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Glowforge is a CNC Laser Cutter, not a 3D Printer (Video)
Co-Founder and CEO Dan Shapiro says, right at the beginning of the interview, that the Glowforge machine is a CNC laser cutter and engraver, not a 3-D Printer. He says they've "simplified the heck" out of the hardware and software, and are making an easy-to-use, non-costly ($2500 has been bandied about as the unit's likely price) device that can fit on a kitchen table -- or, more likely, a workbench at a maker facility. Although Dan did very well on Kickstarter (and afterwards) with his previous venture, Robot Turtles, this time he seems to have raised his first $9 million in the venture capital market, with participation from several MakerBot executives.
Glowforge is not the only CNC laser cutter/etcher device out there (or about to be). In Australia, Darkly Labs appears to have raised $569,397 (AUD) on Kickstarter to bring their LazerBlade to life, and already makes a small laser device called the Emblaser. There are others, too, including Boxzy, which did the Kickstarter thing and will now sell you a device that "rapidly transforms into 3 kinds of machines: CNC Mill, 3D Printer & Laser Engraver while enhancing precision & power with ballscrews." All this, and their top-of-the-line "does everything" machine sells for a mere $3500. Obviously, devices to give makers and prototypers the ability to make ever more complex and accurate shapes are coming to market like crazy. We'll continue to keep an eye on all this activity, including a second video interview with Glowforge's Dan Shapiro tomorrow.
Glowforge is not the only CNC laser cutter/etcher device out there (or about to be). In Australia, Darkly Labs appears to have raised $569,397 (AUD) on Kickstarter to bring their LazerBlade to life, and already makes a small laser device called the Emblaser. There are others, too, including Boxzy, which did the Kickstarter thing and will now sell you a device that "rapidly transforms into 3 kinds of machines: CNC Mill, 3D Printer & Laser Engraver while enhancing precision & power with ballscrews." All this, and their top-of-the-line "does everything" machine sells for a mere $3500. Obviously, devices to give makers and prototypers the ability to make ever more complex and accurate shapes are coming to market like crazy. We'll continue to keep an eye on all this activity, including a second video interview with Glowforge's Dan Shapiro tomorrow.
So what's it doing here, then?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
$200 for the accessory, $900 for the combination tool, if anyone wants it.
I tried to put this on Slashdot at the time, but failed. :(
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
On what exactly this $2500 laser cutter does that the $1000 ones available on ebay for years don't. How he has managed to simplify the hardware beyond timing belts, stepper motors and commodity laser tubes / PSU that they consist of, and how he has simplified the software of something that can already be driven as a HPGL plotter directly from illustrator (or some other software, that may actually be suited to CAD / CAM work).
Seems to me every time someone bolts a dremel onto a Cartesian robot it now results in a kick-starter, and ends up described on slashdot as some sort of innovative new 3D printer.
So, its not just a device, but a device that needs an external service to operate?
As impressive as what it does is, that is a huge turn off for me. Admittedly I look at it from a hobbiest perspective where I prefer my open source 3d printer because I can understand all its parts and tinker with it, even if I don't generally choose to do so, I can.
I don't like the idea of a device that might cease to work because the cloud service it depends on no longer functions. If he is worried about how open source companies have disappointed customers by overpromising, then I don't see this as setting up for success in that arena.
That is unless the "cloud computing" part is a component any customer with one could spin up himself in a generic cloud providers environment....ok then, but, I would have trouble justifying buying a device with externally held "secret sauce".
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Something something Dice something ethics in journalism.
Yeah, I'm sure it will go over well in Europe.
This is 'murica, we need our CNCs to cut 3 inch plate steel.
Ok as one who uses laser cutters on a regular basis on a multitude of materials, I didn't listen to the whole thing but in the first half, heard nothing of note nor anything that is new.
1/1000" resolution is good, but not a big deal (your laser will be thicker than that anyways). So what if it cut holes in leather? Laser cutters already do that. The idea of having to futz with a material, big deal. Where we work, we have this stuff written on a wall and we say, '1/4" acrylic, this power and speed. Done." Their already is good software out there for laser cutters. If you buy a $595 chinese laser cutter from ebay, yeah, then it isn't good but there are other companies out there making decent laser cutter for that price. Not professional quality but good enough for home use.
There is nothing that is really new. Can you come up with a robust and reliable 24"*36" cutter with good optics for that price, then I'll be impressed but for now, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for this to come out.
Big waste of time. No useful information about the laser, the "3d", the motion, the toxic fume extraction system (probably not included), or the Open Source... and the project backed by the very people who killed Makerbot.
Sure, the leather was cut to 1 mil precision, but without other leather working tools and skills, its still a mediocre bag. rough edges, because he does not know how to finish leather edges, rough back on almost every part, because its not layered, glued and stitched to give fine smooth finish to both sides of things like the strap. Its just 'ok'. It'll probably last just fine, but its not even 'ikea' grade.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
As someone who just successfully assembled a BlackTooth laser cutter from a kit from BuildYourCnc.com, his performance specs are pretty much standard. What IS missing is any mention of things like the exhaust system, because cutting anything with a laser generates a hefty amount of really noxious fumes that have no business being in enclosed space with humans or animals. The size of the cutting bed really makes a big difference too. The "cheap Chinese" laser cutters available on ebay and such have a relatively small cutting area, and trying to find replacement parts can be a real problem as well. I am impressed that the laser cutter market is starting to gain steam. Laser cutters are truly awesome devices and I hope this guy can offer something that encourages more people to develop new designs and applications.
You can buy a laser cutter, complete, for around two grand on ebay. Or you can build one for around two grand, if you can get lucky with your laser tube. So why should I be excited about another one in the same price range?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
When we were small
Lasers were fiction;
Now we are tall'n
Sharks are under extinction.
Will any of these ablate copper? IE can you use it to make a PCB?
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
Turns a 3d printer into a laser cutter for small jobs. Plus cut acrylic, and some woods. Which is most of what laser cutters are about.
Won't do big jobs, go to your local makerspace for those.
why you think there's an exhaust system? none of the makerbots have one.
if makerbot execs are involved, you might want to ask them if they use the "manifest of done" by bre pettis(the mb douchebag who ran the quality to ground and sold to stratasys .. and then stratasys is downmarking the buy value by 100$m+ already).
basically the manifest of done goes like this "if it might work, call it done and move on - never do a cycle of refinement on the design, just start selling it" which lead to their huge returns for the 5th gen printers due to them a) printing worse than their previous generation b) asking customers to buy 170$ extruders every time one jams and the jam often.
also, if they're exec MBI people, you should ask them if the sample pieces were cut on the machine they're showing! (5th gen makerbots were shown at ces with replicator 2 printed "samples"
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Because none of the MakerBots are LASER cutters/engravers, rather just FDM 3D printers?
Thanks all for the interest! We're early on so I can't share full specs on the device yet - and lots of our best features are still under wraps. That said, happy to answer whatever I can here. When we launch, I'll be back with all the gory details.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
This is not a 3d printer at all what a scam. poor people on kickstarter.