Weekly Highlights for the Week Ending March 11th, 2017

[Jules]

Last Week’s Highlights:
Weekly Highlights for the Week Ending March 4th, 2017

The Word from GF HQ

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Update to the Update

Update to the update: We'll sell replacement tubes

Thank you for the clear and thoughtful feedback about our the importance of tube replacement for the community. I heard you loud and clear, and have spent the day with the team discussing what we can do for you. As a result, we’re changing our plan. If your tube needs replacement, you’ll have two options: We will sell replacement tubes so a Glowforge unit can be replaced without shipping it anywhere (price to be announced before we ship). We’ll replace the tube for you. This is free wh…

March Status Update

March 2017 update

Production It’s been a wonderful, crazy month! We’ve been clearing production hurdles one by one as we prepare for ever-larger volumes to meet our schedule of shipping all units in July/August (schedule here). We paused production briefly last week to transfer assembly to our new, long-term, high-volume production line; we’re excited to get the new line rolling again this week. I just got back from a visit to Flex’s Milpitas, California production facility where I contributed as only a strateg…

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Minimizing Char on Edges

Dealing with Edge Burns

You want to go the fastest you can at the highest power possible to have clean edges. Speed will almost never be the limiting factor on your Glowforge, since cutting speeds are much slower than engraving speeds. We’ll optimize Proofgrade presets to minimize char so you don’t have to worry about it there. For your own materials, you want the highest power/fastest you can go while reliably cutting through.

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Beta Baubles & PreRelease Projects

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Taking the Imperial Seal for a Spin (Catalog Design)

Beta Project: Spinning Top (Glowforge Design Catalog)

Quick Glowforge design catalog test and chose the spinning top. Slapped an Imperial seal on it and cut away. Perfect. Let me take a moment, aknowledge and take responsibility for the fact that this is my first Star Wars project. [image] [image] [image] [image] Video - “https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2C_Cq7DQ1T_VXVNTFVxREE2c1U”

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Home is Where the Glowforge Is

Home is where the Glowforge is.

Mixed Media Print

Mixed Media Print

Wanted to do some kerf testing and take a crack at some acrylic. (Didn’t use the Proofgrade acrylic for this - I’m saving that for something else. The wood is a 1/4" Birch ply from Lowe’s. ) [image] . That’s our company logo - I made a little mirrored…uhhhhhm…thing, to sit on my desk and remind me of where I work. (No idea what to call it. ROFL!) . [image] I had picked up a box (or two) of mirrored acrylic scraps based on a recommendation from someone here in the forum…it was a while a…

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Love Me Knot Coasters (Catalog Design)

Beta Project 10_JM - Love Me Knot Coasters (Glowforge Design Catalog)

Well jury is no longer out … I personally love the concept of the design catalog! I was looking for a quick project and was able to purchase this design from the catalog add some ‘sappy’ customizing and hit print! So here you go … Love Me Knot Coasters with an Expanding Holder Customized with a super sappy C+J [image] Chose to print in Maple and Cherry plywood so the outer ring would be darker [image] The hardest part of the whole project was cleaning up the after math of my…

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Playing with Engraving

Playing with engraving on hardwood

Just a few experiments. [image] [image] [image] [image]

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Compass Rose Inlay - Complete!

Proofgrade veneer compass rose inlay: from design to finished piece

I received some more Proofgrade plywood. That along with the veneers allowed me to finish this long-messed with project. The plywood engraved very evenly so I could do an inlay. This is 1/8" maple plywood. It took an hour and 52 minutes to engrave the 7 inch circle. I did it at 675 LPI. [image] I used a toothbrush, a hat pin and an exacto knife to clean up the substrate. I especially had to clean around the perimeter where the exhaust deposited its residue. Even though there was a thick layer…

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Royal Flush

Royal Flush

I’ve been saving this one up since last week, but it’s got me so squeee I can’t stand it any more, so here you go. I ran across a bag of 1.25" by 0.75" bamboo beads in my stash while I was looking for a snap setter for that leather bracelet, and got bitten by the design bug. (It strikes without warning, and I’m afraid the tutorials and feedback got sidelined for the day.) [image] I had been working with jigs and placement, and I needed a way to make the beads stay put on the grid. They are…

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Glasses Repair the Glowforge Way

Eye glasses: Proofgrade maple ply frames for old lenses

[image] I have an old pair of eye glasses. The temple piece was broken off. I had been thinking about doing some specs and after the wooden sunglasses video of @iliketomakestuff, I thought I’d gave a go at it. My first try was to do a trace and print. I hadn’t done too many of these and I need to get more familiar with it if I ever have to make a violin bridge at a moment’s notice. [image] There is a problem here. I have an outer trace to cut and an inner trace to cut around the …

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Viking Invaders

Beta Project: Toy Viking Sword

Hello folks, I got drug away from the GF for a bit by work, but I’ve got a couple of new projects I’m working on. This one is for my five year old son. He put in a request for a sword, and here it is, a viking era toy sword. First, the CAD linework. The sword is built up of five layers of wood. The center layer (the blade) is 1/4" plywood while the hilt is built up layers of 1/8" hardwood. I planned to fasten the layers together with square pegs and glue. [image] Here are the pieces precise…

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Leather Pirate Plunder Bag (Catalog Design)

Pirate plunder bag (catalog item test)

I wanted to try something with leather for a while, but hadn’t yet gotten around to a suitable project. Since I also wanted to test the catalog a bit I found a nice little design for a drawstring bag that looked like fun. It didn’t specifically call out that it was customizable, but it’s got a big blank spot in the middle and I’m using a laser So, I purchased the design in the catalog and it showed up in my list of projects as I followed the convenient link provided after purch…

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Nintendo Switch Carry Case

Beta Project - Nintendo Switch Carrying Case

[image] If you’ve been paying attention the past few days, you know that I was able to snag a Nintendo Switch last week! I will be carrying this around in portable mode as I commute 45 minutes on the Link twice a day. (Hah! I just realized the “Link” pun given the only game I have is Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild!) I want to have a safe way to carry it around, and while cases exist for purchase… well, I have a laser! [image] [image] My first thought was just to make a leather pouch, …

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Sheep Trivet Redux

Sheep Trivet Redux

Made the Sheep Trivet. (1/4" birch ply from Lowe’s) [image] He turned out very well, but the birch ply doesn’t shade as well as the maple does…it all comes across as kind of uniform dark brown color. (At @m_raynsford 's recommendation I added some scores to define the legs and face a little better, and it needed it.)_ Also changed up the legs a bit, hopefully they don’t look like thumbs anymore. Chuckle! [image]

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SpaceX Coaster Save

Pre-Release | Of Course I Still Love You

Supplies : Black 1/8" Acrylic Proofgrade (beta), Cork backing & acrylic paint. Rockets. Everyone loves rockets. What makes a rocket cooler? Landing. Vertically. From space (Okay upper atmosphere… But still.) What’s even cooler? Landing a rocket from space on a ship. Not any ship- A DRONE ship. [image] So this is where this adventure starts. This story will have happiness, nerd rage and glee. As usual I start out in Fusion 360. [image] [image] I created a sketch and use the project tool…

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Who Goes There?

Light Pads are handy

Was in Michaels today and the wife noticed some cheap laser cut chipboard owls. (Less than a buck) Asked me whether I could recreate the same in Proofgrade maple, with a key ring hole. Sure, no prob. Put the original piece on a small Lightpad (almost any diffused light source will work). [image] The owl on the left is with the light off. The pic on the right shows a very well defined silhouette. Take a picture and import into Inkscape. [image] Easy Peasy from there to convert for t…

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To Tree or Not to Tree…

To Tree or not to Tree

One last simple print to round out the week…this is that jewelry tree that I created last year, and I wanted to show you guys a couple of things with it… [image] The smaller one in the front is cut from Maple Proofgrade ply, the larger one behind it was cut from Lowe’s 1/4 inch Birch ply. I removed the masking from the Proofgrade before cutting it, because I actually wanted that smoky residue…turned out pretty cool I think. (Definitely more interesting.) But what I wanted to show you was t…

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Odd-Shaped Center Finder

Odd shape center finder

Back a while I was having problems finding the dead center of some odd shapes and I designed this. I’ve since solved that particular problem but I made this anyway because I see the ongoing use for it. I see a lot of cursors and setup jigs coming off the Glowforge. The plastic is 1/8 acrylic in fluorescent orange from inventable’s. What you can’t fully appreciate from the photo is how well the lines pop without any ink. Clear fluorescents are going to work great for cursors. The hardest part…

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Fun Forum Frolics

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Kaleidoscope Marquetry Algorithm

Basic Inlay testing (Pre-Release)

I had to go to http://www.digitalwood.com/About-Us_ep_7.html and check out Christy Oates. Wow! Some very nice marquetry there. I also checked out her artist statement, where she shows how she does them with a laser cutter. Y’all should see it: [Kaleidoscope Algorithm by Christy Oates: Artist Statement]

Kaleidoscope Algorithm by Christy Oates: Artist Statement

Lot of Scopes this Week

Phenakistoscopes

Make has another interesting laser-cut project story (with instructions and patterns for your own) http://makezine.com/projects/animated-records-phenakistoscopes/ Another in my long lists(long-long-long list )of things I want to try once I get my GF!

Design a Phenakistoscope for a Mesmerizing Spinning Optical Illusion

Bead and Blank Sources

Bead and blank sources

Jules made some awesome playing card tiles out of bamboo beads. I found a few suppliers for very similar beads in case anyone was interested. (I didn’t want to clutter up her post with links…) https://community.glowforge.com/t/royal-flush/6329?u=kittski LOTS of good blanks here. Wood beads about half-way down the page. http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/beads.html and here https://www.etsy.com/listing/76265390/mini-small-bamboo-rectangle-domino-tiles?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_c…

Moroccan Lamp Inspiration

Colored shadows

one of the things i’ve been looking forward to playing with on the laser cutter are those moroccan lamps with intricate geometries: [image] i recently purchased a new grow bulb for my unfortunately ill poinsettia, and was intrigued by the colors it generated. unlike a typical shadow, which is usually binary (barring the cast generated by whatever surface the shadow falls on), this one was filled with different shades and colors since there are three or four different colors of LED in the bulb…

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They Call Me Mellow Yellow…

Silhouette Cameo, Curio, Portrait or Mint and Glowforge Love

First up was some coasters for our vacation rental home in Palm Springs. Dealing with small letters on vinyl is kind of a pain! [image]

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Tangram Shared File

Tangram

I made this file awhile ago thinking I was much closer to getting my first laser. I thought I might well share it here. I wanted to test it on an actual laser before sharing, but it seems fairly straightforward so please give it a shot. The engraved pattern for the holder is intended to be a placeholder for whatever artwork you want to replace it with. I wasn’t sure what file format is the best to share a design. If anyone tries it please share the results. tangram no overlap.pdf (1.4 MB)

[info4]

Thanks for putting these together every week, there’s always a few things I missed!

[Jules]

My pleasure!

[Duality]

Thanks @Jules
They’re getting longer!

[Jules]

Yeah, I’m going to start having to pay a publishing fee if this keeps up.

[kittski]

I truly appreciate this too. I always find one or two tidbits I miss.

[Duality]

Would you mind doing a summary of your summary?
Just kidding…

[JonS]

Sure!

Dan made and update, and a bunch of people made stuff on their pre-release units!