Coming to Glowforge Print: Printscan

Coming to Glowforge Print: Printscan™

Designs that concentrate lots of laser energy in a tiny space can lead to charring, discoloration, and material damage. That can leave you with a mess instead of the project you wanted.

To help combat this, we’re releasing Printscan. Printscan estimates if your print will experience material damage due to the concentration of laser energy. If Printscan concludes that there’s a high risk of material damage, it will give you a warning like this:

Early Access

We’ve been testing out Printscan in Glowforge Premium’s Early Access program, and now we’re ready to turn it on for everyone as part of your free Glowforge Print membership. We’ll slowly be turning Printscan on for more printers.

How it works

Printscan uses your material setting to estimate if there is a high chance of material damage. It is disabled if “Unknown Material” is chosen, and it may not always run. It is much less accurate if you are not using Proofgrade materials, or if you use manual settings.

After you press Print in the app, before you’re prompted to press the glowing button on your Glowforge, you may see a warning that highlights the areas of your print. You can choose to cancel the print and modify your design or settings, or you can start the print anyway and monitor it closely.

This feature is not a substitute for proper safety precautions. As always, follow the user manual and watch your Glowforge during prints.

Premium button

Many of you have asked how to subscribe to Glowforge premium once it’s expired, and we’ve added a button to make it easy.

Premium button

We’re talking about the latest improvements on the Community Forum.