cnc engravers - I admit I know absolutely nothing about. One of our members has built his own recently, look for that thread.

Printer wise - have a look at the prusa mini and also at the qidi x-maker: https://www.amazon.com/QIDI-Technolo...5759228&sr=8-4

Now as for k40's.
Yeah, I spent about 12 mths researching those.
I ended up with a ridgeyard model.
It's still a bog standard k40 - BUT, the mirrors & water pump are better than most and the wiring was top notch.
If I hadn't dismantled and rebuilt it before powering up I'm pretty asure the mirrors would have been properly aligned as well.
As it was took my about 5 minutes and has stayed solid since.

If you can find one and have some extra money then you want a k40d or a k40e - basically already has all the basic upgrades you'll want to do.
They seem to only appear on chinese sites like aliexpress.
But are worth looking for.

To mine I've added air assist (blows air at part being cut) and laser marking - the laser beam is invisible, so adding a couple of low power line lasers to mark where the beam hits is a good idea.
Added better duct tubing and made a really low tech height adjustable bed.
Oh yeah and a analogue ammeter. Not essential, or necessary in any way - but cost a £5 so why not :-).
I figure I'm into it for about another £100 - cost just over £300.
But it is a proper, serious laser cutter and engraver.

Oh and you REALLY DO have uses for a 3d printer - you just haven't realised it yet :-)


As far as the inkjet printers go.
It was all down to ink. If you could get cheap, quality compatible inks - then an all-in-one was absolutely the right thing to buy.
These days even more so.
I've always liked hp printers. They use less ink and have better print quality than anyone else.
I did go through a phase of recommending and installing brother machines when the hp ink's went up to £20,000 a litre.

But now - the hp instant ink scheme, makes them the best value on the market.
Hell if you print less than 15 pages a month - they'll give you free ink. No catch. And the cost of the printers has dropped through the floor.

So there's that lol

Okay here's the cnc build thread: https://3dprintboard.com/showthread.php?41430-Mpcnc