From the Chive
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Iâm on the Megabus back to LA after my first Maker Faire. I got to shake Danâs hand and hear him say he canât wait to deliver my Glowforge to me. I got to see the thing in the flesh and speak with excited users who had limited function betas. Macphee whoâs been doing awesome stuff has never seen the hi-res camera working. Yves was beaming with pride at the work his wife had done with a pre-release. He shared maintainance stories and gave me an insider engraving sample that was mind-boggling in itâs detail.
I heard the words, âweâre shippingâ and didnât know what that meant for my October 20th 2015 order. My cell was dead so I couldnât check my email. I didnât get the letter. That led to disappointment after the show.
Then I thought about what else Iâd seen. Full Spectrum Laser running âCancel Your Glowforgeâ specials that cost $1400 more than what I paid before shipping and external water pump. For those interested, may I point you to this review? Muse Review Be sure to check out the comments and the follow up videos heâs posting. Itâs an evolving story.
As I ride back to LA, I realize how important it was for the company to announce the Glowforge is shipping The hounds are at the gate. Glowforge has taken shots for itâs â3D Printerâ marketing and wrongly blamed for that unfortunate Berkeley coupleâs death. Carbon-Monoxide DeathsThey need this, no matter how limited that run may be.
Iâm looking at my personal delay as a gift. More free proofgrade and more time to get real about upping my illustrator skills. And more time to make the device delivered all it can be, instead of a rushed to market tool with promises of updates.
I think Glowforge is the white wizard of laser cutters. Expect it, when you see it.
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Great write-up! I would say you should make a new thread with this.
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It is largely the distinction between:
Glowforges are shipping! Mine will come soon!
And
Glowforges are shipping! Why am I not getting mine immediately?
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Wow, glad I watched, makes me feel way better about the GF purchase (and of course having a PRU cemented it). That just doesnât seem ready for prime time. Seems like an early PRU (or more like a early beta). And having internal cooling and ventilation fans is so convenient.
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Interesting that in the Muse review the best compliment he had for the Muse was its appearance which is a blatant copy of the Glowforge.
As I watched it there were so many comments he made that make glad Iâm getting a Glowforge, particularly his comments on support.
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And whatâs up with the cutting order on that piece of cardboard he ran? If you had an intricate design or a whole bunch of parts ganged up on one run, that would triple the amount of time it takes and cause more wear on the mechanical parts. Those parts are not going to last forever, may as well maximize them as best as possible!
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Just as you said. We are close to the finish line, just a little more time. 
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Itâs all downhill from here. If that avatar is a Robotech Ghost Rider, you are my personal hero!
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You mean a âLucky Gitâ or âJammy B*stardâ status? Yeah, why not! 
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itâs something like that, but yes itâs Robotech 
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My Glowforge is never late, nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it means to.
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Iâm within an hour of the factory⌠I thought maybe that might get us a prerealease unit but I feel like cinderella no book no nothing 
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send a message to support and let them know if you didnât get a book, I think they can still get you a digital copy.
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So are you naming your GF Gandalf?
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The book was a holiday gift for backers in 2015⌠but our support team is pretty awesome and can hook you up anyway. 
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Glowforge delivered the units for Maker Faire on Thursday afternoon. They came straight from the factory. I opened up and it worked. It worked better than my PRU from November by making vertical lines and ticks on the rulers stand straight up without waves. It made me whistful for a new, forever Glowforge. Since most of what i do is cutting, Iâve never bothered too much with the waves in the ticks on vertical lines. Then I saw @takitusâs engravings and realized that while his PRU had some issues, the engraving results were so much crisper at the edges. I never could figure out what special magic he had. Well he does have an artistâs eye for design and layout, but also had a machine that didnât have this problem. I got a little information that the waves in the vertical lines seemed to be by an assembly defect that has been identified and corrected. At least thatâs what I thought.
Hardware design hasnât been an issue for a while, as far as I can tell. Itâs scaling up for mass production. They seem to be scaling nicely, although there was an issue with one of the Maker Faire units so that one got swapped out.
The packing and unpacking and setup procedure is very easy. As the other PRUs have pointed out, itâs a piece of cake.
I would imagine they are going to push a major GFUI interface sometime soon with tweaks to the design and layout and I hope a new power profile that will allow lower power on the 1%.
I have no idea about the flip over and double sided cutting magic, nor the 3D engraving settings. My gut feeling is that the software ecosystem has been a big challenge to get in line for shipping, including getting support beefed up and ready to respond to any issues with thousands of users. Another delay as has been discussed is the issue of quality control in a bigger production run. Dan has addressed some of these things in his monthly updates.
Communication from Glowforge continues to provoke lots of discussion. I understand that. Nothing has changed since the beginning. When I worry, I put my hopes on the folks who are working on this like mad. They all want this to succeed more than we do, after all, we have only put out a small amount of money compared to what they are investing in it with careers and reputations.
A Maker Faire shipping announcement in a public way satisfies the letter of the promise if not the spirit. Just like getting two public PRUs out by the end of November and then a little wait for a few others. Thatâs part of the business ecosystem and group dynamics.
The email really is no different in the end from the Latest Update on shipping that has been pinned for months. Six weeks gets us into July. Thatâs when I have been expecting to start seeing forever Glowforges delivered.
Lots more to say about this. In the end I fear the most the reaction of people to the manner in which Glowforge fulfills initial marketing video. Not having seen a filter and a Pro pass through demonstrated, that is a big void of information.
There is a lot of work to be done, but they are in it for the long haul. Iâll just keeping walking along.
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Thinking about GlowlĂłrin (same thing, a little more obscure.) That itâll test Glowforgeâs handling of special characters is a nice bonus
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Just trying to estimate my possible email date, and if theyâre going by the order in which people placed orders - what date/time did your order go in?
Thanks!
Alex