over the last month or two I’ve noticed the glowforge unable to cut completely through the material I use.
In the investigation there are a couple of minor scratches on the lens, that could contribute. but the inconsistent results do make me think laser tube issue. maybe it’s towards the end of it’s useful life as it’s about 3 years.
my main complaint is when I bought the unit there was to be replaceable tubes, which have never shown up. and when I email back and forth with support they really have zero ideas about what impacts my printer. the answer is always only the generic note below. we have no idea, we won’t tell you but we’ll happily send you a newly refurbed one. $1253 again.
Operating a laser cutter does have ongoing costs. You either get cheap glass tubes that you replace every 1-3 years, or metal RF tubes that you keep but refill for 20-30. Glass tubes are $250-$900 on eBay for common small business size machines. Refill service for an RF tube costs about the same as your quote, $1000-1200. If you’re getting 3 years from each Glowforge tube at a cost of $1253, that’s about $400 per year, which is not an unreasonable cost to operate the machine IMO? Regardless, if you think the grass is greener elsewhere, you can pay that $1200 and flip the machine for $3-6K as soon as you get it, and put that towards something else.