This is the most affordable laser engraver yet

Laser engraving has become far more affordable in the last few months, with the price of machines plummeting from thousands to just a few hundred.

Driven by the huge maker and Open Source communities, the capabilities of such engraving machines are taking huge steps forward.

This development is in the same vein previously seen with 3D Printers; culminating in the incredible Original PRUSA i3 MK3S.

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Compact machines like the Ortur Laser Master ($165.99 at Gearbest with an automatic $10 cashback) will enable you to engrave your designs into a huge selection of materials including cardboard, wood, plastic and many other materials.

The Ortur Laser Master takes between 5-10 minutes to assemble and is made from sturdy aluminium and acrylic. Once assembled it gives you an impressive 160 x 150mm engraving area.

Interfacing between the machine and your Windows-based computer is the popular LaserGRBL software. This application enables you to import many popular image formats ready for engraving.

Designs can be drawn in a variety of applications including Photoshop, Inkscape, CAD and output into NC, DXF, BMP, JPG, PNG image formats.

The Ortur Laser Master has been designed to work with the Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 operating systems.

As a compact engraver, the Ortur Laser Master is small and fast with an onboard 32-bit motherboard that features an STM32 chipset. This enables the fast engraving times with adjustable speeds of between 0-3,000mm/min.

To ensure absolute safety, the machine features a G-Sensor for active position protection, so if the machine detects unexpected movement the laser beam will automatically stop. On the theme of safety, there's also a laser beam guard so any halt in the beam, motion or any other factor means that the machine will automatically cut out.

Engraving isn't the only thing that this small machine can do though, as it also has the ability to cut into cardboard, non-woven fabric, thin wood chips, and some thin plastics.