first laser on a budget

[Trains1213_YT]

thinking bout getting this and building my own box around it and the using the fan shown bellow for it. Wondering if you guys have and things around the same price that might be better.

laser 3.5w

frame expansion kit

fan

 

[Verris]

You're going to have a hard time cutting foam with that laser, you can probably cut the black foamboard if you can find it, but not the white. Take a look at the mpcnc thread in the 3d printing forum here for a lot of discussions about the alternatives. (Needle cutter, Spindles)

I built the mpcnc and initially started with a needle cutter, It works well. I've recently replaced it with a tiny bit for a spindle and am having even better success. Ive also got a 2.5w laser that I can swap on to it in a few seconds, which is super useful for things like poster board and thin plywood.