Help me choose a cheap laser engraver

Keith Tanner said:

It takes a serious laser to cut metal. Not hobby grade. More likely you'd cut a plate out of plastic instead. 

Could I do the acid etching with copper or brass? 

I still haven't played with it much. Made a degree wheel for setting cam timing and a few dozen test images..

It burns through paint on metal without an issue. 

I really need to rigidly mount it to a piece of plywood or something. When engraving in raster mode it moves so fast it starts shaking and blurs the image. 

Mazdax605 said:

Keith Tanner said:

It takes a serious laser to cut metal. Not hobby grade. More likely you'd cut a plate out of plastic instead. 

Could I do the acid etching with copper or brass? 

Ah, I thought you meant cut the plate. You can definitely etch copper and brass chemically after using a laser to cut the pattern. That's what Trent was planning on doing. Maybe I need to order myself some chemicals. 

If you are a beginner go through this list here of all the cheap laser engraving machines. Prices of these machines are under $500 and $1000. Choose according to your budget we listed the features, its pros and cons.

If anyone in SoCal wants to borrow my laser engraver let me know , 

it's one of the big blue box ones that  are on EBay from China , 

I got, it at the swap meet and never did anything with it...

 I am by LAX airport

Cheers

PS , I also have a few 3D printers I picked up and rolls of filament 

In reply to californiamilleghia :

That would be commonly known as a K40, probably. What I upgraded to after buying the little Ortur. I find it very useful.

Build thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/fun-with-a-k40-laser-engraver/174139/page1/

I got the Ortur Laser and played with it for about a month. Then it gathered dust hanging on the wall for 18 months  I also noticed the prices went up significantly so I blew it off and sold it for a tidy profit.

Never did any of the stuff I wanted to with it. 

I'll agree the Ortur wasn't super-useful. Maybe I'll sell mine for a profit. In my case, it ended up being the gateway drug to a much more capable machine once I realized how much I wanted to use it for but couldn't. Very much like Tom's cheap CNC mill experiment.