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Gurus, Oracles and Chumps:
I'm kicking around the idea of puchasing a laser cutter / engraver.

Of course, I'd be using it mainly for wargaming and board gaming purposes, but also general fun hobby projects not related to dakka.

Fun projects I am considering include:
- Settlers of Catan pieces/hexes
- Cool TT terrain
- Axis and Allies game boards and case
- Wood inlay and other craft type projects
- Miniature storage ideas
- Game tokens
- Game Design
- Assorted doo-dads

Etc

Limited googling has some reviews but nothing from gamers. Im just a hobby type guy. Nothing commercial, but cool gifts for my buds would be something like a thunderhawk or custom terrain for their home tables or my FLGS.

Any ideas experiences brands or suggestions would be appreciated....

Thanks,
DrG

Do as much research as you can.

Depending on the size of object you want to cut, you are looking at 2-6 thousand dollars.

Thats a lot of money for a hobby project.

Go with one of the countries in your area - I have heard a lot of horror stories about the quality builds of some of the cheap lasers shipped from china.

best of luck, and let us know how it goes!!!

davethepak wrote:
Go with one of the countries in your area

Yeah, I'd second this, I know literally nothing about laser cutters but when buying big/complicated, expensive bits of gear it pays to go with someone established with good customer service and readily available spare parts.

It all seems very trendy to be laser cutting stuff but have a think about how many specialist woodworking tools you could get for the same money, if you aren't planning on doing too many multiples of things and have the space you might be better off with a scroll saw, tablesaw, router, table/belt sander and whatever other bits you fancy. They will probably end up being far more versatile than a 2d laser cutter imo.