How much does the Glowforge cost to run?
This is something I have pondered for a while and I am sure others have too, the Glowforge electricity cost. Especially if you are looking to form a price matrix or to just figure out how to charge. In my quest to figure out how much my Glowforge cost to run, I came across, what I am calling, a Watt Watcher! This is what it really is https://amzn.to/342HIt5 #ad
This is what it looks like and it plugs right into the wall.
Plug your Glowforge right into the outlet and start working.
There are a few different modes, but the one I found most useful is in the image shown, monitoring Kilowatt hours (which I discovered are not the amount of kilowatts used in an hour).
When your engraving / cutting / scoring is done, you can use this number and multiply it by your local electric rates.
Voila, you have your Glowforge electricity cost!
The Test
Example. The first thing I did when I got mine was to plug it in to the wall and try it out. I started cutting my Moon Shelf file, found here: Moon Shelf or here: Moon Shelf Etsy. I was shocked to see how low the number was. A further inspection told me I plugged in the wrong power cable. I was actually monitoring my router.
Tip number 1: Make sure you are actually monitoring the Glowforge.
After I learned Tip Number 1, it was time to calculate the Glowforge electricity cost. I cut the second half of the pieces needed for the Moon Shelf. The remaining pieces I needed are pictured below to give a clear idea of what the Glowforge electricity cost was for.
The remaining pieces took about 9 minutes to cut.
At the end of the cut, the ‘Watt Watcher’ (https://amzn.to/342HIt5 #ad) read 0.060 kWh.
Find your local electricity rates, mine is 22.59 cents per kWh.
Multiply the readout from your ‘watt watcher’ by the local electricity rate and you will have your Glowforge electricity cost.
For this cut, my Glowforge electricity cost was 1.355 cents.