The GlowForge of Awesomeness

Last Thursday I finally took delivery of my GlowForge. I ordered it about a year and a half ago, when it was in pre-production, but post-Kickstarter, so I was at the bottom of the delivery list.

Since it was delivered later in the day, I didn't have time to do much more than open the boxes and check for damage (a wise precaution, as the main box arrived with a sizable rip and two missing handle locks). Friday we were gone all day, so the boxes sat in our library, tantalizing me. Saturday morning I woke up and built a box to lock the GlowForge in when it's not in use. I could have done this earlier, but I wanted to wait until I knew it was on its way, and by the time I received the shipping email I didn't have time to build the box before the GlowForge arrived.

Why did I take the time to build a lock box before setting up the GlowForge? These little boys.

While cute and lots of fun, they are not very trustworthy around machinery and electronics. Or much of anything, really. The box is to protect them from the laser of the GlowForge, but also to protect the GlowForge from the boys.

Locked up tight- the cable runs through loops that are attached to the base of the desk, the box itself, and the wall. Fingers crossed that that's enough to keep the boys from tipping it over or opening it up.

The GlowForge is a laser cutter that can cut, engrave, etch, etc various materials. I originally bought it to etch/engrave leather, but since then I've found a number of wood projects I want to do as well.

When I was researching laser cutters a couple years ago, I almost bought one out of Australia, but the lower price couldn't compensate for the lack of instructional and technical help and the fact that it didn't look very intuitive to use.

I'm not very technically savvy; I have to work hard to figure out mechanical and electronic things (give me hand tools any day), so intuitive is important.

The GlowForge, on the other hand, looked much more intuitive and had a forum set up already. And the demonstration videos were pretty impressive, so I bit the bullet and paid the higher price.

in the box, ready for use

Setting up the GlowForge Saturday afternoon showed me I made the right decision. It was super easy to set up, even for someone like me who isn't technically savvy. After the setup process is complete, you can make three different projects to try out the capabilities and explore the creation process for each project.

The tutorials have you use Inkscape for the graphic design elements, but I'm used to Photoshop, so I did have to spend some time figuring out Inkscape. I tried it out a few years ago and ended up deleting it because I couldn't figure out how to use it, but this time I'm doing a lot better. Maybe because now I can see the similarities to Photoshop, which I've been using for awhile now, but hadn't used as much the first time I tried Inkscape.

So there's a bit of a learning curve in figuring out how to get the GlowForge to do what I want it to. I had some problems cutting out an image that I'd engraved, but I've got it figured out now (I think).

Here's what I've been working on:

first: the GlowForge ruler 

The first project on the GlowForge site.

the paper is masking that protects the wood, leather, acrylic, etc from scorching

second: square maple syrup tag 

Different from the second project on the site, but more in line with what I wanted to do. This is the one I had a hard time figuring out how to cut out.

third: round maple syrup tag

Similar to the third project on the site, which was a gift tag created in Inkscape. I imported an image I created in PicMonkey to Inkscape to add the final details. Once I get more familiar with Inkscape, I'll try to do more creating from start to finish in Inkscape.

The round maple syrup tag turned out the best, and I'll be making a couple more to attach to small jars of syrup that will be distributed to friends and neighbors.

I have more projects lined up, but have to find time to squeeze them in among everything else I'm already doing. I knew this was going to be an issue, but this is the type of creating that I've been missing while focusing on building my online businesses, so it's good to do some creating again.

Want your own GlowForge of Awesomeness?
I have a GlowForge Basic, which is currently out of stock, but they have some GlowForge Pro models in stock and ready to ship. Yes, they're pricey, but you can get a discount of $1500 if you use this link to order (I'll receive a commission as well, at no cost to you). This offer is only good until they sell out of their current stock, so if you've been waffling back and forth for awhile, now might be the time to jump in.

with the masking still on

masking off