Replacing Filters

Have you got any details or idea of how the actual filter part of the air filter will be replaced?

Is it based on fairly common off-the-shelf filter components, or do you know the approximate expected lifespan and replacement costs?

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The filter’s a custom part, and we expect to sell it for less than $250. You remove the Glowforge, pull out the filter, drop in the new one. (The filter doesn’t have a top of its own - it’s lid is the bottom of the Glowforge).

can the model with the filter also be vented or will it not hav that capability? I ask because if I find the filter needs to be replaced too often, I may want to eat the cost of that upgrade and start venting out my window.

I would hope the Basic + Filter would still come with the exhaust hose! It would kinda suck to pay $500 for the filter, but lose the hose ability.

Bad news: we’re not planning on putting the hose in the package.
Good news: the hose is about $10 from home depot. : )
You can, for example, use this one I believe. http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-4-in-x-8-ft-Dryer-Duct-PM8X73DS/100050673

Dan: Thanks for the quick response. My concern is that depending upon where I need to put the laser in the future, it may be better to use the exhaust hose over the air filter.

Having never seen a picture of the back of the laser, will the GlowForge + AirFilter still have whatever connectors are necessary to attach the HomeDepot exhaust hose?

Thanks!

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Yes. It’s a standard 4" flange so you can connect all manner of ventilation options to it, including standard shop ducting and other air filters.

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Awesome, thanks man.

Dan,

Can you give us an idea of the expected lifespan of the filter? If its $250 to replace, I am concerned about the frequency…

-Scott

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It’s difficult to estimate how often the filter cartridge needs to be replaced because it depends not just on how much you use it but on the material you use. Hardwoods aren’t very taxing but plywood might be, depending entirely on the glue (which is usually hard to figure out). It’s just going to vary a great deal, with light users pushing past a year between changes, and heavy users who are cutting nonstop turning them over as often as every month or so. We’re working on filter pricing, but we expect it’s going to come in under $250.

I hate to point fingers elsewhere, but we looked for other laser filter manufacturers’ filter life estimates, and can’t find them either, so apparently we’re not alone in finding it difficult to put numbers to it.

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Hey Dan & team
Will there be some sort of indicator to notify us when the filter needs to be changed? Either locally with an LED or in the cloud/app? Or would we just need to “eyeball it”?

Thanks!
Adrian

No eyeballs. : ) We’ll be able to notify you when the filter’s in need of replacing via the cloud service. We’ll also look at using the local LED for that, too.

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This is exactly what I was hoping to hear.

Thank you!

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Hrmm is that the duct size for the units with the filters? or for all glowforge units (basic, basic with filter & pro)?

On the tested video I thought you said that the duct size outlet was about the size of a vacuum hose? Is that the case? Or has that changed?

From what I’ve seen here on the forum @karaelena it seems it is 4" in diameter or similar to a dryer hose. @dan mentioned in one of the threads that you could purchase it at Home Depot for $10

Yeah I saw the link for the Home depot hose… But I am just confirming from what I saw in that video.

But from the forums (not from the tech specs page) its a 4" dryer hose. Just trying to get the fact right.

“Our standard model needs ventilation via the provided 4″ (10.2cm) hose. We recommend putting the hose out a window.”

I thought I read thru the page. But I missed that some how.

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So the Glowforge will have to be removed from the filter in order to replace it? Too bad it’s not some sort of a slide-out mechanism…

Yes, you have to lift it to get to the filter.

All this talk about the air going out of the GF, but where does it go in - is there a port for the air going into the GF? It’s occurred to me that the GF is essentially a $2,000 vacuum hose attachment - with an ignition source inside - woo-hoo!