AmyK

DAMN son! I had to do an orientation for the Glowforge but it was free. All of this being said one day when I can afford one I'm leaning toward the Dremel DigiLab. I don't want my laser to stop working one day because GF goes out of business. I know the overseas ones are just as good but I've gotten burned on an industrial sewing machine like that. Its a Juki clone and its just too much tweaking for me. For someone used to these machines I have no doubt it would be great. Wish I could sell it and I might try to.

That sucks. Mine is $25/mo no commitment

Try a local makerspace. That’s where I use(d) one in the before time... long long ago (pre-covid)

After reading all these replies I have my speed turned down to 3 or 4 and I have the ramp up time turned off to try to help with stalling out. But still playing with it for sure and I appreciate your input.

Show off, I’ll drink your beer! Lol

After reading all these replies I have my speed turned down to 3 or 4 and I have the ramp up time turned off to try to help with stalling out. But still playing with it for sure and I appreciate your input.

Nakajima- though I call it Bruce because I keep saying Nakatomi by accident. (Die Hard. Nakatomi Plaza. Bruce Willis)

Lots of interesting information guys! Thank you all so much! I've slowed it down quite a bit, and the torque drop off was helped somewhat by turning off the slow start (it wasn't helping much anyhow), but in order to get me into where I want with the speed, I'm still getting some stalling out. Sounds like the easiest thing for the non-mechanically inclined might be to replace the hand wheel. Unscrewing a couple wheels and replacing the belt seems doable. Unfortunately, my guy doesn't have any idea how to get a new hand wheel or servo motor pulley. I've got a Nakakima 341L (I'm lead to believe its a Juki 1341 clone) and a Enduro SM600-SP. Can anyone recommend a dealer who might have these parts?

I need a book called “So you just want to sew slowly and don’t understand motors or pulleys” also what’s this about occluding the light to slow it down? It was referenced in a linked thread but I’m having trouble understanding how putting a sticker on it is the solution to any problem??

Gymnast- Yes. This is what I want. I have no idea how to make it happen.

sigh. My machine guy replied to my text: “you don’t need a speed reducer with a servo motor” um. I think I’d be the one to know. Maybe not how to slow it down but that it’s too fast for me. I feel like I’m getting “now see here little lady”ed. anyone wanna buy a cylinder bed machine - Atlanta area. Not completely joking ☹️

You have to crawl under the table and enter the setup mode to change speed and startup speed. I have the overall speed and the length of time the startup speed lasts turned to the slowest possible. There is no knob. It just seems like there’s no “play” in the pedal. It’s off or it’s ON. I think I could pay the guy I bought it from to swap it out, but I don’t even know what I’m potentially buying. Or how much of an investment I’m looking at. (Thanks Wiz, I always like to hear your thoughts on things)

I’m a newbie to the industrial machine game and I’m feeling really defeated. I have a Nakajima 341L (Juki 1341 clone cylinder arm machine) with a new Enduro SM600-2P. I’m having the usual uphill battle with figuring out a new machine (I’ve owned several domestics and can sew fabric on those just fine) but I’m feeling like even adjusted all the way down (which I’ve done) I’ll never be able to keep up with this machine’s speed. I’ve read some peoples posts about welding speed reducers which is totally outside my wheel house. Do I look for one? Or a new motor? I don’t even know what I’d be shopping for. The man who sold it to me is incredibly nice and sells and services machines- he’s been out here once and didn’t even charge me, says he’s really invested in making sure it’s up and running- but I don’t know what to do. Do I keep trying? Throw some more money at this problem and buy another motor? There’s no returns it was a Craigslist purchase. I’ve got some serious buyers remorse. I want to love this but I’m mostly just cussing and stubbing my toe on it.

Used hair dye- no worries

Recipient loved it. Asked me to dye her hair the same color. It seems I have a niche.

That’s pretty much what I did. Worked the spine with some NFO clamped it bent for ten minutes- good to go. Then sanded and glued. I have it clamped between some boards and will put in the stitching holes tomorrow if the glue stuck enough to keep them together for punching. I honestly just need it not to slide, doesn’t have to stick too strong

Today I learned: I’m a f***ing genius Now just gonna have to convince it to bend now that it’s got a half gallon of dye in it! I’ve got 6 days. I will not accept defeat

It’s dried out and stiff as all hell, but I’ve got some Aussie on it so we’ll see what happens. If I need to oil it some more I will (shoulda done that first but was running out the door and just threw something on it). I’ve got a week til this friend’s birthday. I’ll definitely do some kind of contrast- because this is not a thread color so I wouldn’t have any choice! But maybe off white or blue.

I’d bought some angelus turquoise and was super excited to dye a purse. It went on super unevenly- It was either the sponge I was using or the hide because when I applied it to a different hide with a dauber it did fine.... but I spilled half the bottle so no longer had enough for the purse. So I put it on some panels I’d cut for a notebook for a friend- of course some of the dye got on that super unevenly because of the mess I’d apparently not completely cleaned up. It was a rough afternoon y’all. Anyhow. I shrugged said what the hell it’s ruined anyway let’s see what I can make happen. Tried to even it out with eco flow turquoise which is a surprisingly good match. Added some random smears of evening blue, sand dune (I think?) chartreuse maybe? I dunno. I could never replicate it. I give you my WIP code name: Swamp Thing. so? Is it a fail or a win? I can’t decide. It’s either really cool or trash. Should I make the notebook cover?

Agree- plus the laser is a multifunction tool. I might do multiples of something- in fact I'd LIKE to, but not enough qty to get a clicker and dies. I'm currently struggling with getting a sewing machine vs laser first. Laser would be easier to make money in order to afford the sewing machine, but there's a used sewing machine nearby I have my eye on. I dunno. I also need to get better at designing with the laser. I can do everything but the stitch holes, honestly, but its so hard to get them spaced correctly. Any tips? Iv'e used Inkscape and Affinity Designer the most.

I know it’s been a minute since these were posted, but are either of the sewing machines still available? I’m in Georgia so pick up is a possibility. If they are listed on eBay a link would be great. Thanks!

I almost forgot to address your question about scanning. Most people use a free program called Inkscape to prepare files. It has similar (though limited) functionality as Adobe Illustrator. There are lots of YouTube tutorials on how to use it. There are also some free and paid svg files online.

We have the biggest mama-jama one. It’s got a bigger bed and a pass through slot. I wouldn’t buy the cheapest one, it has a smaller bed and (I think) not as strong of a laser. I’d do the midrange one if I could afford one. Best of luck to you with your health. It can be a slog to get things figured out diagnosis and medication wise.

Paul, oh yeah, you’ll get some small flames from time to time. That usually means you need to adjust your settings. I’ve never had anything straight up catch fire- just flame up a bit and char. You do need to stay near it and watch for flames when it’s cutting. It’s very good for cutting out repetitive pieces. I hate cutting circles by hand so I think that would be a good use for it. Haven’t been able to use it recently because of Covid- it’s at a makerspace im a part of- and cutting some circles the other day I did miss it! I have lupus that makes my hands stiff and painful some days - I can’t use a swivel knife at all! I use a combo of a NT swivel cutter, wax modeling spoons, sometimes my Cricut. I don’t pretend to be good at carving, but with all these work around a I can usually make something happen! I prefer to burn in a design using the Glowforge, but like I said before, it’s across town and hasn’t been available recently reliability wise, ours takes a beating since it’s communal use. It’s been down a bit, but I can’t speak to how many of the breakdowns wouldn’t have happened if it was a single user machine as far as scanning, I do that with my phone, upload to Inkscape to clean up and manipulate the image, then export to Glowforge. it’s easier than you think.

I’ve used one pretty extensively on leather at my local maker space. Good: easy ui. Lots of support from other users on forums including trouble shooting and some free files. Nice sized bed (depending on model you get). Cleaning/routine maintenance is easy. Bad: we’ve had a lot of problems with ours and when it’s down it takes a long time to get back via warranty service. Could be due to so many different people using/abusing it but I’d recommend looking at the user forums. Also all the processing is done on glowforge’s servers. So you need a stable internet connection and for the company not to go out of business! feel free to ask any questions.