The Ryan's Steakhouse Incident. Stumbled across it over a decade ago and still the memory of it makes me laugh.
I expect to see updates over in the laser cutter community!
It is obviously unique to each person's use case but I have heard lots of anecdotal conversation around people getting membership to makerspaces to get access to CNC machines and end up spending the bulk of their time on the laser cutters.
I am a hobby woodworker so I think a CNC would be cool, but spend more time wishing I had a bigger laser cutter than wanting a CNC.
I think it would probably be worth looking into an 80w-100w lasers with larger cutting beds for you. There is a huge community around the Chinese Red/black style laser cutters that are a steps above the k40 but still significantly cheaper than other commercial/consumer models.
That will likely be what I upgrade to next.
I have not tried cutting pcbs with a laser cutter but I am sure someone has so the results are out there somewhere.
I stick to mainly 3mm Baltic Birch plywood and acrylic for cutting. I have done up to 6mm. There are lots of things it can cut/etch you just have to be careful understanding what should/should not be cut. For example, vinyl can be cut but should not because it releases caustic gases that damage the machine and your lungs.
For engraving there really isn't a thickness limit, more just what fits inside the machine. I have engraved hardwoods, plywood,cork,slate, painted tiles,
As a CO2 laser it cannot cut metal. It can cut clear acrylic and etch glass.
I ended up going down a rabbit hole which ultimately led me to K40 laser cutters, which I ended up buying and starting a whole new hobby!
The Lemmy boost version is already in development and you can sign up for it already on the app store!
Super excited for Boost!
I'm not sure they offer the free service anymore but I think I paid $80 for a year or something with their basic plan running through discord. I have had a lot of fun with it.
Made some banners for a woodworking community that came out pretty fun too https://lemm.ee/post/449896
Two banners to commemorate the guy that asked how to not poop for 3 days
A classic