Sadly, he misrepresents the Forge, saying it doesn’t have liquid cooling.
And he says the Forge doesn’t have air assist!
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Norm seems a bit misinformed regarding his own Glowforge. It does have liquid cooling the tube (not sure if it is water based) and it does have air assist blowing from the head. It must have an air intake if it is blowing air out at 200cfm.
The quote, “unlike a 3D printer you can make your money back with a laser in a year” made me laugh. All of my 3D printers have made many times what it cost me to make them by printing more 3D printers.
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I was surprised by that too. I would have thought he’d have dug into the machine after his first few cuts/engraves just to see what it was all about in there. I know I’ll be looking into it pretty closely (non-destructively) just to see how all the parts & pieces fit together, what does what inside it, how things are put together, etc.
He also kept throwing out the “metal laser” phrase when he meant “metal tube laser”. I expect some folks will think that all higher end lasers can cut/etch/engrave metal now 
He glossed over one point I think was significant - the laser’s software is on the machine’s electronics. He said that they can push updates to the machines. That’s what GF gets from the cloud implementation - knowing what version of software people are using and making sure it’s all up to date. But it allows for local control if something happens to either the network connection or to the cloud service. It seems they achieved what GF has but in a way that doesn’t cause the issues that many here have expressed. For many new buyers that alone might be enough to tilt them to FSL.
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Yes I much prefer the Muse system of an embedded controller hosting a web interface. That is how I run my 3D printers with RPIs and OctoPrint. OctoPrint tells me when there is a software update and I choose when to update it.
OctoPrint is actually multi-platform but Muse can just target their own controller making it even easier.
It must be hard running half the application in the cloud and the rest in the machine. We have seen the very slow GF homing routine which looks to be a symptom of that. Presumably it is uploading hi-res pictures from the lid camera and analyzing them in the cloud. While the cloud has infinite computing power, the RPI has enough to do computer vision and internet upload is not very fast for most people.
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In the forum? Link?
Yes in the forum, one of @marmak3261’s videos. It was very very slow but he got an update that made it a lot better, but still slow compared to using limit switches that cost less than a $.
Whoa, this video has me wondering now, especially in regard to the way they have the BeagleBone within the device and the software is within the device (and connected to the internet so you can still push updates to it). That seems like a clever way to go about it!
Seems like the Muse would not be turned into a “brick” ever, but with GlowForge, there is always that lurking possibility! Though I do wonder if FSL are getting their lasers from China and just repackaging them in a different box…the supply chain on that seems risky.
USA made…seems like I’ll be staying the course.
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They keep saying they are shipping now, but I have yet to see one review where someone has one. Has anyone else seen one?
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In all fairness. Glowforge is also technically shipping now. Semantics.
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Thats true, lol.
I just want to see an actual review for it.
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As Scott said, seems Norm is under the impression that GF doesn’t have a liquid cooled tube because there is no external pump/bucket/chiller. He also said no air assist.
To be a ‘tester’ he is not that familiar with his pre release, and should correct that information for his audience.
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I would expect pre-release recipients should be required to correct public misstatements. I question the value he’s actually providing now since we don’t see any results showing up in his public forums and we do see he doesn’t have a handle on what he has. I understand the marketing value he should be expected to be providing with his public persona but there’s a cost to that as well when he’s wrong.
There were a lot of almost backhanded dissing of the GF in fact. The whole thing about plastic vs metal case and the possibility of a mirror breaking and the laser burning through…“not that it’s highly likely…but…” (has he looked inside and seen that there’s shielding in there?) and metal lasers on the high end “…not that there’s anything wrong with a glass laser…but…” etc. etc.
I was underwhelmed by his performance.
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To be fair to Norm a lot of this information is only cleaned by spending hours on this forum.
The air assist is unconventional in that it is a small blower mounted behind the head rather than a nozzle surrounding the lens.
The case was originally just plastic and the metallic coating is a very late addition.
The specs say:
Case — High modulus injection molded plastic
Cooling — Closed loop self contained internal cooling.
Air Assist — Internal air assist, no external compressor hookup required
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+1
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The Muse is interesting and I did look at the available info, but rejected serious consideration since it seems like only a slightly different model from their existing lineup. I’m just not interested in buckets of water, aquarium pumps, etc. I want more of a “toaster”. Put bread in, take toast out… repeat.
I am curious however if there are any rumors of ULS or Epilog introducing something along the GF line. The Versa and Zing lasers are almost within reach, both financially and operationally. From what I can see, they are fairly reliable and not too difficult to use. It would not seem to be too much of a stretch to see either of these companies (or Trotec) introduce a model at the low end of their existing lines that could compete with GF very well. I realize it isn’t their current business model to produce “consumer” lasers, but it will be interesting to see if they move in that direction once GF is in full production and wide-spread use. Or is there some technical reason that metal laser tubes would not be usable in such a machine?
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Cost mainly I would think. Plus heavy to move around like GF does to get its enclosed beam path.
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Cost takes a lot of consideration. A metal tube can last a lot longer and some claim they can be refilled and reused. But the lighter glass allows GF the enclosed beam path, like you mentioned. - Rich
This topic edging up on 300 posts now…
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Perhaps this should be continued on another topic, minus the “Rumors about” part.
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Is that a record for staying on the same subject?
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Record is 1,400 replies. We’ve got a ways to go.
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