Been watching LTT for 6 years and I gotta say, I like the ShortCircuit format much better than LTT. It's obviously not profitable or sustainable for the main channel though, but I appreciate the extra content!!
I mean there's no other channel I'm subscribed to that will show me a laser cutter. While I'd probably never get one it's still cool to see stuff like this outside of a factory setting.
Most of the time it's stuff they have been sent and they have set a short limit on the time each video takes so the bar to probability is probably quite low.
I love LMG titles. They somehow manage to be super clickbaity without being misleading at all. If the title says they're unboxing a laser, I don't have a shred of doubt that's what they're actually doing. I wish more content creators were like this.
I wish Scotty Kilmer would do the same. I enjoy his videos but when you have limited free time and have to choose what you watch during that time, the titles of his videos really aren't helpful.
@@Shocker99 Nothing is Professional grade about it. Pro doesnt mean shit this day and age Its just what Glowforge decided to name it "Glowforge Pro" Everything is "Pro"
From a rapid prototyping standpoint this always online/transferring files to Glowforge and back. Seems like a 24/7 security breach(like a train derailment on repeat). Can't imagine anyone under NDA even if they only make packaging using this machine.
No, as everyone knows, air and therefore oxygen prohibit fires from starting. Sometimes I wonder how alex manages to convince linus that he is a pro at anything :D
Stefan Schäfer too much air does indeed stop a fire, which is why you can blow out candles rather than start an inferno. The Freaking Tiny Fan (c) they used on the Glowforge for air assist seems to primarily be to keep the lens clean. Unfortunately, it also blows the vaporized soot directly over and onto your project, making it pretty dirty.
@@jordymoors Wow, you can blow out candles!? Didn´t know that. That´s obviously the exact same thing as directing a stream of air directly at something glowing. Thx for your advice, helped me out a lot.
Stefan blowing out a candle is indeed the exact same thing as directing a stream of air at something that's glowing, correct. Is there a point you're trying to make, or do you enjoy trolling? Air assist has worked, does work, and will continue to work as a fire surpressant on laser cutters, it's no happy accident, nor is it magic. Have you ever used a laser cutter before, or are you showing off what you think you know about them by using some false equivalencies?
The instant you said it used online app, I thought of the 10s of desktop 3D printed that are brick because of the features one-time purchase item requiring a constant service is a recipe for a brick.
I mean, if you're savvy enough you can still use pretty much the whole thing, but you'd have to swap out the main logic board for something open, could probably hack it to run off an off-the-shelf 3D printer board you can get for a RepRap machine. You'd have to do a bit of soldering and troubleshooting but it's just stepper motors once you get down to it.
@@jeffrey9411 At one point there were people working on doing just that. I lost interest in Glowforge so I don't know the current status of their progress though. Raster engraving is complicated and the Glowforge people have spent a lot of time tweaking their (regrettably) internet-dependent machine. Glowforge (the company) has managed to stay in business for several years now (to my surprise) and have actually released several software-driven upgrades over that time.
@@Hirudin Pretty sure Alex mentions the open source project for this is on github. I am betting it was the community one and NOT put there by Glowforge themselves
Thank you for correcting yourself saying 'print'. For some reason several people who use laser cutters that I've worked with keep saying 'print' even though its completely different! Cut or etch.
If the laser is so loud; did you turn on the setting to turn off the internal fan and use the filter system? That should make the Glowforge a bit more quiet
I used a trotech at a previous job. It was one of the smaller ones in trotech's lineup if I remember correctly. It was great. The shop primarily made cabinets and we the laser to cut out jigs for hinges and draw pulls. It made life so easy
For anyone looking for a very similar machine that can work fully offline, the full spectrum laser Muse is just that. It has the camera and ease of use features like the glowforge, but the control software is "Hosted on machine's local web server - no internet connection required".
The great thing about ShortCircuit is that you only see people who are excited about the stuff and want to share their knowledge. It feels like Alex is just super hyped about the product and somebody is recording it. It is an authentic format and I love it. I hope the channel grows naturally and you guys have more fun than work doing these!
This is totally off-topic but regarding the clamp for the fume hood, both the type shown in the video and the screw-ons are used in washing machines and from my professional experience parting them out and repairing them, the screw-on fasteners have a noticeably higher failure rate so at the very least the added inconvenience comes with the benefit of having a more reliable end product. :)
Man, the quality of video of when Alex talks about laser cutters versus the quality of when he talks about a laptop. He's way more into it and much better here!
We need more videos of Alex making stuff in that shop!!!! I know, I know, that would be a nightmare to film, maybe set up some webcams and include a time lapse of the shop any time you have him build something in the video of what build it's being used for.
@@ashnton he makes comedy engineering videos. He used to have a janky self built laser cutter that was a running joke (because he always said it was going to burn his house down one day, and was used in all of his videos) but he lost it when his house actually burnt down in the California wild fires
That filter option is really nice, at school we have a couple $30,000 ULS laser cutter and we need to drill a gigantic hole on the wall. You can see every spot it has ever been at.
I’ve had a Glowforge for a while now, and while not perfect it is an amazing hobbyist machine and I’ve earned its value back several times over on projects for my side biz. Hope you find awesome projects for it!
Also, learn to use the “snapmarks” feature and you can get perfect alignment every time. I use that a lot to get things perfectly centered on small items.
I think there should be a physical print job approval system on the printer that would disallow anyone to hack the printer over a network and initiate a job.
We've got one of these at our library Makerspace. Heads up it has an autofocus mode where you can just click on the area of the print bed you want to focus on. Saves so much time messing with calipers. I think I've engraved almost everything I own at this point...
ShortCircuit reminds me of the LTT of yore. I like all channels, and LTTs more in-depth approach, but the random quirkiness we have loved for so long definitely rises more in these extra channels like techlinked and shortcircuit.
I've had a Glowforge Pro for about two years. It's a handy machine but it does have problems. This is coming from the corporate side of things vs a consumer side. One it doesn't support 5ghz wifi. So it's A/B/G/N and not AC. Our corporate network doesn't broadcast on the 2.4ghz side so I have to set up an unauthorized hot spot to run the machine. An Ethernet port would have been a great addition. The alignment of the internal camera and the laser isn't accurate in the least. As mentioned in the video the center is pretty spot on but once you get about 5 inches outside of center it's bad. The calibration helps but for more consumer focus of this machine it should have come from the factory calibrated before hand. Now the web based app is pretty easy to use. Adding users to the machine and then teaching them how to use it was pretty painless. We finally got our filter last month after having had it pre-ordered the same time we bought the machine. When I got the email that it shipped it was a surprise as I had honestly forgotten about it. The filter works as advertised and when running doesn't let any fumes escape while operating. Overall for the simplicity of the machine it's a good ready to go product. Works as intended most of the time and really is handy in some production settings for fine detail work.
4 года назад
I have been following Glowforge since they started their crowdfunding, please make more videos about it!
You etch/cut flammable things in laser cutters all the time. That's why the cheap ones work as well as they do, cause the material burns easily. If you wanna cut something like metal, you're going to need a very powerful laser, not some little toy like that Glowforge...
Everything you put to ShortCircuit so far is great but this one, this is the best so far by a long shot! I'm so glad you created this channel. (as it goes on youtube - putting more effort into vids (scripts etc.) is great from professional and educative standpoint but not always more entertaining :/ :) )
I don't need a lasercutter and I wouldn't buy one but the fact that this thing needs to stay connected to the internet puts a bad reputation on that company anyways. It's simply unnecessary and offensive to the customer.
I'd much rather just get a Universal Laser Systems, or an Epilog, or even just some knockoff. Cause with any of those, you can easily upgrade stuff you need as you go, and can end up with a great machine that never needs any internet... I never had an issue with them at school, so I don't see how the Glowforge is solving anything. Just a waste of money...
Glowforge really needs an app for your Windows/Android/iOS device - there are other machines that support this option for offline use, which still have a way to share projects online as well. Apart from that, it is a versatile platform.
I feel like the Glowforge is the Cricut of the laser cutting world. It's really consumer friendly which is great, but it's also locked down in a way that limits how you can use the tech. I mean, they even market it a "3D laser printer"... which it clearly isn't. The language they use in their marketing is really misleading. "It prints truly enormous objects like furniture" - the way that's worded makes it sound like it can literally print furniture. But they don't mean that, they mean it can print ON furniture. And even that's false, because it isn't printing, it's engraving. The Cricut's requirement to use their online software is a huge drag when you're a technical person. And, while I've enjoyed mine for what I needed it for, I really wish I could use different software that would meet my needs and skill level better. I feel the same case can be made for the Glowforge, which is especially unfortunate considering the price tag.
It's even worse when you start looking at the differences between the $1500 basic machine and the $6000 "pro" machine. They claim the laser tubes are different (40w vs 45w). They are not, They're identical, the basic version is just limited in software. They also claim the cooling is "professional grade" in the pro model. It's literally identical to the basic model. Their marketing BS even claims the basic model can't run for more than about 15 minutes at a time without having to stop and cooldown. That's straight up bullshit. I've run mine for hours at a time with zero interruption. Glowforge is a great machine, but it suffers from the usual "kickstarter marketing wank" crap. Some of the claims they make are as bogus as bogus gets. Edit; it's even worse than I thought. It's been a while since I pulled up their website. The mid level "plus" machine claims to have "upgraded hardware" that makes it run TWICE as fast as the basic model. (while having the same laser and cooling). It's literally the same stepper motors and drivers as the basic model. If they're doing anything at all (which they aren't, it's identical) it would be via software. It's not though, they pushed an update a few months ago that sped up all the machines. They're all identical in speed x/y movement speed. They also claim the pro model with its 45w laser cuts 20% faster, because somehow 5 is 20% of 40.
I really like videos with Alex, I enjoy engineering and computers and I wish he was in more videos and I could love a computer engineering channel from LMG.
been a fan for years and I have to say to all the people at LTT yall do a damn fine job I am glad Short Circuit is the way LTT was back in the early days and Im glad that everyone at LTT can do their own thing on here. Not to say I dont like LTT, I do but its just not random and going into interesting quirky tech. I know this may not be popular now but who knows maybe it'll get more views than the main channel.
I'm in the laser world as a creator and seller of products and the GF is cool, It has great ideas but for the price, you can do SO MUCH BETTER. 6/10 - It works but Tube replacements and recharges are very costly. Z axis is beyond atrocious for the price, Customer support is okay but very behind from past experiences.
@@ThePretendgineer yeah, the GF is for the 'snooty' hobbyist that wants something fancy more than something that is built to last and work hard. I got a 2200$ 60W chinese laser and I can do so much more than a GF.
As someone who receives in shipments at my job, it's crazy that both packing slips are still attached to that box. The warehouse surely wants at least one before it gets used.
I like how they also think its not printing as well. It was one of the things they claimed it as a laser 3d printer or some bs, it is still on their home page. Though I am impressedthey are still around after all these years.
Alex: "one of the things you want in a laser cutter" Me: yes alex I have a laser cutter that's just lying around in the corner of my room collecting dust... doesn't everyone?!
Correction: The holes are not because a flat piece would heat up. It is to avoid reflections of the laser on the material and thus marks on the bottom.
tl;dr: As a laser cutter owner/user, buy what you like, but I DON'T recommend buying this one. Sad day. Too bad you bought one of the only laser cutters you can't truly own, so long as it only runs via their own software in the cloud. (This means it must have a live internet connection to use it and so they can make it not operate at any time.) Almost every other cutter can be used offline. Additionally, when their first sale income finally plateaus someone will end up having to pay for their hosting costs. Hello monthly fees. :-/ Finally, no adjustable z-axis? Most everyone else has this. Super useful. (On the positive, the bed camera is a nice feature. Probably the only one.)
Also everyone else offers a laser pointer home dot to help align things and set a custom home. Sometimes offer centering your design around your custom home for easier engraving of existing objects. I assume Alex/LTT would have used that if their old one supported those things. A bit sad they make it seem like all other laser cutters are that deficient. :(
Any newbies to this channel must be thinking, damn who are these people such high-quality videos, no sponsors no intro, only 10 videos and still 500k subs lol
I got an enroll ad for this exact cutter. Sometimes the algorithm is so on the nose it's redundant. But hey, it wasn't for scented soap or audible yet again.
Click on the ellipsis at the top of the print layout and you can use the “Set Focus” for auto height adjustment. And come explore the gf forums. You’ll fit right in!!
I have to wonder why a laser cutter doesn't qualify for the main channel. I guess I don't care which channel is the cooler channel as long as cool content like this keeps showing up :)
Just because the power rating is marginally better doesn't mean it might not perform significantly better. I worked at a company that had a 3 kilowatt and a 4 kilowatt laser, and for some reason the 3 kilowatt was the only one that could cut through 3/4 inch steel.
@@Cinkodacs yep. In this particular case though... what's the unit worth? 5k? 6? Then in 6 months the company goes bust or decides they no longer support it... screw that.
Glad to find this comment. Got to that part of the video and immediately went nope, belongs in the trash, completely uninterested. What's the point in hardware if you can't actually use it how you want?
@@Jimmeh_B The unit is not worth 5k. It's a ~$300 K40 laser cutter with far worse mechanics(who mounts the fucking tube on the Y axis!?) and a prettier molded case.
