Glowforge release

[Mark Sipes]

Oh now they aren't going to ship until Dec 2016 whats that a year after you sent money to them.And I'll bet come December there will be other unforeseen circumstances that they will again delay shipment if they ever ship at all. My prediction is that sometime after Dec 2016 the company will concede they can't make the machine they promised and file for Bankruptcy and all investor money will be gone for ever

Money gone forever... no way.. Someone has new Mercedes and 1+ M furnished house they did not have 2 years ago.




I have to revise my post from 2 minutes ago! 4 Mercedes and 4 Ferrari's and a 10 car garage on the 33 acres plot with the mansion with stables


Glowforge $27,907,995 sold in 30 days
The biggest 30-day crowdfunding campaign in history














,

[Gary Hair]

Gary PT Barnum never said it , but your right Glowforge has found a large batch

Next thing you'll tell me is that Santa Claus isn't real...

[Bert Kemp]

Oh No! Santa's Real he flys to my house in December every year has done so ever since I was a tiny little bitty baby

Next thing you'll tell me is that Santa Claus isn't real...

[Gary Hair]

Oh No! Santa's Real he flys to my house in December every year has done so ever since I was a tiny little bitty baby

Maybe this year, if you're good, he'll deliver you a Glowforge!

[Bert Kemp]

Oh Sorry Mark I forgot about that your right the money got spent on a FEW INCIDENTALS

Money gone forever... no way.. Someone has new Mercedes and 1+ M furnished house they did not have 2 years ago.




I have to revise my post from 2 minutes ago! 4 Mercedes and 4 Ferrari's and a 10 car garage on the 33 acres plot with the mansion with stables


Glowforge $27,907,995 sold in 30 days
The biggest 30-day crowdfunding campaign in history














,

[chase standifer]

I love all the claims that Glowforge is using cheap components or off the shelf chinese components. So with the same breath you tell me I am a fool for taking a risk on a product without knowing how good it will be while simultaneously telling me it is made with cheap components. Something that you have just as little and idea about as I do that it will be quality product. They are in fact using multiple custom components, one of which is the reason for the delay. The truth is that none of know if the Glowforge will be successful or not, some of us just chose to take a chance on what I hope will be a great machine allowing me to do some laser cutting without the headache of troubleshooting one from China.

Tesla is another example of a company that took preorders for a new and unproven product and was extremely late in delivering but when they did it was a fantastic product. Not a direct comparison but it is an example of why we should be willing to support American entrepreneurs and take some risks. Sure I'm not happy about the 6 month delay but I'm not relying on this to start a business or something and I would rather end up with working quality machine than something half baked.

The only other thing I can say is that I'm glad I don't have as pessimistic view of the world as some people posting in here.

[Dave Sheldrake]

allowing me to do some laser cutting without the headache of troubleshooting one from China.

You may want to look into where those tubes are being made given the number of tube manufacturers in the world. Here's a hint, it won't be Coherant or GSI I'd suggest

They are in fact using multiple custom components

For most mechanical or electronic items that's not a good thing, why else do you think the timing belts for my GTR cost £250 a time, could it be maybe that they only fit that car and no other models?

without knowing how good it will be while simultaneously telling me it is made with cheap components.

Deductive logic....first sentinel of business....you cannot pay a little and get a lot.

I'm glad I don't have as pessimistic view

Maybe substitute, "Realistic" for "Pessimistic" and you will be a lot closer.

sadly it seems the positive *vibes* about the GF seem to come from one source, the company that is getting paid for them (or paying for reviews to be done) while the more negative view is coming from people with no monkeys in that circus and are reliant on basic economic reasoning and fundamental common sense (and a few hundred years of combined experience with lasers)

It may come as a surprise but little to nothing has changed in the way of Laser technology in many decades (caveat: other than MIT finding a way to generate a beam narrower than the wavelength of the light), there are only so many ways of hooking energy into a photon stream, the biggest gains will be more likely to come from finding a way to cool resonators in a new way given that there is no upper limit in Physics to how powerful a laser can actually be.

It has become apparent though that when GF move the goal posts rather than being held to what they have said, investors seem happier to lower their expectations rather than accept there is a problem.

[Art Mann]

I love all the claims that Glowforge is using cheap components or off the shelf chinese components. So with the same breath you tell me I am a fool for taking a risk on a product without knowing how good it will be while simultaneously telling me it is made with cheap components. Something that you have just as little and idea about as I do that it will be quality product. They are in fact using multiple custom components, one of which is the reason for the delay. The truth is that none of know if the Glowforge will be successful or not, some of us just chose to take a chance on what I hope will be a great machine allowing me to do some laser cutting without the headache of troubleshooting one from China.

Some Chinese manufacturers supply machines that work well. They are a good value, though not the best quality. We have no evidence Glowforge is capable of anything more than producing a great (if deceptive) website. The evidence against their claims for availability and functionality are eroding with every delay.

Tesla is another example of a company that took preorders for a new and unproven product and was extremely late in delivering but when they did it was a fantastic product. Not a direct comparison but it is an example of why we should be willing to support American entrepreneurs and take some risks. Sure I'm not happy about the 6 month delay but I'm not relying on this to start a business or something and I would rather end up with working quality machine than something half baked.

Tesla is not yet profitable. They are selling every car at a loss. Sales are supported by heavy government subsidies. Those will soon play out soon and then we will see what the real Tesla company can do. I have been an engineer in the automobile manufacturing industry for most of my career. I just had to laugh out loud at their excuses for manufacturing delays. Anyone with any sense knows you can't start production until every single supplier of every single component is ready to produce in quantity. Apparently, Elan didn't realize that. Is that the Glowforge problem?

The only other thing I can say is that I'm glad I don't have as pessimistic view of the world as some people posting in here.

[Official message length padding here]

[Mark Sipes]

Build it and they will come....... Promise to build it and they will beat a path to your door!

[Kev Williams]

Laser technology may not have changed much, but neither has the pathway that leads to the finished product, like the mechanics and the method of getting your idea to the machine. Not saying GF is breaking a lot of new ground in these areas either, but somewhat. GF's main goal is to tap into the goldmine that is every day people who would otherwise never know, or care about a C02 laser. Doesn't matter how good or bad it is, they HAVE to market hype the thing. And try to build it decent. Whether or not it works exactly like, or better than my LS900 or Steve's Trotec or Bert's Rabbit doesn't matter. Whether it works at all matters, so that regular people will want one.

And market hype is as market hype does. GF is hardly breaking any marketing rules And they can call it what they want, 3D printer (even a 'real' 3D printer doesn't "print"--just my opinion), or a box cutter, a polymer vaporizer, who cares. I've noticed that pro wrestlers are referring to themselves as "heroes" on the WWF TV ads....seriously?

[Bert Kemp]

Are you serious with that statement Do you really think that a $2500 laser is going to work out of the box and not have problems. Epilog, Trotec, UVL, Rabbit , Boss, and Thunder lasers just to mention a few and the big 3 start in a price range 5 to 10 times that of a GF and their trouble shooting problems here on a daily basis. and for the record I've had my cheap POS rabbit for going on 2 years and and have had only one minor problem with the machine and I still think its a software problem and all my other problems were in corel . So good luck thinking your cut and engrave problem free

I love all the claims that Glowforge is using cheap components or off the shelf chinese components. So with the same breath you tell me I am a fool for taking a risk on a product without knowing how good it will be while simultaneously telling me it is made with cheap components. Something that you have just as little and idea about as I do that it will be quality product. They are in fact using multiple custom components, one of which is the reason for the delay. The truth is that none of know if the Glowforge will be successful or not, some of us just chose to take a chance on what I hope will be a great machine allowing me to do some laser cutting without the headache of troubleshooting one from China.

Tesla is another example of a company that took preorders for a new and unproven product and was extremely late in delivering but when they did it was a fantastic product. Not a direct comparison but it is an example of why we should be willing to support American entrepreneurs and take some risks. Sure I'm not happy about the 6 month delay but I'm not relying on this to start a business or something and I would rather end up with working quality machine than something half baked.

The only other thing I can say is that I'm glad I don't have as pessimistic view of the world as some people posting in here.

[Matt McCoy]

...We have no evidence Glowforge is capable of anything more than producing a great (if deceptive) website. The evidence against their claims for availability and functionality are eroding with every delay.

Except for its founders' past business successes and seasoned investors with lots of experience bringing tech hardware to market.

Are you serious with that statement Do you really think that a $2500 laser is going to work out of the box and not have problems.

He literally did not say that. Here's what was said:

"I hope [it] will be a great machine allowing me to do some laser cutting without the headache of troubleshooting one from China."

If you ever visit some of the very large FB laser groups, you will read a metric ton of support questions and about issues with ebay lasers. That is the market that GF is paying attention to.

[chase standifer]

I expect to have to trouble shoot for sure. The hope is that the problems are with dialing in the intensity and speed and other design problems with individual projects. Not the hardware problems I consistently see in FB laser groups. Like people that spend more than a Glowforge and can't even get a manual in english.

I understand that all chinese machines aren't crap, but from what I have seen online most of the ones in the same price range as the Glowforge are quite the headache.

All I'm saying is that people are passing judgement on a product with little proof one way or the other. You may not want to spend the money to take the risk yourself but certainly we should all hope this company succeeds and opens up laser cutting to a whole new market of people who would never bother otherwise, like myself.

[Bert Kemp]

I can tell you that a 40 or 45 watt GF will have trouble cutting anything over 1/8inch with any consistency. I've said it a 100 times these things are a toy and the novelty will wear off pretty fast after you all discover that it can't do or maybe do very very slowly what it claims. It claims that it can recognize material, sure buy the price inflated specially coded material from GF and it will know what it is, put a piece of un coded paper in it and tell it to cut and whoa burn your house down cause it had no idea what it was and put to much power to the paper and instant fire. We all may have no Idea if the GF will work or be successful but we do know what it can and can't do. One thing for sure its not going to 3D print anything now or ever.

I expect to have to trouble shoot for sure. The hope is that the problems are with dialing in the intensity and speed and other design problems with individual projects. Not the hardware problems I consistently see in FB laser groups. Like people that spend more than a Glowforge and can't even get a manual in english.

I understand that all chinese machines aren't crap, but from what I have seen online most of the ones in the same price range as the Glowforge are quite the headache.

All I'm saying is that people are passing judgement on a product with little proof one way or the other. You may not want to spend the money to take the risk yourself but certainly we should all hope this company succeeds and opens up laser cutting to a whole new market of people who would never bother otherwise, like myself.

[Lee DeRaud]

I can tell you that a 40 or 45 watt GF will have trouble cutting anything over 1/8inch with any consistency.

Ok, as I'm sure you've been able to figure out, I'm not exactly a GF cheerleader.

But I'm a bit puzzled by that comment, as I have zero problems cutting 1/4" wood and acrylic with quite a bit less power than that. Am I missing something?