Tutorials that we newbies should see before glowforging

Hi,

I’m a new arrival in the forum. I come from Britanny in france and I am a lucky future glowforger.

I m also a complete beginner in laser cutting, CNC, and other 3D technology. I must prepare myself to use 3D software to start learning to create things to cut.

So this topic’s idea is to take an inventory of useful softwares and tutorials to help newbies like me to be prepared.

I start with my firsts researches:

There must be many other ones. If you want to share.

Marc

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Welcome @mark.simon1!
Thanks for the contribution!

Welcome @marc.simon1!
This is a nice set of tutorials! Here is a good source of info as well.

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@marc.simon1 WELCOME!

With the Link repository I’ve been a little AFK from the forums as of late and haven’t been updating. But if you want to add your links: Add Links to forum here

I check it every once and awhile, basically i’ve been dragging my feet around here till I get my GF. The forums depress me due to lack of being able to laser the awesome ideas around here.

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Welcome to the party @marc.simon1!! All those links look awesome.

To add on to the 123D Catch software, I just recently learned about Autodek’s Momento, another software that generates 3D digital models from photographs. I’ve heard really good things about it, it’s free, and it will output really high definition meshes!

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www.onshape.com is a fully cloud-based 3D parametric CAD program that runs on browsers (Mac, Linux, or PC), smartphones, and tablets. It’s free with all features, but limited on private storage (free public storage), and has numerous 3rd-party add-ons, a few of which look pretty handy for Glowforging.

The Onshape App Store is here:

http://appstore.onshape.com/

and one of the add-ons that looks useful is Kiri:Moto, which can automatically slice a 3D Onshape model into cross sections that can be exported as DXF or SVG files.

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Welcome, @marc.simon1, and thanks for the contribution!

Great starter list. Thanks for the hints. I’ll be taking a look at those.

I have Autocad Fusion 360. It is free to hobbyists and has some great tutorials on line.

The nice thing about Fusion 360 is its machining output files are very configurable, and have outputs for “Make” owners of GRBL CNC machines, etc. This works seamlessly with my self made 3D mill.

Really recommend this. Don’t have my Glowforge yet, but I’m anxious to get it and start creating stuff.

Thanks for the help.

Don Rosendale

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I have a quick question for you all…the table I plan to set up my Glowforge (shipping soon) is 24 x 37". Is the inch overhang going to be an issue for me? I plan to vent out of an adjacent double sash window when in use…can folks share how they may have similarly set up a temporary vent hookup? I have a historic house so I do not want a permanent mount to the outside. Thinking of a setup that can be installed much like a window air-conditioner where the sash comes down to hold the vent in place.

Thanks for your insight and help!

Nope. The feet (which are really rails running the length of the GF) are inset quite a bit from the outside edge. There are posts with the exact measurements.

For your venting, it’s easy enough. A piece of wood, acrylic or even foam insulation board with a 4" hole in it that you can mount a dryer vent through is all you need. You can paint the outside to match the house so it’s less obtrusive. The dryer vent usually has a plastic piece that covers the pipe and has flaps to keep things from coming in when the exhaust isn’t blowing. You attach the vent hose from the GF to the inside of the dryer vent piping. About $10 at Home Depot.

When you want to use it, raise the sash, slip in the piece of wood/whatever and drop the sash down to hold it in place. You can put a strip of weatherstripping to help seal it from smells. Also, you’d want a strip of weatherstripping you can put in the gap where the upper & lower sashes meet so you don’t get backflow of exhaust air coming back in through the gap.

Lots of folks doing something similar. Plenty of posts to see how creative people are here :slight_smile:

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Thank you. That’s super as I am getting that space ready!

-Barbara