Unsure of connections ...Apple.....suggestions?

#1

I have connected by chance, I suppose, and have produced two items on two different days. My means of connection is by getting my iPhone to be a hotspot for WiFi that an iPad connects to. It is a roll of the dice from one attempt to the next. Today…the GF never connected to the iPad .

IF, IF, IF anyone with an iPhone and iPad method of connecting to GF could tell me what I am doing wrong, please reply. I am 67, thought I understood it, but this is becoming very frustrating to this old man! I need to know the specific steps to the whole process when connecting to the in-house WiFi is not possible thereby making it so difficult to do. I have to connect using the iPhone hotspot for the iPad. . . Using iPad to link to GF. Help?!:no_mouth:

#2

I think you’re complicating things a bit.

Connect the Glowforge to the iPhone hotspot.

It just needs an internet connection. You don’t need to be on the same network to control it; any interaction goes from the device you’re using, to the cloud and then to the Glowforge.

#3

Thanks, jbm5. How do you see an image big enough to manipulate if just using an iPhone? I’m missing something…over-thinking while under-skilled and becoming over-whelmed by the process that does not seem to work each time. My machine is located 100 feet from my In-house Verizon hot spot. This is why I use iPhone hotspot in trying to connect. How do I then connect an iPad Pro…on a regular basis for daily use of the GF? I guess this is the bottom line!

#4

Your Glowforge should have its own internet connection through the iPhone hotspot. Your iPad should be connected to your regular wifi network and have its internet connection, unless it too can’t connect for that distance. In that case, both will use the hotspot. The Glowforge web app connects to the Glowforge servers and only then connects to the laser. It can be on any device on any network that is connected to the internet.

#5

No worries!

@marmak3261 has it exactly right. The Glowforge will get its internet access from the iPhone hotspot. From there, you can use whatever device you want to access app.glowforge.com. As he mentioned, if your iPad can’t connect to your home WiFi because of distance, you can set your iPad to also use the iPhone hotspot; it will allow multiple device connections.

#6

And today is another day! Striving for success! Thanks you guys…@jbmanning5 and @marmak3261

#7

Took it calmly today. Success with connecting to GF today, and with trace & prints on several items.

But I cannot find a link to remove undesired traces that show in the windows of the trace function. Any ideas about it?

Also, can someone explain the function of each icon located on the top of the trace page? Thanks- :sunglasses:

#8

There are a few tutorials that you might want to glance through - they help a lot with explaining what does what:

After you get done with those, there are a few others that are great for beginners, but those are good to start with.

#9

That’s what I like to hear.

#10

@jbmanning5 @Jules @marmak3261 Thanks for the support, suggestions and guidance. I may be old…but just a young newbie in the GF laser world. Thank you all for your help in establishing a better foundation for me. My background knowledge was near zero! Members of this GF Forum give us newbies hope that we will continuously be learning and moving forward with our skill development and successes. For me, in being in the middle of no where, helpful GF forum members are a great resource! :blush: (Paducah, KY is 130 miles from Nashville and 180 miles from St. Louis! LOL )

#11

unless it’s was you I was responding too, I’ve seen at least one person from Paducah, and the reason I noticed was I made the 15 hour drive from nj last year for the Eclipse. Nice place along the flood walls.

#12

Thanks so much for your help, everyone! @marmak3261, that’s a great explanation of how the Glowforge connects and what resources it needs to do so, and I see @Jules already linked to some useful tutorials on Trace.

@pb2u2, were you able to find what you needed in these tutorials? If you’re still running into any trouble, please let me know.

#13

@Jules @vee I apologize for my confusion. Unfortunately I was informed, during my attempt to trace and print today, that my GF had gone offline. That was a first. I use my iPhone and an iPad Pro to work on the GF. It is too far for my in-house Verizon hotspot to connect out in the studio garage, +so:

I use my iPhone to connect to my personal hotspot.
turn on the GF and external booster fan,
Then I attempt to connect my iPad to my iPhone personal hotspot (so I can see things large enough).
***If that does not seem logical, please let me know.’
I log onto app.Glowforge.com/setup
I hope to see the web address change to indicate it is searching for connection to GF.
the searching for GF WiFi begins and I wait for something positive to happen…(and start thinking they COULD NOW develop auto function config of establishing a connection without me having to go through hell every time!) Yes, I overstated!
It seems that from this point on it either some how connects or I lose patience and try to start the process all over again…several times…or just shut it down and stop.

Advice/ guidance is appreciated. The old flowchart of IF YES then do this -or- IF NO then do that…seems like a dream!

#14

Ah. The set up is: the iPhone is the internet provider for both the :glowforge: and the iPad pro. Connection issues are involved with going through the phone. They are completely removed and seperate from the house connections.

Have I gotten that correct?

#15

@wesleyjames, I think I am the one you found last summer. I believe Paducah will again be in the target zone of the next eclipse in 6 more years. For the connection task, the iPhone needs to be connected using it’s personal hotspot -and- then connect the iPad Pro to the iPhones hotspot also? I recall today getting to the page with the circle on it saying to push the button when the light is on. I had to keep going back and forth between the Systems page and the GF page in trying to see if the Internet connection to GF site was done. Is there a specific place in the GF pages that tells me when a connection is made? But I eventually got it going today but used non proof grade ply birch unsuccessfully due to guessing at speed/power numbers.

#16

Thanks for following up. Sorry to hear that the trouble is continuing. As for your connection status, the best place to watch is the upper right-hand corner of the app Workspace. If your Glowforge is not connected this will say “Offline”. If your Glowforge is connected to Wi-Fi and you can start printing, this will say “Ready”. The status page itself is only used to update the operational status of our services - it doesn’t contain any information regarding your unit’s connection, so you won’t need to check it for that purpose.

Unfortunately, support for tablet and mobile devices is still in development and I can’t guarantee that you won’t run into trouble while accessing the Glowforge app from a mobile browser, even if your connection is reliable. I’ve passed your feedback on to the team. At this time we recommend using a web browser on a desktop or laptop computer if you’re encountering difficulties from a mobile device.

closed #17