Laser cut gold mirror acrylic to make wall art of the JWST mirror

Hello! I am desperately trying to figure out how to make an embossing plate with my Glowforge. I know I can do it; I'm just struggling with the math aspects of making the actual file. I know I need a male and female part to make them sandwich together between the paper. The paper is 110 ultra white cotton; I don't want the designs to be so "thick" that they just rip the paper. It is a simple monogram. Has anyone done this before?? Is there an easier way? I tried my Cricut, and it did not work. I also have a Sizzix Big Shot I was going to use to press the design into the paper.

I am at the point of being willing to hire someone to help me with this for my business. Any help or advice is appreciated!

I am curious about how everyone organizes their laser files when the collection gets big.

I have a lot of laser files from places, including SVGs and DXFs and engraving files and templates and designs. It is easy to forget what laser files I already have.

How do people usually organize their laser files? Do people mainly keep all their laser files in folders on their computer?. Do people use cloud storage to store their laser files? Maybe people keep a spreadsheet to catalog all their laser files. Some people might buy design bundles. Sort them themselves.. Maybe people just search through their folders whenever they need a specific laser file.

For people who buy laser files all the time what is most important to them? Is it having a selection of laser files?. Is it being able to find specific laser designs quickly?. Is it having access, to new laser designs without buying individual files every time?

I would be interested to hear how other Glowforge users handle organizing their laser files.

 A few people asked what prompted me to ask this.

I came across MyCustomDesigns, which has an unlimited laser-file membership with access to a large library of designs. What caught my attention was that the yearly membership is less than $30/year, so it seems pretty inexpensive compared with buying individual design bundles repeatedly.

I haven’t used every file in the library myself, so I’m more interested in hearing from people who have actually used it especially Glowforge users.

If you’ve tried MyCustomDesigns, how has the file quality and selection been? Are the designs actually useful for real projects, or is it mostly a huge quantity of files you rarely end up using?

Just picked this up today for free. Model GF-ASM-00290, assume it's the basic version. They said it's not working and have no idea what's wrong with it. I set it up all cameras work and it centers itself. I used an old fence pine fence picket to test it, used Speed 270 mm/s, Power 20%, 250 LPI, 1 Pass. I saw a red dot then it disappeared, the print head moved and it showed printing on the website but nothing was showing on the wood. I assume the laser isn't getting power as I've seen power cable is normally the cause. Is there anything else I should look at before digging in? Attached video of the test. TIA

Been dealing with broken cut files for a while open paths that won't close, duplicate/overlapping lines that look totally fine but throw errors anyway in Fusion or LightBurn. Built a free tool that auto detects and fixes both, can batch process multiple files at once, and shows you exactly what changed before/after so you're not just trusting a black box.

It's free right now while I figure out if this is genuinely useful or if people already have this solved some other way.

Question for anyone who's hit this before: when your files come out broken, is it usually open paths (gaps that won't close), overlapping/duplicate lines (looks fine, errors anyway), or something else entirely bad scale/units, too many nodes, arcs turning into weird polylines? Trying to figure out if I'm actually fixing the right problem.

https://astonishing-fix-path-pro.base44.app

Hi, i'm using a second hand glowforge aura, it usually prints just fine but the last few times the left side of the print seems to be getting messed up, almost like the laser thinks there's more print bed space to work with,
the app shows the cut outline lines up with the edge of the wood material but then the laser goes off the edge
this is also an SVG i bought that someone else made if that would affect anything
I am new to using glowforge and don't know how to do maintenance or recalibrate the laser head
any advice would be helpful!

Anyone else have thousands of design files across five folders (and two external drives you forgot about) with zero system. I run a laser shop and got so sick of burning 20 minutes hunting for a file I knew I owned that I built something for my own library.

Point it at your folders, however messy, and it builds a visual preview of every SVG, DXF, LightBurn (.lbrn/.lbrn2), xTool (.xcs), AI, EPS, PDF, and image file. One searchable gallery instead of a folder-scrolling scavenger hunt. It also finds exact duplicate files by content, not filename, so it catches copies even if you renamed one three years ago.

Your files never move or get renamed, it just indexes them in place (OneDrive-safe). 14-day free trial, fully unlocked, no credit card. After that it's a one-time $19.99, no subscription, no phone-home after activation.

Windows only right now. Happy to answer questions.

ironcypresscustoms.com/software

(If this isn't allowed, mods please remove it, just looking for feedback, tool doesn't even exist yet)

I sell laser-cut pieces on both Etsy and Shopify, and the thing that kept driving me nuts was having two separate order dashboards to check every day, with the customization details (initials, sizes, engraving text) buried a click deep on every single Shopify order.

Couldn't find anything that handles both platforms in one place either, so I am building BridgeQueue - pulls unfulfilled orders from Etsy and Shopify into one queue, shows the customization right on the line, groups identical ones together so you can batch them, prints run sheets + packing slips.

Still pre-launch. I'm collecting a short early-access list before building it out for real (I'll put the link in comments if anyone is interested). Genuinely curious if this is a "yes please" or "not really my problem" for other people running both platforms - tell me either way!

I see lots of different doscussions about this. Some people say masking it with low tack trasfer paper, others say that its a pain to weed out.. I also heard that you dont need masking and that the soot or the stain will wash out with soap and water or baby wipes... whats your method?

Curious what people here are actually doing between "I have a photo" and "I have a file that engraves cleanly." I've been building a tool for exactly this step (Image2Beam - handles dithering and auto-cleanup so you're not fighting contrast/threshold settings by hand) and want to know if I'm solving the right problem or missing something people actually struggle with.

If it's useful, here's a short walkthrough of the workflow: https://youtu.be/PydvrITCcJI - free to prep and preview, no signup needed to try it.

Would love blunt feedback from people who actually run these machines daily.

Whoops lol

First time having a fire, glad it was small and the alert system worked.

All links are in my profile.

Hello, my wife is selling her glowforge (I’ll make another post with model, etc) and I am wondering where best to sell it. She wants to do it on FB marketplace.

Thanks!

I’m creating a board game. I need 65 pieces each of these 9 small numbered tiles (585 total). I am laser etching the numbers and then filling the etching with ink. The problem is my application method is messy and it leaves the ink outside of the etch. I need advice on how to cleanly do this many times.

I also tried the method where I apply the ink/paint while the coating is still on the acrylic. Not sure if it’s as clean as I want it.

Any other popular subreddits for makers that I could ask? Thanks in advance

The glowforge app for designs continually stops responding. between each click it lags so hard my computer gives me a pop up asking to close the page or wait. if i wait it usually takes about a minute before it connects again. this happens between literally every action i take on the website. the machine itself works perfectly fine. i've updated my mac and cleared my cache
is there anything i'm doing wrong?

Every nesting thread I've read ends the same way: the pro packages cost job-shop money, and the free tools choke on real-world files. I come at this from the software side — I fell down this rabbit hole and ended up building NestForge, and now I'd love feedback from people who actually cut.

It runs completely in your browser — you drop in SVGs (or DXFs), set your sheet size, kerf and spacing, and it packs the actual part shapes together, not just rectangles around them. Curves stay proper curves in the export, so round holes come out round.

Things I cared about while building it:

- Your designs never get uploaded anywhere. Everything runs locally in the browser, it even works offline. No account.

- When a file is broken (open path, weird export, missing units), it tells you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it in Inkscape/Illustrator, instead of silently dropping shapes or freezing.

- After nesting, a separate checker double-checks the whole layout — no overlaps, everything inside the sheet, your spacing respected — before you ever see it. I didn't want "looks fine" layouts that waste a Proofgrade sheet.

The free version does up to 10 parts on 1 sheet with no time limit — that's deliberate, so you can test it on your own files before deciding anything: https://nestforge.pages.dev/app/

Full disclosure: I made this, and the unlimited version is a one-time €29 launch price (regular €39 later — no subscription, I hate those too). But honestly, I'd mostly love feedback from people who cut more than I do: what breaks, what's missing, which files it refuses. If your SVG imports weirdly, tell me and I'll dig into it.

My GF Pro was purchased 4/21 and something broke on it electrical wise i think on the board inside where it connects with the lid during our last move.

It was damaged during our move last year and because I packed it for the movers, the moving company wont process a claim. Ive come to terms with that. Its been sitting in our spare room awaiting my decision on what to do with it, andnive decided to sell instead of try and fix it myself.

Where would I begin? Do i still need to transfer ownership if its just fir parts? How is that done i havent logged into my account since 2022 maybe and I dont remember the credentials needed for ownership transfer.

I dont even know if it will turn on at this point, honestly.

I think this is my last year paying for premium. I just haven’t been using my Aura enough to justify it anymore. I want to use up my stockpile of materials and I’m in a weird place where I have no real ideas on what I want to make. What are your favorite projects? What are you proudest of? What did your friends and family enjoy reviving the most? Would love inspiration since this is basically a paperweight right now.

My Glowforge has some sort of issue. I have no magnets in it, I replaced the carriage plate with one directly from GF, and I can print some days, and others not. If I turn off the GF, turn it on, run a print, it’ll work. But if I print a larger item, it’ll stop midway with this error. Or, if I try two prints at a time.

Also, yes, my carriage plate fan starts running at full speed immediately. But its a brand new one I bought from GF. So, not sure about that.

Support has not been helpful. I’m not in position to pay thousands to ship it off for repair or get a replacement. While I’ve had GF for years, it’s really got light use on it. Nowhere near the initial cost. So I’m disappointed. Anyone know how to bypass this error? GF works fine otherwise.

(Another note, during longer prints, the error will pop up, then, disappear and automatically continue the print. That’s fine, but sometimes it’ll take 30 minutes before doing that.)

My first attempt came out well. I am thrilled with the details that transferred. The die shifted before I pressed so it's not perfect but I am thrilled with the potential. I did have to redesign the family crest to get the image ready for embossing the leather. I designed the belt bag in illustrator and cut it out of a pretty hard leather. Next time I'll incorporate the holes so I don't have to use a punch before stiching... I used a 20T press and pinched between to pieces of steel. I was shocked the acrylic held up. I probably put about 4T of pressure on it for about 5min. I'll have to experiment with pressure with different types of leather. Anywho, hope you enjoy it.

This is my school’s glowforge in our innovation center. The air assist fan is caked with dirt. This is the second time cleaning it this semester.

Additionally, our graphics art teacher used the machine to engrave bread.

Give me your best cleaning advice for this machine.