The most expensive way to get cheap photoetch

[Lownslow]

Decided to make a business decision for 2025 and got a fiber laser as a 3 kings gift to myself. I plan on making business cards and coasters as a business and on the free time make some model car parts. I ordered my stationary materials and while im waiting on that i decided to test various model making materials. So far the ruling from testing is; it doesnt cut styrene but will score it pretty well, it will not touch anything clear, and most definitely avoid Foams and Tape. The downside is smoke and smells and it was really bad when i tested cutting tape luckily my SO was very understanding about testing. Kerf is a thing with these machines and they average about .1mm across the board so about the tip of a hobby knife, keep that in mind with sizes most of what im making is decorative so im not fazed by it. 

The upside it cuts metal, i highly recommend 20W or higher fiber laser the more powerful it is the faster you can cut metal, avoid thin gauge stainless and steel as it warps with the heat, I havent tried copper or brass. First material i successfully cut into a part was duct foil with the downside of burning tape smell and it was too flimsy so i double then triple layered till i had a useable parts but the smell was really bad. Second material i tried was an aluminum can, downside its shaped and the bed on my laser is aluminum, so i bought a cake pan and used magnets to hold the aluminum down. Downside it was dull and i believe it has a coating so it was a slight smell i temporarily fixed this by taping the duct foil to it and thats how i was able to produce the speaker deck trim piece and the dealer tag. 

Thats pretty much where i am at, i ordered thin gauge aluminum and copper and hopefully after completing some jobs to pay off the machine ill get back to making parts.  the cost of the machine was 1600$ i got it locally used with one hour of run time. The prices for these machines range from 900$ to 6000$ plus the cost of software and like 3d printers its a lot of work and wasted materials to get results.