Basically, yes. The warranty covers manufacturing defects and that’s it*. Any other laser cutter you can get will not cover any damage cause by the material you cut, same as the Glowforge.
*Not completely true. Unlike other lasers, Glowforge’s warranty WILL cover any damage caused by Proofgrade material. Therefore, if you use Proofgrade and it catches on fire using the Proofgrade settings and damages the machine, that is Glowforges bad and its covered under the warranty. I have not heard of any other laser manufacturer doing anything like this.
You received an explicit answer on this from Support. Were you not happy with the answer? Do you seek a different answer that supports your initial concern/interpretation that you are locked into Proofgrade materials or your warranty is null and void?
It was not sufficient. I understand all the responses here but the example was using a laser safe material from a recommended vendor. Basically if you click OK to the dialog that warns about materials and the material does not damage your machine, was a bit flipped on the back end that determines my warranty coverage ability.
The company is not going to weasel out of the warranty. Your are worrying about hypothetical situations. A little experience with the machine will ease your fears.
Bottom line is glowforge is extending their warranty beyond what any other manufacturers do by guaranteeing the machine and results with their own materials. One more time, no other manufacturer does that.
Not sure what anyone can do to make you feel better. It’s all very standard legal stuff for a limited warranty. There is both a common sense and a strict protectionist legal interpretation to warranties. So far GF is replacing units for almost any problem. They are not standing behind lawyers on the replacement policy so far. Almost all of the replaced units have used non-Proofgrade materials at some point.
Well then you are going to have to post in Problems and Support because staff does not monitor this section. The answer might be worded slightly differently but it will be the same answer as long as the material is laser safe.
I believe the key takeaway here is that if you use something intentionally designed for CO2 lasers, it will be very low risk – but nothing is ever zero risk.
If you exhibit absolutely zero effort or care about what you attempt to lase, and expect Glowforge to shoulder the responsibility for your choices, that will never happen.
Glowforge believes Proofgrade provides the lowest risk of an unintended result, and they are willing to stand behind it by covering any damage resulting from using it. They cannot make that commitment if it’s not their own product. Any unintended results caused by third party products are not their responsibility.
Essentially, there are two things to be careful of (not referring to the warranty). Don’t laser anything with vinyl in it, and be aware of the possibility of fire. Those are the most likely candidates for damaging your new glowforge.
Personally cardboard is the only thing I have used that looked like it could catch fire. I have experimented with glass, several types of stone, many different woods not to mention all of the proofgrade offerings. your laser can do some great stuff, so you should start enjoying your new tool - and don’t forget to share all the neat stuff with us!
I had a small fire with corrugated cardboard. Lots of curvy vectors in a small area. I’ve read enough to know that cardboard is a risk, so I had a damp paper towel on hand. Opened the machine, smothered the roughly inch-square spot where the flames were. Didn’t do that again.
I’ve also had some destructive charring with closely spaced cuts on plywood – not really flames, but the roughly half-millimeter strip between the two cuts wasn’t there anymore. This is why you don’t leave the GF unattended while zapping.
I’ve gotten pretty close with paper,cardboard and thick foamcore. Be sure you always watch it when you are lasering paper products and foams. (And i’m not talking about sitting in the room with your back to it.)
Anything that burns quickly in a fire, is going to burn quickly in a laser, and more fires get started from people trying to laser a stack of paper than anything else. (I read that on the internet, so it must be true.)
One sheet at a time. And make sure it is secured down on all sides, because the fan blowing a loose edge up into the path of the beam is what almost caused the fire when I did it.
It always makes me think of Common Core, but that’s a really sore subject with a lot of people so I don’t usually mention it…like not talking about Comic Sans.
Note that Glowforge staff doesn’t regularly monitor threads in Beyond the Manual. If you have additional questions you’d like us to answer, don’t hesitate to open a new thread in Problems and Support. (I saw this one because it was linked from your earlier post; otherwise, I might have missed it).
