Based on my own recent issues and the lovely help I’ve found here in the forum (you guys and gals are the literal best) I’ve recently learned there might be a few items I want to get to keep my machine healthy and functioning during the winter- especially when kept in a ridiculously cold room.
Per my reading I’ve seen everything from space heaters, seedling warmers, timed heat blankets and various thermometers suggested. I’d really love if we could get the links to your favorite winter accessories in one spot so I could compare them and other newbies experiencing their first winter with their machine can click through.
The hard part is that there are as many solutions as there are specific situations.
For example, your setup is pretty unusual, you’ve mentioned that your house doesn’t have heating etc. What’s good for you isn’t going to be great for other people, there’s just no one-size-fits-all fix for this. The diversity of threads on this topic grows every year as new situations come up, I think forum search is always going to give you the best exposure to the info that we’ve all picked up over the past few years.
In general:
Protect your GF from cold air backflow in ventilation.
Find a way to keep it above freezing when not in use.
Keep your workspace in the recommended temperature range whenever you operate it.
There’s not much more to it. There are many solutions to each of these, which is best will be up to you.
EDIT:
You could always link to your favorite threads in your original post here, make this into a thread round-up. No need to have everyone rewrite their thoughts on it when it’s already out there for the picking.
To steal an idea from my grandma (she didn’t have a Glowforge, but she had baby chicks to keep warm), stick a lit lightbulb inside your 'forge when not in use.
But really I want to tell you to get a pellet stove or something and break free of the blankets! I spent an awfully cold winter in Japan once, while waiting for base housing to be available, in a drafty little uninsulated house off base where the pipes all froze all winter except in the central bathroom, and the “carpet” was a layer of felt over a plywood floor, and the windows rattled every time a car went by on the road 100 yards away. My kids and I huddled around the little kerosene heater draped in blankets and listening to our teeth chatter – it was a miserable way to exist!
Nope, this wasn’t a Japanese house; it was specifically built to rent to gaijins. Very short gaijins, apparently. I’m 6’2". I couldn’t close the bathroom door while sitting on the toilet because my knees were in the way, and the kitchen counters hit me below mid-thigh. The kids, though, were still at that age where they liked to “help” “wash” the dishes, and it was perfect for them, so during the warmer months they spent a lot of time soaking the kitchen in soapy dish water.
