Nobody yet has said No to a laser cutter, cause you know we have to etch bacon someplace...

But giving it a little more time, or creating a non-dues driven way to reduce the "risk" as it is.

I know having a laser cutter will get some folks to visit, maybe join and in best case become a very active member, but I just think that it would be prudent to wait until we have a few months under our belt to see what else can happen.

I love the fact the makerbot has come together this fast, and has zero impact on reoccurring funds, it shows that we can do something like that.

And if a laser were that high a priority, we have one, it has cut and burnt stuff, it just needs some smart people to get a lens, and build a 3 way axis to get it working. Anybody know anybody like that? ( I know, it is not out of the box ready, and instant gratification is king..)

Yup, the MakerBot raffle is extremely encouraging, especially since we are able to promote these kind of things nationally through the Make site. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to be able to do something similar (yes, I think we can realistically raise 30+ K for two laser cutters and give one away) in a couple months.

Building a workable 3-axis CNC is actually a very reasonable goal. If I recall the last issue of MAKE had at least one, possibly more examples of building one.

Seems like it could be done on a reasonable budget, be a great community project, and if it worked give the factory a "whiz bang" tool.

(Edit: The kits from http://buildyourcnc.com/ also seem pretty reasonable)

While I have not pulled it from the shelf, we have the one dontated that is at least a two axis. It is a little bigger than a desktop CNC kit, but between it and the laser, we just need the stepper motors and controls plus the head unit.