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Hey all,
I quite like scratch building terrain and out of curiosity started to look a the prices of laser cutter/engravers. I was surprised that even the cheaper end were still in the hundreds. I wonder if I'm looking at things that are I little overkill for what I need. I think thick cardboard (2mm) would be the densest thing I would be looking to cut.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Cheers ?

Well, it's a great investment, you could cut a lot of things. But to be honest 3d printer would be better investmet

Yeah, a laser cutter is a bit overkill unless you absolutely require that level of precision and the ability to do engraving and cutting at the same time or feel like you're going to step up to thicker/denser materials over time. Laser cutting certainly has its place, but definitely make sure you think about it long and hard beforehand.

Maybe look into a Cricut or Silhouette if your use case is primarily cardboard. Smaller, cheaper and much easier to use, also less lasery

I had a laser cutter, it is a lot of fun but it really is expensive. I had opportunity to buy used machine cheaply, the laser was too burned out to cut whatever the previous owner was cutting, but for me its power was still more than enough. I made a lots of things with it:


Stairs, base and railings:

or huge block of flats, few sets of objectives for Warhammer and many other things.
It was a big CO2 laser that required water cooling and fumes exhaust. I had to sell it when my children grew up and I needed a place for their room. Nowadays you can buy cheap LED lasers, for example on Aliexpress. They usually can cut cardboard in few passes but I don't know if as thick as 2mm. If you want to buy it be sure the engraver software can process vector graphics for precise dimensions.

Unless you want to make something very big I would recommend a 3D printer which is easier to use - FDM for terrain or resin for more detailed models. FDM printer can be used on your desk, it doesn't emit any smell or fumes, just some sound. Fro resin printer you need a place with ventilation that can get dirty like basement or garage. There were also 3D printers with optional laser cutter module (like very old DaVinci Pro 3 in 1), but I don't know if any modern printer still has this option.