On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:43:17 -0800, charlieb
wrote:

Snip

Wonder how woodturners with a tendency for exploring will be using
lasers in the next few years - when Ginkos and Copy Centers make them
available to those that lack "deep pockets"?

Funny you should mention this- I've been considering getting a laser
for just this purpose. So that those who haven't looked at this have
a bit of an idea, an Epilog 45 watt laser with a rotary attachment
(which would allow a guy to etch the outside of a turned piece) is
about $17,000 new.

Granted, this is expensive, and I agree that etching family portraits
and the like does not sound like much fun, but going off the car I
bought new a few years ago (at a high interest rate, lucky me) a guy
would have to earn about $400 a month for the tool to pay for itself.
It'd be awesome to do that with laser engraved bowls or something, but
I think the most realistic prospect is to etch family portraits on
some relatively inexpensive wood like pine or balsa, and try to sell 5
or 6 of them a month to make the payment.

Looking at it this way, I figure that, if I actually get one (which is
certainly not a decided thing yet) it'll be a matter of taking on a
fairly easy part-time job in exchange for having a really cool toy to
play with on my own projects. Hell, if I could impoverish myself for
a reliable vehicle that is no kind of sensible investment at all, I
figure something like this is a much wiser move.

As far as using the thing goes, it would seem to be simplicity itself-
the unit hooks to a PC with a networking cable, and works like a
regular printer. It needs Corel or CAD to cut parts from wood, but
will evidently engrave from any program that can make use of a
printer, so as far as I can see, the sky is pretty much the limit.
With a handful of good filters, a guy can make just about any image in
photoshop in an hour or two.