Laser Engravers for Home Labs: Are They Worth It?

Daniel is mid-move with a rat's nest of home lab cables and a handheld engraver he loves. But should he go full laser? We test three common assumptions: that desktop laser engravers are prohibitively expensive, dangerously blinding, and stuck in a fixed gantry form factor. Turns out, entry-level diode lasers run $200-$400, safety is manageable with proper enclosures and OD6 glasses, and handheld lasers exist but aren't great for small electronics. The real hidden cost? Ventilation — because ABS plastic smoke is toxic. We walk through the actual workflow of labeling a network switch and compare it to handheld rotary engraving.