Glowforge launched today

[Jason Hilton]

It's definitely a consumer level product but man does it do some cool software tricks! Automatically tracing hand-drawn or printed objects direct on the bed with multiple cameras for example, very slick.

http://www.glowforge.com/

[Chris Achtschin]

Very cool, I want one when I grow up!

[Bert Kemp]

MARKETING HYPE

[Bruce Page]

MARKETING HYPE

Bert, what is your point? All products are marketed to one degree or another. It's how the sales world turns.

[Jamie Humphrey]

I bought into the hype, if that's what you prefer to call it. I've been following Glowforge since the beginning, and Dan Shapiro the CEO prior to this new company. The product and introductory prices look good to me so I ordered. I'm not sharing my link to $100 off as I'd like to see a civil discussion on the product not a flame the new guy discussion. The product looks to have some distinct advantages over current laser cutters on the market and one large potential downside. If the company goes under the cloud based software, which basically runs the product, could disappear. I can't see that as likely as mainting servers are a minimal cost and I think their plan to charge for premium plans from their catalog should provide for a nice steady stream of income.

[Lee DeRaud]

Could have sworn we beat this to death already...

One thing I missed on the initial discussion: autofocus (good), small Z-axis capacity (not good). For something with "3D" in the title, it certainly seems biased toward sheet goods.

[Lee DeRaud]

Very cool, I want one when I grow up!

I'm looking at your equipment list...
Ok, I'll bite: why would you want this? It's not like it will do anything that your current laser can't. (Jury is still out on whether it can do any of it as well as your current laser.)

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm not sharing my link to $100 off as I'd like to see a civil discussion on the product not a flame the new guy discussion.

What do you call a civil discussion? The fact that it's not a printer? Or that many of the things we raised concerns about as far as safety haven't been addressed, at least if we are to believe what's on the website. Comments like "it's as safe as a DVD player" are far from accurate.

On the good side of it, I'm really glad that I'll finally stop getting those calls to take hand drawn drawings and cut cookies for kids out, or maybe the calls to make a one off purse will finally cease.

Or the fact that the price ended up being twice what it was said to be when it was announced? It was said that it's a $2000 3D laser printer, when, in 30 days, it's a $4,000-8,000 laser.

[Paul Phillips]

Well, love it or hate it, it may be the (new) redheaded step child of the engraving world but it appears to be here to stay and we as the Sawmill Creek community need to be prepared to receive a potential new user base of GF'ers (maybe we should coin that!?) with a gazillion questions. When I joined the Creek in '07 the first Chinese machines were just starting to appear and the attitude of many of the Western built owners was to sort of look down on those who were willing to buy the "Cheap Chinese" machines. The Creek has changed much since '07 with a huge influx of Chinese laser owners, I wonder if GlowForge will do the same.

[Steve Morris]

40W laser with relatively limited Z, the 3D claim is REALLY pushing the boundaries of honesty, no mention of what cooling system or filtration of by-products in the ad.
If it is truly TEM00 does that mean its an RF tube?
All those choking children in the house when dad does some leather
I wonder what your insurance company will say when you tell them you have one in your home.

Software looks nice on the face of it and the styling is clearly aimed at the Apple generation, so guessing the target users are generally impressionable types who want to be hip with a bit of glitter.
It will sell his marketing is very good.

[Rich Harman]

It was said that it's a $2000 3D laser printer, when, in 30 days, it's a $4,000-8,000 laser.

I doubt they will ever sell for that much - just like everything at Harbor Freight has a "regular" price shown to make you think you are getting a better deal, but you will never see it sold for that price.

[Scott Shepherd]

Paul, I'm sure we will. Maybe we can do a sub-forum After all, it's a 40w laser. They don't seem anxious to actually show many photos of the actual machine, or it cutting When all the dust settles, it's going to be exactly what we said it would be, a laser engraver with proprietary software. That's not good or bad, it's just exactly what we said it would be, not anything more or less.

[Rich Harman]

40W laser with relatively limited Z, the 3D claim is REALLY pushing the boundaries of honesty, no mention of what cooling system or filtration of by-products in the ad.
If it is truly TEM00 does that mean its an RF tube?
All those choking children in the house when dad does some leather
I wonder what your insurance company will say when you tell them you have one in your home.

Software looks nice on the face of it and the styling is clearly aimed at the Apple generation, so guessing the target users are generally impressionable types who want to be hip with a bit of glitter.
It will sell his marketing is very good.

"Custom" glass tube. Cooling is "Closed loop self contained internal cooling" and thermo-electric for the Pro version, filtration is a duct out the window - unless you opt for the $500 HEPA/charcoal filter.

Yes, the marketing is very good. I'm really curious what those six things that I need to know are. When I click on the link it just takes me back to the main page.

[Scott Shepherd]

You can see it all, and in action here :

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I missed the earlier thread and link to Glowforge so this is all new to me. What surprised me is that intro video is marketing it like a common household item that stays in the kitchen.

Looking at their FAQ page, there is an entry dated "yesterday" (assuming 9/23/15) that explains how the Glowforge is different than a 3D printer. https://glowforge.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/210898507-How-is-Glowforge-different-from-a-3D-printer-
Glowforge uses subtractive manufacturing while traditional 3D printers use additive manufacturing. A 3D printer builds up material, like plastic filament, layer by layer. With Glowforge, you’ll put a piece of material like leather, wood, or acrylic in the machine and it carves out your product using laser light. The technical name for the category of tools that includes Glowforge is a CNC laser cutter engraver, but that's a mouthful, so we call it a 3D laser printer.

I'm lost here. According to Glowforge, they use "subtractive manufacturing" and therefore refer to their laser as a "3D laser printer" ... because 3D printers use additive manufacturing. If I follow that logic, if I am trying to sell a new medicine but the technical name is a mouthful, I will call it Yummy Sweet Candy and people will automatically know this is not candy, but a bitter medicine that improves your eyesight?

As far as pricing, their Tech Specs page shows the range between $1995 to $4995 and further down the page they do refer to the system as a laser device.

It may have some nice software features, but like others have said, once the fumes start pouring into the kitchen & living room, many of thee new owners will probably want to return them.