Glowforge has worked hard to make this experience feel like what you get with a printer, in that you send a file to print and it simply happens. But after using the Aura for a while I kind of get it. Laser engravers are by design a form of reductive manufacturing, where printers historically describe a form of additive manufacturing. I'm not really a fan of using the word "print" to describe what you do with a Glowforge. You can engrave chocolate on a Glowforge Aura. The end result was still perfectly usable after it was wiped down, but it revealed a performance issue on the edges that's fairly common with less expensive laser platforms. This was especially evident with the included iron-on vinyl, which showed a noticeably darker and less efficient cut on the outer edges.
As the laser printer moved to the outer edges of its designated space to complete a task, quality became inconsistent. While other laser platforms in this price range struggle to offer user-friendly software, Glowforge has made it absurdly easy to encourage friends and family to participate by pushing the button and watching along safely.Īll of the Glowforge-provided Proofgrade materials worked exactly as expected, as long as what I was printing or engraving was near the center of the safety plate. You drop in the material you want, drag and drop the design you want in the software, and when the single big friendly button on the laser printer lights up, you're ready to stare safely into the light as it does its thing.
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Various materials sold by Glowforge labeled Proofgrade come with a big QR code on the front to quickly deliver specific settings instructions to the Glowforge software. Glowforge refers to the Aura as a "craft laser," and you can see that in much of the company's marketing materials, Glowforge leans heavily on things like thin acrylic, wood, paper, and even iron-on vinyl as materials it expects users to be playing with the most. But if outdoor extraction isn't an option, this really is an effective solution. This filter is a $400 add-on to the Aura, and the actual filter part is a separate $150 expense you'll need to deal with every four months if you're actively using the add-on. After nearly five hours of engraving and cutting wood, I was left with a faint campfire smell when I opened the lid, and not much more. I've been using the Aura with its filtration system in my home office for weeks, and while using it is much louder than the Glowforge on its own, the effect is remarkable.
You really could have this sitting in a home office or a living room not only would it be safe, it would look nice too.Ī simple fan built in to the Aura pushes any smoke or smells through an included flexible exhaust pipe, which you can either stick out a window or connect to the Glowforge Filter built specifically for the Aura. If you lift the lid while a job is in progress, it stops immediately, and there are multiple options for getting rid of any odors or smoke created by using the Aura. But this machine is a 20.5-inch by 22-inch box that can easily sit on most counters or tables and has eye-protecting material built in to the design. To be clear, I've used plenty of other laser engraving tools before, but they've usually been either too large or have required safety equipment that's made them less than ideal for home environments. Taking this laser printer out of the box immediately answered a lot of my questions about having a laser designed for cutting, scoring and engraving in my home.
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