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I'm thinking of getting into laser etching/cutting, but I have absolutely zero knowledge of the field. A few questions to get me started:
What am I looking for for price range (if I want to etch/engrave wood/aluminum)?
Are etching and engraving the same thing?
Are laser etchers often laser cutters as well or are these different things entirely?
Answers to these would be appreciated; anything else I should know about this would also be nice.
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>>1072351
OP: "Ill take "HOW DO I GOOGLE" for $400 Alex..."
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Laser etcher will not be a laser cutter but a laser cutter can be a laser etcher.
If you want to do it on a hobby level and you are satisfied with cutting useless stuff like cardboard and maybe thin plywood, it's not going to be that expensive (still a few $100). If you want to actually make a business out of it, be prepared to pay top dollar for something that can cut metals, I work at a laser cutting shop and most work is on stainless with a thickness of .7mm or more, for this we use a $500k machine. It will probably be cheaper today since the machine is from 2009 but still not goin to be cheap.
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>>1072415
Well shit. What if I just limit it to engraving metal? Would it still be capable of cutting through .5cm plywood or would I still need something heavier? I was thinking of making a small business from cutting plywood/acrylic and engraving wood/metal/acrylic.
Any (lower end/cheaper) brands you know of to be reputable so I can start looking from there?
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>>1072351
>)
If you are in Austin Texas, the ATX hackerspace has two big boy laser cutters.
In Marietta GA, The marietta Makerspace has one small-boy hack laser cutter.
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Hackerspaces are a wonderful place to cut your teeth on things like laser cutters or 3d printing. That said, a bunch of them fall into two categories:
a) They charge an arm and a leg for membership
b) They charge a low monthly membership fee, but build a "no commercial use" clause into their contract; they don't mind if you use their tools to make gifts or experiment, but they don't want you spending 8-10 hours a day there and monopolizing their enormous laser cutter/plasma cutter.
If you've never tried etching or cutting, take a class in a makerspace/hackerspace and use their equipment. It'll also give you a baseline for what you'll want to look for you spend a bunch of money on your own setup.
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