Background: The Glowforge is our Laser Cutter/Engraver that was added to the space around Christmas 2017. It was a crowd-sourced product that raised $27M in 30 days. We jumped in at the initial offering but it took years longer than was promised to receive the product. It remains a very interesting tool to have at our makerspace and also a very good case study in marketing/branding/venture capping.
Here's the video that was instrumental in raising all that cash.
Here's a very good analysis of the viral marketing tools by Kickoff Labs that Glowforge used.
You must take the Glowforge class before you can use our Glowforge. The Calendar of classes is here:
There is a Glowforge Community knowledgebase/forum. In Tips & Tricks, you will find a very good introduction to Laser Design Basics. It has a very good description of the difference between vector and raster image files. The Glowforge uses Vector Images to tell the laser to cut, score, or engrave. Raster Images are always engraved. You will need to understand these differences.
From wikipedia: A living hinge is a thin flexible hinge (flexure bearing) made from the same material as the two rigid pieces it connects, rather than cloth, leather, or some other flexible substance. It is typically thinned or cut to allow the rigid pieces to bend along the line of the hinge. The minimal friction and very little wear in such a hinge makes it useful in the design of microelectromechanical systems, and the low cost and ease of manufacturing makes them quite common in disposable packaging.
The Glowforge is great at making living hinges.
ReidB has a plugin to add to Inkscape in order to create your living hinges.