I think that it will be amazing to have tray magnetic, so when we have to cut very light sheets of any material we only have to put some magnet in the corners to have it fasten. I don’t know if it is very expensive or no but it will be great.
I personally don’t quite understand, can you go into a bit more detail? Sounds interesting
Why wouldn’t you just put a sacrificial piece of metal under what you are cutting and put magnets on the material?
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It’s pretty handy to have a metal honeycomb tray – as you suggest, it allows you to use small magnets to hold down light materials. You have to make sure there’s appropriate clearance, of course, and that they are out of the cutting path. Our makerspace has a bunch of rare-earth magnets salvaged from hard drives that we use for this purpose.
jskinger – I’m not 100% sure, but suspect that having a sacrificial plate under the material would be ok for engraving, but could cause some issues in cutting.
BTW, In the videos it appears that the exhaust draw is from the side, but for lasers that exhaust below the plane of the grid, placing lightweight sheets of cardboard around the target material increases the vacuum table effect to keep things in place. I have no idea if this will be a viable strategy with the GF.
Another option is to use wax to hold your part down. Or double sided tape. You would just have to make sure what they are made out of.
Hey Jack,
Magnets will be a proper saviour for you if you start to cut wood/paper/card of any kind, they really help to keep the material flat and stops them from blowing away.
Bed should be magnetic. Great idea!
Unfortunately ferrous metal grates are a lot more expensive than aluminum, even though they last a lot longer.
Fortunately we love you all and sprang for them anyway! Barring any manufacturing challenges (the comolded plastic/metal crumb tray is one of the most complex parts. after the case) magnets will work and the thing will be tough as nails. Literally.
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Great!
Keep playing to the crowd, Dan. It’s a winning formula.
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@dan you guys go up in my books everyday. Wish I lived in the US I would love to work for company as great as yours.(plus postage’s cheap and no import tax! Probably would have bought 2!)
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Great news @dan !!! Thanks for consider all our ideas, you are doing a great work!!! congratulations.
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Almost everything I plan to cut with the Glowforge will be paper, so this is extremely welcome news. Being able to keep sheets in place with magnets direct on the grate sounds like a perfect solution.