Curious to hear from those of you with plans to use your Glowforge to make money for your businesses beyond selling laser time. How will you use it, how will you calculate the ‘amortization’, etc.
Us - we’re product designers, and we’re intrigued about creating a nano-scale just-in-time, on-demand product line, packaging etc. with a collection of effort-saving digital tools that can be used to manufacture some or all of what’s needed. Our current product lines are all locally manufactured, but we want to try to take it a step further. A factory in a box! For reference, you can find us here: onehundred.co
I’m lucky. I work as a graphic designer for a T-shirt shop. I plan to make items relating to the local football team to put in our shop to build a customer base. I plan to just make items for sale until I get to know the Glowforge better before I start taking custom jobs. I’m thinking I’ll start by charging the customer for the cost of the material with a small markup plus an hourly rate additional. Then as I test the market, I’ll adjust my pricing. Charging that way will definitely net me a profit minus the cost of the Glowforge. Over time, it will pay for itself. And in the mean time, I’ll have a new toy.
So far all my fabrication work has been for me mine and I have enough personal projects to keep busy. I would like to at least make them cash flow neutral at some point though.
One thought, the more you call something art, the less a hour rate applies.
I’m an artist and creative looking for a quick and easy way to make more things, and I really think this investment will be the way to go. Right now I just plan on playing around with it and making gifts for friends. But in time I hope to zero in on some excellent product designs to sell on Etsy and local craft fairs.
I am a Graphic Designer / Crafter… I have so many ideas in my head that I don’t know where to start. I am going to partner with a fellow Artist to work on a specific “doll house” which is sold to collectors around the world. Quite intricate work but we love it… and can’t wait to get our hands on this GF beauty!!!
We are adding a library, gift shop and welcome center to our church. We hope to use the Glowforge to add the personal touch to the items we might sell. I see it as a way to build community with members contributing to the design and personalization. It has huge potential for our education efforts to allow students to get the ideas out of their heads and into meaningful keepsakes. Not to monetize it but use it to build community narrative.
personal use honestly i also own a 3d printer. i take it to art shows and enjoy teaching people be a adult or kid. a laser cutter has been on my list of obtaining assets (toy really; im just a kid at heart) along side my 3d printer. the cost, size, and wattage use was unobtainable for a personal use until the glowforge was introduce to me via random video. i do sell toys and custom anything and i just think the glowforge would be a great addition along side my 3d printer. i haven’t figured out what i can do with both of them but hey its the experience im after and im proud to be a part of the glowforge journey.
I’m a graphic designer and do some production work for rodeos. I’m probably going to see what leather goods I can sell to Cowboys first.
My coworker is a jewelry designer on the side and wants to help design product and run an etsy site for me, in turn she wants some GF access time for her own stuff.
She’s really got an eye for design and I’m pretty good at breaking things down to be fabricated. I’m excited to see what happens.
I’m can see two potential income generation opportunity with the GF.
First, I’d like to sell some of my gaming designs in the catalog.
Second, I’m interested in using the GF to create artwork that I would sell through art galleries. I’ve sold paintings through galleries before. I’m just starting to explore the use of a laser-cutter to produce artwork. It’s currently a slow process, since I have to go to the library to use the laser-cutter, and it’s hard to book some time on it. When I have my own, I’ll be able to produce prototypes and finished works much faster.