I'm considering setting up a small line to make an electronic product, it will be enclosed in a box made from plastic pieces and I have the usual complement of switches with rectangular cutouts mounted on circuit boards, no very tight tolerances. The main part of the box would be a square clear extruded acrylic tube about 2" across, I believe the endpieces will be opaque acrylic or PVC sheet. I'm looking at one of these "$300" Chinese combo laser engravers/CNC, it's about a 5 watt blue laser (yes I'm taking my chances, at that price it's not a "real tool", if I weren't being "hit" for this on this forum it wouldn't feel normal!) but if I can get through a couple of months with this maybe I can go for something better. First problem is I don't see any kind of "Consumer Reports" that would compare brands and models and steer me away from the most awful of all possible mistakes in selection. But the next part I'm confused about is I'm seeing recommendations that I need to coat the clear acrylic with something opaque so the laser will cut it, is that right? Is a CO2 laser a suitable option or is that too high power? Or do I give up and just use the CNC function? Secondly I will need to put some readily readable nomenclature on the surface, if I use the engraver function what color do I expect the laser to "burn" into the acrylic compared to the plastic color? Is there any good option to use the CNC function and fill it manually? I apologize for my strengths being circuit design not this part, I'd sure like to find a nice textbook on this stuff but I asked the reference department at my local library and they waved the white flag before I even got the question out of my mouth. Thank you in advance for your help!