Cheapo Laser Cutter:

It took a while to get the drivers and software setup correctly. And I still have to reverse the images to get them to engrave correctly, but for $200 bucks, it’s a great Chinese made laser engraver. It’s not too big, and it doesn’t cut-unless you engrave it a few times. But it engraves, and it’s computer controlled, which means it’s going to woodburn and engrave wayyyyy better than I could ever do with an iron.

The benbox software works well, it’s a great interface instead of some of the other options I’ve explored. The engraving works on leather (my wallet has my name on it now! like grade school…sigh), wood and most softer materials. It may take 2-3 passes as well to finish the engraving well enough. I also would point out that the image is typically reversed, so if you want it to look correct, you have to mirror it in the software.

Other than that, it’s nifty. Would I spend it again? I’m not sure. I won the bid-so I default won it. That’s happened to me a few times, so eBay carefully…But now that I have it, I’m going to try to make use of it somehow.