’s probably during the timeframe when you heard back from them in here.

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I’m wondering why you’re using magnets when a jig would be so much easier and faster. Maybe I don’t understand exactly what you’re doing here. Search the forum for “jig,” there’s tons of info. Here’s a recent one to get you started:

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I’m surprised all those magnets don’t interfere and cause errors in the machine.

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I use magnets all the time. I have for the past 6 years or whatever. Never ran into a single issue. I’ve read that some people suspect their magnets caused issues. And I believe them. But I definitely wouldn’t generalize that they cause issues. Maybe I was just lucky and bought the “right” magnets.

That said, to me, the answer is simply SnapMark for all. The single best feature ever made for Glowforge lasers. If I didn’t have it I would push for it every hour of every day until I got it. I guess people who don’t have it don’t know what they’re missing. But boy I tell ya… I’d be unrelenting about it.

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Thanks for that, I didn’t realize. Is there a new official mechanism for making feature requests?

This is one time use. After today, never doing these luggage tags again. So, both a jig and snapmarks are a bit of overkill. I look at the magnets option as a quick temporary jig. I started this one with just the scored paper template, I only added the magnets to make slapping the tags in place a bit faster.

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No…just support@glowforge.com

That makes sense, but I’d still find making a quick throwaway cardboard jig faster than placing all those little magnets just so.

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What the magnets do most obviously, or rather the magnetic fields do if they reach high enough, is interfere with the motor of the fan so the fan does not spin. If the fan is not spinning, the smoke is not being blown away from the work. If the smoke is not blown away it can start a little candle flame of a fire and the cut will not make it the whole way through. With acrylics it could ignite a flash fire of the fumes that can get very bad.

If the magnets are not so strong as to have the field reach that high, or if the magnets are shielded with a cap of steel, or if the magnets are very small the field will not reach and cause a problem. Waving a loose screwdriver at the height of the head will tell enough about the field.

If the magnets have no field where the fan will be while cutting then they will not interfere where it is most important but that can be tricky. I used magnets for almost a year and did not realize when they caused a problem until I finally figured it out and quit using them.

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