I have received a grant for my youth-serving non-profit organization to create a high-tech, youth-focused makerspace in our community. We've never had any involvement in this type of machinery nor has anyone in our community, so I appologize to you for posting yet another 'help me purchase a machine' post.

Among other things, I have $4,000 budgeted for a laser cutter which I know is atleast 3-5x less than we'd need for an epilog or other high-quality machine. This price should include everything needed (shipping, water cooler, etc) - the budget might flex upwards $250 if required, but not much more.

That being said, I'm looking at various options from Redsail and direct from China options to Rabbit and Full spectrum Laser. Examples below



One possible difficulty is that we don't have specific needs in size or material. Of course, the bigger and more powerful the better (and thus the attractiveness of a Redsail)

I'm more concerned about ongoing maintenance and tube life - keeping the unit operations so we don't disappoint kids and interfere with programs. Ease of use is also nice.

Other items in the space will include a Shapeoko 3 XL (16"x30" (XXL? 30"x30") cnc router, 4- 3D printers (Prusa i3 mk2) & a 24"-36" vinyl cutter. Since some of the other items are near that 30" size, that would be nice, but not expected...

Your advice and recommendations are welcome.