Designed our own workstation for the Glowforge. This provides an all in one cabinet to hold the glowforge itself and provides plenty of storage for laser materials and lots of drawers for tools or other things needed around the Glowforge. Includes a slide out work surface to set a laptop if needed or preparing projects or finishing them up after being cut. Space on the back for passthrough support as well as enough space for exhaust hoses and an in-line fan. There are a few other designs out there that we but all limited the airflow into the Glowforge itself. Our design provides 5 inches of clearance around the entire machine so airflow is unobstructed and the machine stays nice and cool.
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I’ve seen your post on Reddit. I’d like to see it actually constructed, not just a drawing. Have you actually made it?
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Nice design!
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Also are you posting here to get feedback or just show and tell?
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Not quite sure how this was “made on a glowforge”…
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Either or, we are quite happy with it but will welcome feedback as well.
Made for Glowforge
Moving this to “Everything Else” since it doesn’t meet the requirements for “Made on a Glowforge”.
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Looking at the design, I’m not sure what materials it is made of, but my innediately thought was that the weight of the machine is going to be pushing down on a very long span. I think you’ll get some sag/flex unless you have some sort of support to increase rigidity of the top surface.
Many people have opted for the rolling style of metal toolbox – it ticks many of the same boxes that your design addresses, and the steel construction plus wooden top of those carts is very strong. If you’re still refining the design here, I might look at those types of carts to see if you can figure out how they pulled the rigidity off.
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No issues with sagging, the surface the GF is actually sitting on is 3/4 thick and has vertical supports under it. This design flexes/sags even less than the metal toolbox tops, it’s a very solid design that we personally much prefer over the the metal toolboxes.
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Ah, so you’ve built it. Got any pics of a completed unit?
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We don’t have any pics of it currently to post. Maybe after the busy holidays we can get our workshop cleaned up and ready for pics and there are a couple of small changes I want to make to it as far as hardware goes before pics are released.
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Suggestion: if you have a pro, then adding some detail on the “optional slide out work surface” that to support material extending from the forge during passthrough might be worth a consideration for the front and back sides.
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Those things are already in the design. Back has a passthrough slot surface and the front has the slide out work surface.
They look lower than the level of the slots in the image. Consider so.ething to elevate them to the level of the slot.
If you are using a passthrough you will be needing support in front as well. If setting the laptop anywhere but the workstation, the space needs to act like a workstation. In my case I am using a second screen as well. I also have all the wood in plastic storage containers for humidity stability, and against possible insect damage.
It is an interesting design,
sorry was sitting about many hours before hitting send
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Very nice but there could be one flaw.
According to the picture the Glowforge sits in a valley. Underneath the Glowforge on the right side is an intake fan vent that occasionally needs to be vacuumed.
Will it be easy to pull put the GF out to clean that vent?
Yes, there is plenty of clearance around the entire GF to not obstruct airflow and it is easy enough to slide in and out to get to the vents if need be for cleaning.
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I’ve never vacuumed the intake vent in over 5 years.
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Ditto
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