3D Printer, CNC Engraver, 2500mW Laser

If it could print out an edible dinner I can see it getting a lot of use in my house. Other than that I'm not sure what I would do with it after the 'cool new toy' time was over. I also have my full share of frustration from my ordinary 2D printer. Looks like they're doing well without my contribution though.

Ah ok.  Hmmm.  I'm rusty on my wattage stuff.  How many mwatts in 1 watt?  10?  100?  1000?

I was hoping for a minimum of 25 full watts for the laser.  A milliwatt laser is probably just purely electric.  I think once you get up to even 10 watts for a laser you need the CO2 tube type.  Milliwatt lasers are what you find in DVD and BLU-RAY burners etc.

$609 bucks eh?  Hmmm.  My wife wouldn't be thrilled either, but she wouldn't divorce me over it.  If I bought a true C02 laser at even 25 watts (last I checked, the cheapest "decent" one was around 8 grand) then she'd be serving me papers I think.........at the very least they'd be lease papers to the dog house! 

2.5 watts.  Ok.  Well, that's enough to do some decent etching in wood, cast acrylic, even to etch paper and cardboard etc.  Although, at that wattage, to etch wood or cut even thin wood, it's going to take a looooong time.  lol.  But it'll do it.

To give context, with a 25 watt laser (almost the weakest commercial laser engraver you could get), you can cut out 10 one inch letters from 3mil wood or plywood in about 20 seconds.  With a 2.5 watt laser, that'd probably take 5 or 10 minutes, maybe even longer.

Still, the 2.5 watt one would be nice to have for hobby stuff! 

I'm sure I'll be making tools and fixtures! It's unfortunate I'll have to wait 6 months to get it.

It's a Kickstarter. They're raising funds to make the first batch.

By backing the first run you get a big discount off of the retail price. They've said $500 off.