Hi! Thank you for all the comments! Not a one hit wonder, my email settings were wrong and I thought no one was replying to me. My error. And I wrote a long reply yesterday and the computer ate it. Trying again.
Thank you for good information. I know I need to read more, most of what I was finding on this site was people who have a machine already, not people figuring out what machine will do what they want. So it sounds like 40 watt is my minimum, 60 would be better, thank you Any suggestions for threads to read that would be more focused for what I need to learn would be excellent, I have not found any that seemed to ask what I am, which is why I started this one.
Further explanation of what I want to do: I already do things for fun and profit that involve cutting paper, fabric, and light wood. I have the tools and supplies to do it. I mentioned I am building a house, the whole walk out basement will be shop/studio space, I have never had enough room to be able to do any sort of production on my work, I have always done things like run my radial arm saw in the kitchen. I’ve always done one time projects due to space limitations. Most of the things I do could easily sell multiples of them on Etsy etc. So I’m not looking for a whole new paradigm in my life, only a way to make my design/layout/cutting systems more effective. Currently I design on my computer, get my layout how I want it, break it all into 8.5 x 11 size, print it on many sheets of paper, tape them together, cut out the patterns, sometimes transfer it to stencil material, cut my stencils, transfer it to my materials, cut out the materials. All that cutting takes a long time, gets done many times, and my hands HURT. So a laser cutter isn’t “how I would make money” it’s one more tool to add to my collection to make what I do easier, to reduce my exacto, scissors, dremel, and scroll saw time. Open gantry is needed because my cuts are generally not small, I can move the sections around, but a boxed cutter that has a 7 x 10 space just gets me back to the same issue I have with my printer doing 8.5 x 11 paper. Makes me crazy, I don’t work that small. I’m used to using good safety equipment, not worried about that.
So, let me rework my question to y’all: Given these specs (open gantry, need to cut paper, fabric, and light wood) what would you consider my best machine? Not interested at all in engraving, just cutting. Cutting does not have to be fast, I can work with slow if I need to. I’ll see what I can come up with money-wise. Building the house is taking all my current cash flow, and without work space or time, extra cash won’t be coming in for a while. I have a part of the house detailing (still don’t have a word for it, 3D painted latticework?) that would be an excellent project to learn laser cutting on, which is why I’m trying to find a cutter now, when the money is tight.
It was mentioned to find a company to do my laser work for me, I’m in the boondocks, as far as I know, no companies around here, no idea how to find out if anyone around me has one. And my cutting isn’t big batch stuff, it’s lots of small weird projects. It wouldn’t help a lot to not learn as I do things, I like to learn, it makes more interesting projects happen next time. The laser I have met that I fell in love with is 1000 miles away, but just watching what he was doing with it (not anything I’d do, his projects are nothing like mine) my head exploded with cool ideas for how to use it to do my work. He doesn’t have time or inclination to mess with my stuff, and shipping it to him would be expensive. I keep trying to talk him out of his cutter, he refuses to ship it to me. Crud!
Thank you for all the feedback, I am listening (and making notes) I apologize for not replying in a timely manner.
I curtsy nicely at you all
Pearl