Congratulations on being a new mom. What a lot of work that is, and you still can find a tiny bit of time to operate your Glowforge. One day I hope you will share a photo of the kinds of things you are making.
Your lid camera takes a photo when the job is completed, but in all honesty the fisheye lens and focus length of the camera is not such that clear images are being recorded of you or your home. I am sorry that you feel violated, but I would be very surprised if anyone at Glowforge has seen any photos of you. There are thousands of prints being made everyday, and they only look through a machineās log if there is a reported problem. Now that you know how the process works, you can be assured everything is private so long as you wait for the final photo to be taken before opening the lid.
Itās been an interesting and challenging debate! Everyone stated their opinion with thoughtfulness and maturity. It makes me proud to be a member of this community. However, I must depart for a while to patch my leaky roof before it gets too hot. Check back with you later.
As an owner/operator of a GF one agrees to operate it in a safe, prescribed manner. The hypothetical scenario you describe is destincly not.
Tangentially - after being on a few FB GF groups for the first few years I had to exit, an ENORMOUS amount of the information distributed on them were demonstrably and often dangerously false.
I do not breast feed while using my gloforge. I do however use my glowforge without a shirt on. Itās easier to stay topples when I am breastfeeding throughout the day, getting spit up on, peed on, and pooped on. I am a mom of 2 under 2 years old. So it is just easier to have them out and ready to go. But now that I know why and how the pictures are being taken I will make sure it will not happen anymore. I still think it is good information for others to know so they can prevent it from happening as well.
Glowforge does have the software camera command set up to NOT fire when the lid is opened.
BUTā¦there are time delays with the sending of signals back and forth, and if you whip the lid open at the exact split second that the camera fires, yes, it will take a picture of the background. Thatās why we joke about wearing pants, and why we wait until the cool down period is over and we hear the little tick-tick-tick-tick to open the lid.
Itās a very rare issue that isnāt worth fretting over, just something to be aware of. They contacted the users privately, so they could be aware of what was happening. Iām fairly sure that most people donāt open the lid prematurely, or there would be a lot more reports of it.
Having pictures taken without your permission is a sensitive issue for all of us. My point was that itās important to find out the facts of what are happening and then base your decisions on that, rather than relying on faulty information. I also canāt imagine why anyone would be breastfeeding a baby while standing in front of a GF - that is not a healthy choice to make in the first place as there are always going to be fumes. And lastly, while taking pictures of women breastfeeding on the down low is creepy, there is nothing inappropriate about a woman breastfeeding and men need to just deal with this already. Guys walk around with no shirts on, but women feeding their children is somehow taboo. Itās ridiculous.
I personally never walked around the house topless while breastfeeding (I found it far more comfortable to have the ladies supported), but itās probably not something GF took into account during their design process. There has been, however, a running joke about making sure youāre properly attired while GFing! It would probably help to make the camera situation more clear during the setup phase, but people donāt tend to pay attention, so it may not help.
The Glowforge can only see what you put into the bed, and ONLY when the lid is CLOSED.
When Glowforge Takes Photos
When the lid is closed, a photo of the bed is taken by the lid camera:
Just after the lid closing is detected, so we can update the bed image displayed in a browser
When a print is completed, we attempt to take a photo of the print for diagnostics, and to display in the browser
(if the lid is opened before this post-print image is complete, the image simply fails)
Photos are also taken for features like Trace, and Passthrough but always: only if and when the lid is closed.
Safety interlock switches on the front door turn off the laser immediately if they are opened. Do not place magnets near the lid or doors as they can interfere with the switches. Do not try to defeat the switches.
I hope that clears things up. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Lastly, I agree with dklgood:
Congratulations @t.clouse736! Iām so sorry for the scare. Iām glad to have good news for you.
Iāve sent an email with similar details, since this thread has moved to Everything Else, Iāll leave it open so discussion can continue.
Just seen Pipās response. Thought was the case. There are a few strange people and/or competitors who like to post all sorts of rubbish about the GF.
OP was alarmed and asked a question. GF responded with a good answer. Seems like a good thread to keep around for the record if others raise the concern again.
You reinforced my point. The OP deleted all their comments about how the machine takes pics when the lid is opened (based on no actual facts), and changed the thread title as well.
I never said anything about removing the thread. I said it was inappropriate to allow those kind of changes that completely remove the context to cover up their BS accusations.
i agree with you that it would have been better if the OP left the original post. and that the reason pip wanted to leave it was so that there was an answer on the boards to this kind of question.
but there are valuable reasons for posters to be able to edit their posts (like adding information to the original post when issues are answered or updating information so itās all in the one place, or even just fixing typos you see later).
itās good practice to not edit out all of the original post, but iād rather not lock everything down to avoid an occasional instance where this happens and then lose the other, valuable functionality.
There has been, however, a running joke about making sure youāre properly attired while GFing! It would probably help to make the camera situation more clear during the setup phase, but people donāt tend to pay attention, so it may not help.