Newbie question

[Jeff Geltz]

Folks - I apologize for asking a horribly deficient newbie question but I didn't find anything in my searches on the forum.

First off - I am blown away by the knowledge on this forum regarding laser equipment. I had no idea of the capabilities inherent in the gear in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing.

In any event, I've been doing woodworking since I could walk into my dad's woodshop as a kid. I plan to make a cutting board as a wedding gift and would love to burn it with their names and wedding date. I have some wood burning pens and tips from my dad's shop but I am not sure I have a steady enough hand to pull it off - nor do I think the result looks very professional.

My near term requirement is pretty simple and I am trying to reconcile the thousands of dollars being bantered about in these threads against the $200 laser setups available from Amazon. My hunch is that if I buy into a machine I'll want to use it for other projects which may force a re-buy downstream if I go too cheap which I'd like to avoid. I can envision using it to stamp my logo on future creations. The bottom line is that I'm trying to figure out where the investment sweet spot is for fairly straightforward burning/engraving use.

Again I beg your indulgence for asking such a basic question.

Thanks in advance.

[Gary Hair]

First - don't buy a laser from Amazon or eBay. The sellers on either site are not in the business of selling and supporting lasers, they are in the business of buying cheap crap and selling it for a profit - that's it!
Second - there a dozens of "what should I buy" threads, probably from this week alone... Search or browse and you'll find all of your questions are answered.

[Bert Kemp]

You don't sound like your sure you want to get into this. I would find a local engraver to do your cutting board. ask if it would be ok to watch him do it . Or see if there a makers shop near you that have lasers you can use.If your sure you want to buy one the invest in a decent Chinese laser, like Rabbit, Boss or Thunder, there all pretty decent machine and have good support. Thats my nickles worth.:)

[Doug Fisher]

Good intuition regarding not wanting to buy a super cheap laser and then regretting it. Bert's suggestion about finding a maker space is spot-on. Pay for a membership, learn on their machine, do your low volume work there until you are sure you want to/can justify fully jump into laser ownership.

[Bill George]

For the price of that $200 cheap laser machine, you could get several cutting boards engraved.

[Jeff Geltz]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback. I'll get this one project done locally from a shop that has a machine and then investigate my own setup downstream.