Latest Improvements

This is a big update.

One of our most-requested features is a “pause” button during prints. You’ve probably had it happen - you’re in the middle of a long print when the doorbell rings. Well, we heard your feedback (and we’ve been there too). We’ve just developed the ability to pause a print! Any time while a print is happening, you can press the white button to pause. To resume, just press the button again and the print will continue. We take care of all the magic so that there’s no visible interruption.

Your Glowforge has a small but powerful fan directed right where the laser contacts the material, called the Air Assist Fan. It’s under the laser arm, behind the laser head. When your laser head is sitting properly, the fan will push smoke away from the print area and give you cleaner prints.

When the head is not seated properly, however, the attached air assist fan will not be able to spin up to full speed.

You know how delightful it feels to push the button? You know how annoying it is when you think you’re print’s ready, but it’s really just autofocusing? Well, we fixed it! Previously the button will start to glow while your Glowforge is preparing for a print, calibrating, or focusing. Now, the button will only glow white when it’s ready for you to hit it to begin a print - no more false start!

You brought something new to this world! It was just an idea, and now it’s in your hands. We know how rewarding it can be to share and inspire others, and just one picture can help your friends and family discover the joy of creation. We’ve added a share button in the iOS app, so it’s a snap to post a picture of your latest project to your social network.

Sometimes you just need to a quick break in between prints, whether it’s to put together your new print or to get another cup of coffee. We’re introducing Sleep mode for those times when you’re not quite ready to turn off your Glowforge for the day yet, but need a walk away for a moment.

With Sleep mode, when your Glowforge has not been in used for a while (currently 5 minutes) and the lid is closed, it will go into a low power mode that is quieter and has reduced power usage.

We’re here to embolden new laser powers from the hopper to your hands. To help us deploy new features faster, we need to migrate some of our internal systems to a new platform. This means glowforge.com will be under maintenance for about three hours this Tuesday Oct 16, between 3AM and 6AM (PDT).

Each time you turn on your Glowforge, we use the camera to identify the important parts of your Glowforge and where they’re located. This is a multiple step process that may take a few moments. Before, you’d see “Calibrating” while this is happening. We’ve updated the machine status messaging so that it’s clearer how the process is progressing.

We’ve made some performance improvements to app.glowforge.com.

We’re introducing one of the most-requested features to help you use your own materials: the ability to save your settings. We’re also making it easier for your fingers to navigate the iOS app with a brand new workspace editing experience optimized especially for touch screens.

Files containing an even-odd fill rule will now engrave as they display in the workspace.