I got into this as a lark after seeing a “I bought the cheapest laser on Amazon” youtube. I was the software engineer on a massive CO2 laser paint stripper for Navy helicopter rotor blades almost 30 years ago. The laser was the size of 2 upright pianos; the vacuum system was the size of 2 full size ‘church vans’ stacked on top of each other. The laser could fire at 200 hz, 2 mega watts for 2 microseconds, and we focused the 4” round laser down to a cm sq. It sounded like a pistol when the laser hit the paint: the paint exploded to vapor. The mechanical held and rotated the blade while the optical head moved in X and Y. So, having such a tiny one of my own is fun! I could not get the first one I bought to work with my Mac, and now I have a NEJE 3Max and it is working with LightBurn. So far I am building all the parts around the laser machine: stiffener board with removable sacrificial board laser marked with grid; mesh for when cutting that fits where the sacrificial board sits; vacuum box for under mesh; I just finished electrical and pressurized air routing. I am in the middle of making adjustable tall legs so I can put tall objects under the laser, and next is the cover box with fans. Air, vacuum, and fans electronically controlled in gcode. Fun so far!