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ForgeFIRM

Open firmware for Glowforge brand CNC lasers. ForgeFIRM replaces the cloud-dependent factory software on the stock control board, with no hardware modification, and gives the machine a local controller, a local web control panel, and a standard Grbl interface.

Beta

ForgeFIRM is in beta. Every release below 0.1.0 is a beta release. It's stable, but you may still hit the occasional bug, and expect there to be frequent updates Upgrade whenever a newer release is available (Updating), and report what you find (Community forum).

Hardware

The control board is common to Glowforge Basic, Plus, and Pro. The 5 MP (OV5648) camera modules are fully supported and hardware-validated. The 8 MP (OV8856) modules found in "HD" units have a complete capture path, with the kernel patches, device tree, and sensor-aware capture profile they need all in the build, but it has never run on an 8 MP machine, so treat it as untested.

What this costs

ForgeFIRM is free in both senses: free as in beer, free as in speech. All of it is public and released under MIT and GPL licenses. Read it, build it, change it, use it, pass it on.

The work happens in public, including the parts that don't work yet, which are written up with more candor than flatters anyone. No paid tier. No license key, no subscription, no activation, no Pro edition, no feature parked behind a paywall. Nothing is held back for a rainy day, mostly because there's no plan for a rainy day.

If someone offers to sell you this firmware, the licenses allow it and nobody's calling it theft. Just note that you'd be paying for something that's given away. Get it from the source. Same price everywhere, and here you get to read what you're running.

Safety

These machines contain a CO2 laser: it burns, blinds, and starts fires. Never defeat the lid switches or interlock. Never leave a running job unattended, and keep a fire extinguisher within reach.

This is experimental software. Use of this software could seriously maim or kill you or others, and may void your warranty. Use it at your own risk.

Where to go next

  • Safety: read this first. The hardware safing chain, the software gates, and the checklist before a job.
  • Installation: serial access, the A/B slot install, switching firmware, updates, recovery.
  • Usage: the control panel, the two modes, LightBurn, homing, the cameras, cooling, settings, diagnostics, troubleshooting.
  • Technical: the Glowforge machine as built, and how ForgeFIRM works with it.
  • Developers: build, release flow, acceptance, tests, the bench.
  • Community support