After reading many of your Posts my head is exploding with questions and idea's. I know very little about Laser Engraving, here in Aust the cost of a machine is between $20-$30K. I'm looking at Epilog Mini 35 Watt 18" x 12" approx $26,500 AUD the exchange rate kills us. Any way quite a large investment for myself.
Have a look at Gcc (laserpro) machines , the Aussie price seems reasonable , a 30W spirit would be a good starting point for you
I'll do 3 months of Laser Uni as I have no Corel Draw experience.
the best way to learn is to take on jobs and work out how to do em by trial and error ..your "school fees" are well spent this way
The Area I live in is the Whitsundays (Australian Carribean - sort of). We have a large Tourist Industry, a Marine Industry and Coal Mines are about 3 hours away plus the normal local business of a town of 25,000 population.
We have beautiful small islands and one Islands in particular had 720 weddings on it last year alone...any wedding idea's.
Any idea's on what I can offer.............there is no other Laser Engraver here. The local Sign Writer ha said he could use us.
The coal mining and marine industry could keep you going , there are 100's of labeling opportunites for em , from data plates to simple tags , badges , warning signage and so on.
Wedding ideas include engraved glass goblets , marked party favours , placeholders , decorations , engraved invites , lacey cut napkins. PPl spend vast amts on what I call "tzatskes" for weddings (Small inconsequent things) to make their wedding "different" Hook up with wedding planners and hiring supply houses.
Tourist stuff is difficult , too many middle men to make decent profits if you supply retail outlets.
I'll be operating from home, am I being realistic, can I learn how to operate the machine and produce quality goods with no experience and no one in the area with another machine to learn from.
Laser engraving isnt difficult , its basically like a laser printer - if you can print it , you can cut and engrave it in most cases. What you need to learn is how materials react to the laser.
I'm not putting me life savings into it but boy it would hurt if in a years time I had a $30K toy sitting in the corner doing nothing.
I have sales and marketing experience.
Thats what you really need , make up a sample range and hawk it to kingdom come
All the Sales Reps all assure me I'll be ok.......making $$$ within the first few weeks.
Ask em to put that in writing , give yourself 3 months to practice , get a sample range and marketing plan together and then give yourself another 3 to be profitable ..IE 6 months cash flow before you see a cent of profit.
Rodney Gold, Toker Bros trophies, Cape Town , South Africa :
Roland 2300 rotary . 3 x ISEL's ..1m x 500mm CnC .
Tekcel 1200x2400 router , 900 x 600 60w Shenui laser , 1200 x 800 80w Reci tube Shenhui Laser
6 x longtai lasers 400x600 60w , 1 x longtai 20w fiber
2x Gravo manual engravers , Roland 540 large format printer/cutter. CLTT setup
1600mm hot and cold laminator , 3x Dopag resin dispensers , sandblasting setup, acid etcher
Originally Posted by Bill Cunningham
Greetings Willo and welcome to the forum... My advise (for what it's worth) is to start with Coreldraw, and get somewhat comfortable with it 'before' you buy the laser. If your just using it for learning, and it's not producing anything, I would think the educational package would do until you are ready to hook it up and start working.. The problem is, as others have said, Corel is a VERY steep learning curve. I've been using it since Ver.2 and still discover things I never knew almost every month.. You will have enough on your plate learning it (download as many projects from here as you can and see how their put together.) When you get your laser, you will be comfortable, and not have the incredible aggravation, of not being able to do what you 'think' you should be able to do on the laser, and not know if it's the machine, or how your trying to do it with Corel.. Believe me, and everyone else here, that the only one thats going to make money in the first few weeks, will be the guy selling you the laser. The laser, is the simple part. Making it do what you want can drive you nuts without a good foundation in Coreldraw. As Frank has said, everything you want to know can be found on this forum.. Go to page one and start reading. Not only will all of your questions be answered, but you will have some 'history' knowledge of the machines, software, and many, many, ideas and hints to make life easier, and more profitable. Then, and only then should you be ready to plunk down the 20-30k they want for the machine in Oz.. Before you know it, you will be a 'idea' and project contributor in no time...
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(Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience to be able to help, but I'm a great fetch and carry assistant.) 
Just a thought. 
