Make magical things at the push of a button.
Built on laser cutter & engraver technology, Glowforge uses a beam of light the width of a human hair to cut, engrave, and shape designs from a variety of materials.
Bring ideas to life with the push of a button. Engrave, etch, and cut with a 3D laser printer/cutter. This technology uses a subtractive manufacturing process, where a final design is cut from a larger block of material. The Glowforge is a machine that is able to engrave, etch, and cut onto various materials using a carbon dioxide laser.
How is Glowforge different from a 3D printer?
Glowforge uses subtractive manufacturing while traditional 3D printers use additive manufacturing. A 3D printer builds up material, like plastic filament, layer by layer. With Glowforge, you’ll put a piece of material like leather, wood, or acrylic in the machine and it carves out your product using laser light. The technical name for the category of tools that includes Glowforge is a CNC laser cutter engraver, but that's a mouthful, so we call it a 3D laser printer.
What kind of software do I need to use Glowforge?
You can use your Glowforge from your computer, tablet, and more, using Glowforge's simple, powerful, and free web interface. You’ll just need an up-to-date version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
You can design with any software that saves a PDF, including dozens choices like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Autodesk 360, and Sketchup. Glowforge can print JPG, PNG, SVG, PDF, and other file formats. To print a file, just drag-and-drop it directly on the app, and then adjust the preview to your liking.
Materials
For Cutting and Engraving:
Plywood, solid wood, leather, EVA foam sheets, tile, acrylic (plexiglass), canvas, cardboard, corian, fabric, mylar, rubber, delrin, cork, food, paper
For Engraving Only:
Ceramic tile, anodized aluminum, glass, rubber stamps, stone, titanium, marble, and electronic devices such as laptops
DO NOT USE:
PVC, Vinyl, pleather, ABS, HDPE, fiberglass, coated carbon fiber, polystyrene foam, polypropylene foam, materials that might reflect the laser such as chrome or copper
Credits:
Glowforge by window (https://glowforge.com/our-products/plus) Glowforge laser engraving metal (https://www.michaels.com/glowforge-plus/10685321.html) Additive and subtractive manufacturing (https://3dprint.com/254166/university-akron-thesis-student-3d-prints-ppf-structures-bone-regeneration-applications/)