Hardware, software & tools
All hail the Sculpfun C! – my first (and currently only) laser. Small but mighty! I love this little beast. It’s easy to use and portable. I have a Mac and have found that Lightburn is well worth the investment – and if you want to try it out there’s a generous fully-featured free trial.
(I also use Photoshop/Illustrator)
Extraction enclosure & cleanup
I made my extraction enclosure out of plywood. Having something to extract the dusty smelly workspace crud is important – slate dust is gnarly! I used orange acrylic as a viewing window to counter the blue light of the diode laser. I always wear safety glasses but this is a nice extra precaution.
Orange acrylic sheet (to make a viewing window)
Project supplies
Products I’ve bought to help me bring projects to life. I like engraving on glass and ceramic tiles, and for these you need to do a bit of prep. I’ve just started dabbling with Mica powder to make the engravings more fancy. I swear by polyvine wax finish varnish for decorative (non-food) wood projects.