Just like all of you we are extremely happy with our choice for the GF and are anxious to get our hands on it. But as we all know…good things come to those who wait.
Something we’ve discussed here in our studio is the reliability of the machine and more importantly, if anything breaks how fast will I have it up and running. For our 3D printers we stock a lot of important parts so if we break down and even though it is the middle of the night, we grab a part and repair it on the fly.
How will this go with our GF, for example the tube itself, would be great to have a spare tube at hand so if it breaks down or wears out over the 1-2 years of use, we just grab a new one from our shelf and get at it again. The thing that a novice on these tubes as I am wonders, is there a shelf-life of these tubes and will they age if we just leave it in the box?
Are there any other nice parts we should have in stock, like a bed grid, extra filters and so on.
Not only would it gives a lot of security for a small business so we can keep producing, but also makes sure we don’t have to wait for an x maount of time for delivery/custom clearance. As soon as we use the spare part we will order a new one directly so we are always safe!
Would love to hear from GF/Dan and of course the community how you think about this and what parts do we think we need in order to have give the GF as much up-time as possible!
Hope to hear from you and for all you soon to be owners out there, good luck with waiting and coming up with ideas to start out with.
As they are consumables, my immediate thought is to have a spare laser tube and if you get the filtered version, a spare filter or two. I cant speak to much else as it seems they are still making revisions while in beta.
I doubt you’ll be able to amend your order to get spare parts included in the shipped box. (If they do offer extras that can be purchased at the same time then they will ship when available and in a seperate box and therefore shipping).
You hit it on the nail for the spares you wanted, the filter is your number 1 consumable, the laser has warranty for 1 year for Basic and 2 years for Pro units. I wouldn’t worry about a spare until the later part of your warranty. (not cheap and better use your warranty) I believe a laser tube is relatively fragile so 1-2 year shelf life for a spare isn’t a great idea, accidents happen.
The bed grid will require replacing if all your prints take it out of the Iron grid(more sturdy than alternatives). I believe it is double sided so can be flipped. The more deep cuts you do the more of a beating it will take but it should last a long long time.
To directly answer: There is no shelf life on a laser tube. Barring an accident which would destroy anything glass, it can sit on your shelf for decades, and then go into operation just as good as a brand new tube.
Tube if you are paranoid about any loss in production time. Filters (more than just one I would say). And maybe a few optics windows just in case of something unexpected (like a visiting child with Cheetos dust and quick hands).
I am not sure if they will offer complete cutting heads as a replacement part option. If they do, I would keep one of those in stock in case of something unexpected happening to the focusing lens. But would not expect to ever need it.
Motors and belts you should easily be able to find local to yourself. And drive board isn’t worth considering damage happening to it (if you are that paranoid you are into the territory of “buy a second GlowForge”)
The laser tube has a manufacturers quoted life of maybe 2 years. The folks at Glowforge warrant the Basic for 6 months and Pro for 1 year. As far as I can remember the tubes themselves have not been discussed as having any additional warranty period. The company was still characterizing the life expectancy of the tube. Until they complete that I wouldn’t assume any additional warranty on the tube. Dan did say that if the tube falls it is would be replaced during the unit’s warranty period.
Just a caveat on the stock a replacement filter, If you can position your GlowForge appropriately, you could just vent out a window if you keep a vent hose around till a replacement came in.
All our parts are going to be going into Glowforge shipments for the forseeable future (except for warranty repairs), so I’m afraid if you need a “hot standby” for Cheetoh time your best bet is a second unit.
Thanks for all your comments, ideas and suggestions.
Maybe we are a little to much on the safe side here…just wanted to be sure that if everything is running as smooth as I imagine, it would be bad to be off-line for a while when waiting for parts.
But first let’s get the machine here and see what we can do with it. And whenever we get a notice from GF that there will be seperate parts we can always order our own spare kit!
To Dan and the team, good luck with all the work and as you know most of the community is anxious but patient! So make it perfect and take the time to do so! Better complaints up front than after delivery!!
Keep up the great work community, it feels like a good family already!