The Glowforge has all of my affection, no one can compete. Before my son showed me the video for the Forge last September, a laser in the house as a tool we could all use was not even a consideration. I have all the normal papercrafter tools a Cricut, a larger Cricut, a Silhouette Cameo, various and sundry smaller tools and my Viking Designer Diamond Embroidery Machine. But I expect that the Glowforge is going to take us in totally new directions. We pooled our resources and took the plunge. I feel like such a novice reading all of your posts but am trying not to let that dim my enthusiasm for this adventure.
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Yeah, me too.
I was looking at 3D printers, then I stumbled on one that touted a burn-out filament for casting. I felt the jeweler in me stir, but then - Glowforge!
I could scarcely believe the power/innovative features and price!! The deeper I dug the more excited I got. So Iām wringing my hands as the clock ticked down on the pre-order with the internal struggle of āDo it! You have to!ā vs. the uncertainty of never having been involved in a startup.
The clincher was a guaranteed refund up until it ships. The voice started screaming āWT# is your problem??ā Clickā¦
So there were a few fleeting moments regarding 3D printers, but once the 'forge emerged from the mental fog, there was no compitition. Zero.
Being able to work a spread of materials instead of just metal excited and inpired me like I hadnāt felt in a decade.
Future wise there is probably an X Carve, but a laser has been n my creative dreams since I was half my age.
It would take a full blown StarTrek replicator to bump the laser off itās pedestal.
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Her name is Bertha. She is a Serious Machine. 
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As much as I have poopooed 3d printers, I have to say theres nothing like going to bed hearing it whirring away and waking up to an idea created in the virtual world suddenly being concrete. manifest creativity is an amazing feeling.
Then again there are those nights that you go to bed with dreams of amazing things and wake up with a plastic afro on your printer. I have yet to have access to an SLA or SLS printer, but Im keeping my eye open for the glowforge of 3d SLA/SLS printers.
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I went a long time before my first plastic afro. Very sad when it is $40 a pound specialty filament.
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I luckily had the opposite problem most of the time, it just stopped extruding. Happened the first time overnight with copperfill. I was able to restart pretty close to where it left off, but it kept happening. Found out later the extruder cog that pushes the filament shook loose from using fast honeycomb infill too much LOL. fast honeycomb is like an earthquake hitting my printer, but I still use it almost all the time because its the best looking.
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Actually noā¦ My brother raves about his 3D printer, but I always told my wife that while it would be cool, I never really had the desire for one (at least not for the price). After backing Robot Turtles and hearing everything you said about the laser you used for some of the pieces, I kept telling them both ānow cutting/engraving on already existing materials? THAT sounds like something I could use.ā When you emailed your Robot Turtle backers about the Glowforge and I saw 1) It was simple to use, 2) worked with the design programs I practically live in, and 3) was incredibly accessible in price compared to other lasersāthough still a stretch and would require some sacrificeāall it took for me to ultimately invest was day-after-day convincing my wife that not only was it worth it, but she would get a lot out of using it too. As you guessed, she eventually bought-in. I didnāt consider any other machine (and still donāt as I patiently await this awesome machine).
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Had they been ready, I would have purchased one of these: Shaper .
I was ready to buy one of these, Multiplaz, plasma cutter/welder, when I discovered your Glowforge campaign. Now, Iām saving up for one again. I wonāt be CNCing it, but, think that making templates with the GF will work for what I have in mind.
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I was seriously contemplating the Universal and Epilog machines like many others here, but it wouldāve taken me 5 more years to afford one. The Shaper was another one I was looking at, but as @lcuellar63 posted, itās not ready yet. The functions on the GF definitely makes designing some projects easier, especially since Iām usually sketching out ideas, so it was a no-brainer and I went for it. I do see getting the x-carve in the foreseeable future, either that or I convince a friend to get one and we can share.
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I like the way you think! Like a mini-makerspace almost. We kind of have that going on here within our group of friends; Everyone has their specialties and specialized gear. Makes it more fun too when you have someone to bounce ideas off of
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Iām so jelly, It would be so cool to have a bunch of local maker friends that we all hand different thingsā¦
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I thought about a Black Cat Cougar and an Othermill.
I finally decided to purchase a basic 3D printer (Tiko), but it has not yet arrived. I held back on purchasing a fancier machine because Iām not sure what I would do with a bunch of things made of plastic. At $175, it seemed like something I could try out of curiosity.
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Honestly Glowforge was my inspiration to get back into creating things. I view it as a great way to get back into my high school graphic design days and combing it with my love for building.
I have basic carpentry tools but never did more than farm work with them.
Seeing the Glowforge reignited my creative side and has really caused me to find new inspiration. My level of excitement for it to arrive is outrageous.
I did look at the 40k lasers after seeing the glowforge and compared a few other lasers but ultimately it was the user interface and use of the cameras that sold me.
The hardest part was convincing my wife that I would be able to make the money back with sales. 
But now that she has seen the possibilities I have a long list of things to do with the glowforge once it arrives.
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Is it the same people though? If it is then it says thereās no way to get to happy. If itās different people everyday then it suggests that people do get them working satisfactorily and the advice is useful enough that other people search out the help.
Iāve found that once you get it set up it works fine for what I know it can do. A user has to know their machineās limitations 
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Yeah. I do that about 50% of the time 
I do prosthetics and I can either try a full plate of all the parts and risk the air prints or I break it into a bunch of separate jobs and then need to babysit all day.
As someone else here said, itās not plug & play technology yet.
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For your next toy, you guys need to try a MakerGear M2ā¦we had one guy run several prints that ran for 7-10 days each. He only lost one, and that was due to a kink in the spool. (I knowā¦none of us could believe it either.) 
He even had to switch out spools midway through on a couple of the printsā¦no issues.
Itās one heck of a machine once you fine tune your settings. It truly is āset it and forget itā. (And you guys wouldnāt even have a learning curve.)
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Thanks to that link I am now drooling over their products. Will never have money ever again 
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Ive heard a lot of good things about those printers. I want a new 3d printer so badlyā¦ but alas I have so many toys I need to spend time with. I really need to find a way to make a living off of them lol
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If you remember a majority of my posts, you might have guessed this answer already:
I first concepted a set of objects i wanted to have made, and thought that a 3d printer could do it. Then i found out an extruder type would take about 24 hours per object and with a series of about 50 objects, plus the possibility of warping, an extruder printer is not the best tool for the job.
I had seen a couple companies making a clip or dlp style printer and started pursuing one, even if it was high for my budget, and after many emails back and forth, was let down that such printers could not make these objects as first they claimed.
I had thought originally i would make some parts of my tabletop gaming terrain with the laser, flat relatively 2d stuff, and that most of it would be done with one of those nextgen 3d printers that fell short. However after postulating it and running a few hypotheticals around the forum, i set out to make 3d terrain tiles with a laser cutter only, and my future customers were not displeased.
I had borrowed someoneās redsail 80w, the m900 i believe. I wanted to get one of my own when i heard the news about delay, but found out dealing with customs and crossing my fingers that this person i was fb messaging back and forth one night as they tell me to wire transfer money at my bank to thier accountā¦if that was all legitā¦ and decided that Iād settle for a 60w x700 redsail clone off ebay for the purchase protection that credit card, paypal, and ebay could provide.
I still carry the torch for my GF. I just got a taste of lasering and need to get more lasering done, please understand baby, youāre still my number one.
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I was flirting with and Xcarve and Glowforge swept me off my feet. I have been eyeing some of the home brewed CNCs and just might try to build one. Depends on when the Glowforge comes. I think I can keep myself busy with regular woodworking
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