So, I don’t know how common my situation is, but… while waiting for my 'Forge, I joined a makerspace to get access to lasers. And quality materials sourcing is a bit difficult; the makerspace has a bit of retail which is REALLY convenient, but isn’t very good about keeping things in stock, and is a limited selection to begin with.
Would you consider opening up the proofgrade shop to those who don’t have their forges yet? Even if I have to dial in the settings on a non-GF laser, having access to quality materials that I can reliably order online would be a big boon to my process.
(Plus, you know, I’d be spending more money with you as opposed to someone else…)
I think its more of an issue than they have time to address at the moment. They likely don’t have proper staff to handle a full blown open store, and it’s all linked to your glowforge account and your “sorry for waiting” money.
So there’s a bunch of little pieces that all need to line up, otherwise, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t accept more orders already.
In addition, a big part of the advantage for proofgrade is the automagic settings with the GF. People will have to work out settings for all the other lasers, and some of them may not work as well even when optimized.