David,

These fora are for engineering-related questions for practicing engineers... your laser questions don't really fit that criteria. I recommend you look at some of the Facebook groups available for this type of information, or fora designed with hobbyist-style questions in mind (like Sawmill Creek).

But before this thread disappears... no, the GlowForge is an over-priced, over-hyped piece of engineering fluff. A Chinese system purchased for way less than half of the price will do the exact same thing with only a slight increase in learning curve, particularly considering the GF uses all of the same major components as any other Chiense system on the market.

Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

Check out some Maker communities, these people tend to run equipment hard and expect good performance.

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Please refrain from multiple posting

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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Glowforge makes its own laser-safe materials that have been engineered. It 's certainly not a cheap investment, but it was worth 100 per cent to me.

Quote (Shanaya)

Glowforge makes its own laser-safe materials that have been engineered.

They do no such thing. They take standard COTS material that everyone else sells and slap a label on it. There are absolutely zero unique properties about the materials they sell (other than a higher price tag).

Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com