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so we review a ton of lasers here on
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this channel
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but with all of those lasers i always
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get questions about
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one and that is the glowforge so in this
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video we are going to check it out
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hey welcome back to the shop my name is
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brandon where we make things
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and break things because we know the
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mistakes are part of
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the process and sometimes those mistakes
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aren't something that you
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build but a purchase that you make and
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then you
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regret and we also do a lot of product
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reviews here as well
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and over the last year there have been a
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lot of lasers that i've had a chance to
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check
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out there's actually a playlist right up
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there of my other laser reviews
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and if you've seen any of my reviews
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more than likely you've seen
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the glow forge and that's not because
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that i've done a review of it but
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because you've probably seen an
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ad for it but i finally got the chance
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to check one of these out
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myself and full disclosure glowforge was
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nice enough to send this over
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for my review but they're not seeing
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this video beforehand and all of these
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opinions
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are my own now we're gonna get into all
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the tech specs all of the details and do
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some test cuts
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here in a minute and we'll even compare
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it to other lasers that i've had a
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chance to check out in the past like the
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full spectrum muse especially as well as
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some of the cheaper units from
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ohm tech but as i thought more about
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glowforge and used it more
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it's a little bit hard to compare it to
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those other machines in a straight like
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pound for pounds stat for stat which
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one's going to win
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foxy mayforward so glowforge i'm gonna
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talk about this a little bit differently
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and that is through the lens of a bigger
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ecosystem where the laser is just
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one element of it in fact there's five
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different elements that we're going to
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talk about
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when we talk about glow forge so first
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up is going to be the laser
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second is going to be the software that
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you use to run it third is going to be
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the materials that you can put inside to
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actually make stuff with it
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and then fourth will be the actual
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designs and then
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fifth will be the community that
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surrounds the whole thing
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so first off let's talk about the laser
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and let's be honest that's the most fun
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right this is the glow forge pro which
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is at the top end of the three machines
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that they provide
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you can see a quick chart right here on
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the differences between the machines and
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you can see
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really what you're getting when you
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spend more money is a faster machine
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and in this case a more powerful machine
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so you jump up from a 40 watt unit
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to a 45 watt unit and one big feature
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that the pro has
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is actually a pass-through slot there's
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actually a hole right here that you can
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pass materials both through the front
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and the back that you don't get with the
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other
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machines now at the time of this
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recording the basic unit is two thousand
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nine hundred and ninety five dollars the
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plus is three thousand nine hundred and
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ninety five dollars
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and then the pro does a big step up to
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five thousand nine hundred and ninety
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five
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dollars now in terms of size and the
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sheen itself is
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38 by 20 and three quarters by eight and
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a quarter
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inches but then the actual work area is
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20 inches in the x and then 18 inches
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in the y again if you have the pro that
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passer actually gives you kind of
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unlimited
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in the y direction but for the other two
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units it's going to be 18. and then the
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max material height is going to be 2
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inches and then the laser itself is a
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co2 laser
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and it is 45 watts on the pro or 40 on
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the
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basic or the plus and the design of it
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is actually pretty cool because you can
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actually see the laser right here in the
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back you can see the coils
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right over there so when this is
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actually firing it's pretty fun to
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actually watch the laser do it to work
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now one cool thing about the glow forge
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is the entire laser path
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is actually sealed and if you aren't
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super familiar with co2 lasers basically
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this big tube makes a laser
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and then they use a series of mirrors to
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bounce it around and then it comes down
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this guy right here and it gets focused
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to a lens and actually makes your laser
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beam
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usually that path of the laser is
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bouncing around is actually out in the
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open for most lasers that i've seen
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which works fine but over time you get
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dust and debris especially on those
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mirrors that you're gonna have to clean
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or replace
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having that entire path sealed is
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actually really really nice and because
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of that
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you don't have to do any type of
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aligning to the optics or anything crazy
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like that
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that you would especially with the
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import style units like from omtec
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or some of the cheaper ones a lot of
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times you kind of have to tinker with
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the mirrors a little bit
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so you can actually get it optimized but
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all of that is done
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for you and that really brings me to one
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thing we're going to keep coming back to
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is just how easy the glow forge is to
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use
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you don't have to tinker with it you
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don't have to fiddle with it i mean you
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really just open up the box
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put it wherever you want it turn it on
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and you're pretty much good to go
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now glowforge first started as a
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kickstarter which was super popular and
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at the time that was actually the first
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time i ever saw
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a camera that was on a laser that
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probably were cameras on other
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machines i just hadn't seen it
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especially in a unit that is designed
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for a desktop and there's actually two
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different cameras on this machine one is
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actually right here
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in the lid this is a wide angle and so
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when you shut this lid it takes a
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picture of the entire work bed which
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then
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get pulled into the software and we'll
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talk all about how that works here
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in a second but then there's actually a
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second camera and that's actually inside
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of the laser
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module head whatever you want to call it
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and that is used for focusing so this
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actually auto focuses
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to your material and again if you're
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looking at lasers for the first time you
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don't have a lot of experience with them
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focus is a really big deal in my bigger
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50 watt unit
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it's actually something that i have to
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do manually either on the actual laser
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or the bed is adjustable just like if we
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were outside with the sun and a
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magnifying glass there's gonna be a
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certain point where that little dot in
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the ground
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gets the tiniest which also means it's
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the most intense that's the exact same
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thing that that lens is doing
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inside of that laser head but then you
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wanna get it focused at the exact right
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spot and that's going to change
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depending on the thickness of the
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material
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as well as the depth of cut so there's a
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camera inside of right here
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that is going to auto sense how far it
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is above material and then it's going to
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make whatever adjustments it needs to
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to the lens now one thing the full
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spectrum muse does on the top
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end is it actually focuses while it's
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running so especially if you're doing
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like an engrave on a piece of material
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that isn't the same thickness
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it's actually going to adjust the laser
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head as it goes but one thing i do know
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it does is between cuts
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it will actually readjust because if
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you're taking multiple passes to cut
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through a piece of material you're
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actually cutting a little bit deeper
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each time you go
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so the lens is going to get a little bit
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further down so still cutting at the
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right spot so there's actually a lot of
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magic that's happening right inside of
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there now you still can do manual focus
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and that is just right inside of the
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software there's a little setting
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that you can adjust it
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[Music]
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now one feature that you don't get
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especially with the really cheap co2
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lasers like the 40 watt from ohm tech is
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air assist there's basically a stream of
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air that is constantly going to wherever
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the laser is cutting
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because you're going to get flare-ups
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you're going to get flames and it's
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always putting
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those out now other desktop units will
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actually house this in a separate
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compressor so you'll have something
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that's kind of next to the machine
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that's constantly putting that out but
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glowforge not only has air assist but
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it's actually
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all internal and again that's another
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feature you probably wouldn't even
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realize it's happening because you can't
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really see what's going
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on right here but at the end of the day
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nothing is catching on fire then another
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safety feature that you're gonna have
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with any co2 laser
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is a way to actually cool the laser tube
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so as this thing is firing it's gonna
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get hot
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it's a glass tube so it eventually it
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would crack so this actual coil
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right here is water and so there's water
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that's going around the actual laser
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tube and that's what keeps it cool now
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for cheaper machines just like with a
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compressor you're going to have some
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type of separate
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water reservoir that you're going to
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have to keep filled up with distilled
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water and then you're gonna have to pump
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it through the machine
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and my actually very first one it was
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literally an aquarium pump that was
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inside of just like a plastic box that
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you just run hoses out the back so you
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have this like super loud annoying air
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compressor as well as the water
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reservoir
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that will be in addition to the actual
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machine itself but with the glowforge
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that it's all internal as well and
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because that is closed loop you really
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have to worry about the water getting
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contaminated
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now they actually do a really good job
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with internal lighting actually in fact
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you've got these two led strips which do
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a really good job of
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lighting up the machine especially once
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you have this lid
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closed because those are going directly
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down into the workbench
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[Music]
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now on the mechanical side of things
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this laser head is going to have to move
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in the x direction as well as the y and
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they're using a combination of linear
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rails
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v wheels and belt which is pretty
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standard for pretty much any co2
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machine what's a little bit unique is
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their linear rails are custom at least
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i'm pretty sure they're custom i've
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never seen anything
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quite like what they've got you actually
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see this is the one
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on the front this is part of this entire
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housing that then
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runs along the side rails now it also
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comes with a honeycomb bed which is
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great especially if you're making a lot
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of debris
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and that's going to drop down and not
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clutter up what you're working on or get
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clogged
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up and then you're able to get that out
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the bottom it's not like super removable
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which other machines have
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so that would be nice if you could kind
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of take it out a little bit easier but
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you definitely can if you need to
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now one other thing you have to think
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about especially when the laser is
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running
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is what is gonna happen with the exhaust
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a lot of times that is just a simple
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hose that has vented out a window
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i have that with several machines right
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now which you totally can do with the
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glowforge has got a port right in the
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back but they also sell the glow forged
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air filter which i do have with this
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unit that is nice because you can pump
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it directly into it and uses a
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combination of activated carbon as well
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as a hepa filter
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to pretty much get rid of all the fumes
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and what that really means is you can
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run the glowforge
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inside without ventilation which is
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pretty wild
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a lot of times you'll see glow forges
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and like craft rooms
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where it's not going out a window and
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it's going directly into that hepa
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filter
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and you're good to go now that does have
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consumables and you'll eventually have
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to replace that
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but that is actually really really nice
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now that is separate
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in addition to the pro and it's like
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nearly a thousand
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dollars so it may not be worth it for
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you but it was something i got to check
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out
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with this unit and last on the laser
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side of things
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is the warranty so you're gonna get six
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months on the basic
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and the plus and they're going to 12
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months on the pro
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just overall on the construction it
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definitely feels like a high-end machine
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you got glass on top
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you've got powder-coated i think metal
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for the actual body construction
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and all the wires and electronics are
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tucked away everything is really really
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clean
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again coming back to you this is really
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easy and really approachable
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for someone to use now you might be
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looking at it and wondering like where
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are the controls for
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the unit because there's actually only
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one and that is this button
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right here which brings us to part two
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of the ecosystem
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the software
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the software brings us to probably the
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biggest con that you hear a lot of
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people talk about and that's
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the fact this is all web-based so you
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control the complete machine
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from a web browser which means the
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machine is actually connected to wi-fi
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and then you're just talking to it
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through the router now that is actually
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one advantage that the full spectrum use
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has over the glow forge because it's
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also web-based
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but you can also run it offline and just
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connect the computer directly to the
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machine
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there's literally not an ethernet port
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usb port any of those
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to connect this thing up you're going to
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connect it straight to the internet
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but since the software is all web-based
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it actually gives you a lot of benefits
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first is just from how accessible this
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is from pretty much any computer that
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you have whether this mac or pc
00:10:53
or whatever other ones are out there you
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pretty much just open up a web browser
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type in
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app.googleforge.com log in set up your
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machine
00:11:00
and you're good to go pretty much
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anytime you close this door it's going
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to take a picture of whatever is in your
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work bed
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so it's actually going to pull up not a
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live feed but a
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like most recent picture that then you
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can do your design and move it around
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for the materials that you're going to
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be cutting then you'll create or import
00:11:16
your design
00:11:17
position it on the material however you
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want and then you actually send it to
00:11:20
the machine and then once everything is
00:11:22
processed in terms of feeds and speeds
00:11:24
and figuring out what it needs to do
00:11:26
this button changes colors you press it
00:11:29
and it starts
00:11:30
working now it might be a safety thing
00:11:32
but you can't like start the laser
00:11:34
remotely you actually can with a full
00:11:35
spectrum muse
00:11:36
but this one you actually have to
00:11:38
physically press a button
00:11:40
for it to start now we won't get super
00:11:42
deep into the software but you pretty
00:11:44
much have all your standard stuff you
00:11:45
can import jpegs or pngs to do like
00:11:48
rasterized stuff if you want to do like
00:11:49
a picture
00:11:50
um or you can bring in vector artwork if
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you actually want to cut stuff
00:11:53
out there's a couple cool features that
00:11:54
are built in like a puzzle maker so you
00:11:56
can bring in an image
00:11:57
you want to make it a puzzle and it'll
00:11:58
auto generate that for you so you don't
00:12:00
have to do that some other piece of
00:12:01
software
00:12:02
but one really cool piece about this is
00:12:04
when it comes to doing something that is
00:12:05
really
00:12:06
big is as you push this through and you
00:12:08
position it for the next time it's going
00:12:09
to
00:12:10
carve it's going to take that picture
00:12:12
figure out whatever the design needs to
00:12:13
do and then auto adjust it
00:12:15
so it's doing like machine learning
00:12:16
crazy algorithm science
00:12:18
stuff and that's the stuff you just
00:12:20
can't do in other software
00:12:22
and then the software gets updated on a
00:12:24
pretty constant clip they actually just
00:12:25
did some things to make the designs
00:12:27
easier to see
00:12:28
and they actually added in some settings
00:12:29
recently for doing cardboard now because
00:12:31
the software is getting updated
00:12:33
constantly
00:12:34
that means there's people that are also
00:12:35
working on it and they're also getting
00:12:37
paid for it
00:12:38
and they're getting that through an
00:12:39
actual paid version of
00:12:41
the glowforge software so there's a free
00:12:43
version and then there's also
00:12:45
a paid and i know that can be pretty
00:12:47
controversial for a lot of
00:12:49
folks but what i found especially if
00:12:50
you're able to do a lot of your artwork
00:12:52
outside of their software so whether
00:12:54
you're really good with like adobe
00:12:56
illustrator
00:12:56
or even some of the free vector editing
00:12:58
stuff you can still import it in
00:12:59
directly
00:13:00
use it and you're just fine now in the
00:13:02
premium version of the software they
00:13:03
will do some things kind of with the
00:13:05
machine it'll actually speed up the
00:13:06
processing time
00:13:07
so basically how long it takes to
00:13:08
generate all the tool paths and then
00:13:09
send it to the machine
00:13:11
so that is one advantage you get as well
00:13:13
as access to some pretty cool designs of
00:13:15
different projects that you can carve
00:13:16
out
00:13:17
and then you can also bring in some
00:13:18
custom fonts as well as some custom
00:13:20
designs that are directly
00:13:21
inside of the app
00:13:26
so next up on the ecosystem you have the
00:13:27
laser you have a way to control the
00:13:29
laser but then you actually need to
00:13:30
create something that is real
00:13:31
so you've got materials and glowforge
00:13:34
provides
00:13:35
their own materials and actually i have
00:13:37
a pretty good selection of acrylics
00:13:39
to hardwoods and a bunch of different
00:13:41
things but what's
00:13:42
nice about it is how this actually
00:13:44
interacts with the software
00:13:45
so you can see there's definitely a qr
00:13:47
code that is chilling right here so when
00:13:48
you put it inside of the machine
00:13:50
once it scans the work bed it's going to
00:13:51
recognize the material that's in the
00:13:53
machine
00:13:54
and it's going to auto adjust the cut
00:13:56
settings so with lasers there's usually
00:13:57
two different settings you're going to
00:13:58
adjust depending on
00:14:00
the material that you're using and
00:14:01
that's going to be the speed that that
00:14:02
laser head is moving
00:14:03
and then the actual power of the laser
00:14:06
and a different combination of those are
00:14:07
going to give you different results
00:14:09
but what's nice is they pretty much do
00:14:11
all of that for you
00:14:12
and it all happens automatically again
00:14:13
coming back to they want to keep it
00:14:15
really really
00:14:16
easy so if you use materials that come
00:14:18
from them
00:14:19
you can just bring it in it
00:14:20
automatically detects it and then you're
00:14:22
good to go
00:14:22
now you still can do this all custom you
00:14:24
can do materials they don't provide
00:14:26
you can put in your own speed and power
00:14:28
settings but if you're going through
00:14:29
them
00:14:30
you're kind of inside of their ecosystem
00:14:32
and it all just works together really
00:14:33
really well
00:14:35
[Music]
00:14:43
so the fourth part of the ecosystem are
00:14:45
the actual design
00:14:46
so these are like the digital files
00:14:48
you're going to use to actually make
00:14:49
your stuff
00:14:50
in real life and somewhat recently
00:14:51
glowforge actually released their design
00:14:53
catalog which is a combination of their
00:14:55
own projects as well as projects from
00:14:57
the community
00:14:58
that they've kind of vetted that you can
00:15:00
actually purchase or if you're on
00:15:02
premium a lot of those are going to be
00:15:03
free for you
00:15:04
so then you can create some stuff
00:15:05
yourself some of these projects are
00:15:07
actually pretty cool you can see this is
00:15:08
a lamp and it's going to bring in a
00:15:10
bunch of different versions of it
00:15:11
because you have to cut
00:15:12
a bunch of different pieces out and then
00:15:13
it gives you also some tips on actual
00:15:15
assembly now it's also pretty cool about
00:15:17
the catalog
00:15:18
is anyone can create designs and if they
00:15:20
accept it you actually make
00:15:21
money from those designs so it's a
00:15:23
potential revenue source for you guys in
00:15:25
addition to selling things that you make
00:15:26
with the glove forge you get to sell
00:15:27
your designs
00:15:28
and then folks can use them and pay for
00:15:30
them and then if you're using the
00:15:31
material that they used for those
00:15:33
designs
00:15:34
all the work is pretty much done for you
00:15:36
you're just going to open it up put the
00:15:37
material in
00:15:38
and hit go which is just easy i also
00:15:41
want to let you guys know that this
00:15:42
video is brought to you by
00:15:44
skillshare if you guys didn't know
00:15:45
skillshare provides tons
00:15:47
of classes online and you can learn a
00:15:50
lot of
00:15:51
new skills one thing with this is you're
00:15:53
going to be creating designs if you're
00:15:54
not using the ones that go forwards
00:15:56
provide for you
00:15:57
and so whether you're going to have to
00:15:58
use vector editing software like adobe
00:16:00
illustrator
00:16:01
or maybe you have an ipad with a pencil
00:16:03
you can use a program like procreate
00:16:05
and you can actually create something
00:16:06
there and then send it to the laser and
00:16:08
then cut it out
00:16:08
skillshare has you covered they have
00:16:11
classes for
00:16:12
lots of stuff i actually recently have
00:16:14
been getting more into procreate
00:16:16
and figuring it out because i really
00:16:17
enjoy making the designs with my hand
00:16:19
but then send it to a robot to actually
00:16:21
make it real and they actually have a
00:16:22
promo going on during the summer
00:16:24
where the first thousand people that use
00:16:26
the link down in the description
00:16:28
will get a month free of skillshare so i
00:16:30
encourage you guys to jump
00:16:31
in learn some new design tools and start
00:16:34
making even
00:16:35
cooler stuff maybe with a laser
00:16:41
now the very last part of the ecosystem
00:16:44
is
00:16:45
the community there is a very active
00:16:47
community around glowforge especially
00:16:50
once it got going on kickstarter and
00:16:52
folks had pre-ordered the machine and
00:16:53
they saw the development of it which
00:16:54
actually took a while their forums have
00:16:56
been
00:16:56
super active and i've been in and out of
00:16:58
them over the years
00:17:00
especially once i got the machine but i
00:17:02
would say if any of the laser companies
00:17:04
that i've worked with the glowforge is
00:17:05
by far the most active
00:17:07
and i found over the years having a
00:17:09
strong community around a product
00:17:11
really really helps you in the long run
00:17:13
because you can get lots of cool ideas
00:17:15
people will make designs and make them
00:17:17
available free for you to download or
00:17:19
they also can help you troubleshoot
00:17:20
different things that are going on
00:17:21
especially once this thing is out of
00:17:24
warranty all right so those are the five
00:17:25
parts of the ecosystem
00:17:27
there's actually one more pretty good
00:17:29
chance that you encountered it
00:17:30
as we were going through this review and
00:17:33
that is
00:17:34
marketing actually let me know in the
00:17:35
comments if you guys saw an ad for the
00:17:36
glowforge as we were talking about
00:17:38
glowforge but more than any other laser
00:17:40
company there is a lot of marketing
00:17:42
dollars behind
00:17:43
glowforge and it's because glowforge as
00:17:45
a company is really
00:17:47
set up a good bit different than the
00:17:49
other ones that i have seen and i've
00:17:51
done
00:17:51
reviews of because they're really
00:17:53
functioning more like a tech company
00:17:55
that's going to give you a physical
00:17:56
product you can see that on the software
00:17:58
side of things where they have a monthly
00:17:59
subscription
00:18:00
as well as the constant updates but even
00:18:02
how they like refer to the machine
00:18:04
they don't get as deep into the hardcore
00:18:06
maker side of things actually you rarely
00:18:08
hear
00:18:08
cutting in their marketing it's always
00:18:10
printing meet
00:18:11
glowforge the 3d laser printer because
00:18:14
it feels like they want to make this as
00:18:15
accessible as possible and actually
00:18:18
their mission statement is a world where
00:18:19
anyone can print
00:18:20
anything and in general they kind of
00:18:22
cast just a wider net in terms
00:18:24
of the customers that are using their
00:18:26
machines as well as the folks that they
00:18:28
are marketing i especially see this show
00:18:29
up in a lot more crafting situations
00:18:32
than just straight like woodworking diy
00:18:34
type stuff which is really fun to see
00:18:36
because you get just a bigger variety of
00:18:38
projects
00:18:38
that are inside of the community so
00:18:40
another piece of their marketing
00:18:42
that also works really well is their
00:18:44
referral marketing
00:18:45
if you've seen anybody talk about glove
00:18:46
forge or post about glowforge online or
00:18:48
make these videos
00:18:50
you probably have heard them talk about
00:18:51
a discount that you can get if you use
00:18:53
their promo code and that's pretty much
00:18:54
open to anybody
00:18:55
that has one of these machines now the
00:18:57
person using the promo code will get a
00:18:58
discount and then you also will get
00:19:00
a kickback and that is totally the case
00:19:03
for me too
00:19:04
so there are links right down below if
00:19:05
you guys do decide to pick up
00:19:07
one of these machines so let's talk
00:19:09
about is the glow forge
00:19:11
worth it
00:19:19
my short answer is yes with caveats
00:19:22
first between the actual three different
00:19:24
models the pro is super nice especially
00:19:26
if you need to do the pass-through piece
00:19:28
it does have an upgraded laser tube as
00:19:29
well as the machine can run
00:19:31
faster but you would still pretty much
00:19:32
be able to get the same result but if
00:19:34
you really need to work with long pieces
00:19:36
of material
00:19:37
this guy's gonna be able to do it for
00:19:38
you but the basic and the plus are still
00:19:40
really great
00:19:41
machines and actually i'm pretty sure
00:19:43
the basic is gonna take the crown for me
00:19:45
at least right now
00:19:46
for the machine that i recommend the
00:19:48
most for people that are looking at
00:19:49
these kind of desktop style machines
00:19:51
that have a lot of bells and whistles
00:19:53
now this probably compares most directly
00:19:54
with full spectrum use and actually last
00:19:56
year their 2d version which is kind of
00:19:58
their middle of the line
00:19:59
was my top recommendation of like lasers
00:20:01
in general but that one's actually been
00:20:03
discontinued
00:20:04
so they have they're still top of the
00:20:05
end as well as their base unit but when
00:20:07
we talk about glove forge and like the
00:20:09
big ecosystem so all the other stuff
00:20:10
that comes with it that is in addition
00:20:12
to just the laser i definitely think
00:20:13
there is a huge benefit in just how
00:20:15
integrated that full system
00:20:17
is especially if you're getting material
00:20:18
straight from them you're using some of
00:20:19
their designs this thing is just really
00:20:21
easy
00:20:22
to use now if you're looking at this
00:20:24
compared to a cheap co2 laser so like a
00:20:26
40 watt co2 unit from ohm tech or one of
00:20:29
the chinese imports
00:20:30
i mean those are like four to five
00:20:32
hundred dollars versus several
00:20:34
thousand dollars and the biggest
00:20:36
difference between those two
00:20:37
is just you're gonna have to fiddle with
00:20:39
the 40 watt units a
00:20:41
lot but especially if you have a
00:20:42
business where you are selling products
00:20:44
or you're customizing things
00:20:46
then a laser can be a great addition and
00:20:49
just how easy the glow forge
00:20:51
is to use it could be a really really
00:20:53
good fit for you because you're really
00:20:54
not going to have to learn
00:20:56
a lot of new things to use a machine
00:20:58
that usually does take a lot of learning
00:21:00
and a lot of tinkering to get it to do
00:21:01
the stuff that you want it to do
00:21:02
now if you're looking at this compared
00:21:04
to like a cheap diode laser which i've
00:21:06
done a lot of reviews of those
00:21:07
especially recently those are really
00:21:09
hard to compare those machines are a
00:21:10
couple hundred bucks and that could be a
00:21:12
really good entry for you
00:21:13
if you want to get into just engraving
00:21:15
but for cutting
00:21:16
engraving the full ecosystem i think lip
00:21:19
forge is a really good option for you
00:21:23
now if you do want to see reviews of
00:21:25
those other machines like the full
00:21:26
spectrum muse
00:21:27
the omtec 40 watt unit as well as a
00:21:30
cheaper diode unit put together a quick
00:21:31
playlist for you
00:21:32
right up there and you can go through
00:21:34
also let me know what you think
00:21:35
in the comments would this be your pick
00:21:38
what do you like about it what do you
00:21:39
not like about it
00:21:40
i would love to know all right until
00:21:42
next time go make or break something in
00:21:44
your shop see you guys
