My Glowforge arrived today! I’m beyond excited, but have run into safety concerns from my room mates. They are concerned about ventilation and fire safety.
I have setup my Glowforge by a window, and the ventilation tube will be run out of a window.
I have told my room mates that I will have a fire extinguisher close-by, and will never leave a job unattended.
This isn’t good enough for them and they still say they are concerned about having a laser cutter in the house.
I understand their concerns, but I think the 2 points above should have quelled their fears. Is there anything else I can say/do to convince them otherwise?
Assure them you will only use laser safe materials.
Let them read the safety section of the manual.
Show them some of the stuff in the #glowforge-project-examples category here.
Let them try it out, show them it can be safe and fun.
You might want to run a job to display for them what actually happens. The flame is extremely small…less than a small birthday candle. Engraving doesn’t really create a flame at all.
There is going to be a smell when you open the machine though, so you might not want to put it in the bedroom.
And make sure that you have the vent securely sealed so no smoke comes back into the room.
(And then be prepared to beat them back 'cause they’ll want to use it.)
Tell them it is a basic and they have nothing to fear, it is a Class 1 laser since, as I understand it, it is enclosed. The Pro is a Class 4 laser. They can google it The enclosed item is safe
I think it is perhaps the fear of the unknown. Toaster ovens, free standing heaters, microwave ovens, regular ovens – there are a number of devices in the home we treat as safe that create a potential serious risk of fire and injury in the home. .
Personally, I have seen more fires and potential fires caused by microwaving popcorn than ever hearing of a house fire caused by any kind of laser device.
Hmmmn! That’s not an article - that’s an advertisement. Considering the people who wrote the ad are interested in selling you a $1400 air filter, you might mention to your roomies that Air-Systems Inc. might not be actually unbiased, and might in fact, be trying to scare you out of a significant chunk of change. ROFL!
Let them know that those are industrial lasers (100’s of Watts) designed for steel and other metals cutting.
The comparison to other realms would be buying aspirin over the counter at the grocery store versus getting prescription narcotics at the pharmacy in the grocery store.
Proper use of aspirin addresses issues that a prescription narcotic was never designed for or intended to solve.
Abuse aspirin and you would be considered overdosed just like abusing a prescription.
A 40 Watt laser is as safe as a color/black and white laser printer, just a bit smellier (vent it properly)
I think this topic needs to treaded upon carefully; safety information in itself shouldn’t be disseminated on the forum.
As @joe mentioned, let them read through the manual and safety info contained within it. Find out what their concerns are (you mentioned fire and offgassing) and address how you’ll mitigate the risks associated with those concerns.
I read the link that you posted and find it interesting that it was put together by a company that sells filtration units. It might be worth showing them the CMU documentation that they were referencing:
Suddenly this is a new issue for them after two years waiting for the unit?
I don’t want to sound like a jerk man, but to me this sounds like your roommates are trying to build a case to have you removed from your rental lease and kicked out.
Otherwise they have had this much time to come to grips with it and now to bring it up at the 11th hour is simply suspicious.
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE GLOWFORGE! 
The enclosed item is safe