Originally Posted by
kbraat
I'll agree with the CO2 laser not being able to engrave aluminum directly. Anodized aluminum works very well, or you have to apply a special paste or spray called Cermark to 'etch' the metal.
I would go with a dedicated machine. Don't forget the software aspect either. I use Aspire for many designs that I can then cut on the SB or scale down and import the same drawing from Aspire into CorelDRAW for the laser.
For example, a 12" dinosaur skeleton sits on my desk. A 4' tall sits in my front yard. Laser does the smaller ones much faster, but could not cut the thicker material for the larger one. I have also used the laser to add a logo or more details to a project created with the SB.