Buy the machine that matches what you actually want to make, not the one that sounds cooler.
Why this matters
I get asked this all the time. Someone walks into the shop, sees both my CO2 and fiber lasers running, and wants to know which one they should buy first. The answer is always the same: what are you planning to cut or engrave today, not six months from now when you might be doing something different.
The internet makes this decision worse than it needs to be. You’ll read that fiber is the future or that CO2 is dead or that you need both. That’s all noise. The truth is simpler. CO2 lasers and fiber lasers work on different wavelengths, which means they’re good at different jobs. Pick the wavelength that matches your material list.
You do not need both until you know exactly what products you’re making and selling. I ran a 40W CO2 for two years before I bought my fiber. I knew I needed it because I had metal orders I couldn’t fill. That’s the only good reason to add a second machine type.
What wavelength actually means in your shop
CO2 lasers run at 10,600 nanometers. Fiber lasers run at 1,064 nanometers. The difference matters because of how materials absorb light.
Organic materials like wood, acrylic, leather, paper, and fabric absorb the CO2 wavelength easily. You get clean cuts and deep engraves without cranking the power. Non-metals are where CO2 wins.
Metals reflect CO2 wavelength almost completely. You can mark anodized aluminum or painted steel with a CO2, but you cannot engrave bare metal in any useful way. Fiber wavelength gets absorbed by metal, so you get permanent marks on stainless, aluminum, brass, and coated metals without any messy sprays or prep.
If your project list is 90 percent wood signs and acrylic keychains, you need CO2. If you’re engraving yeti cups and dog tags, you need fiber. If you’re doing both in equal volume, then yes, you’ll eventually need both machines. But most people starting out do not have equal volume across materials.
What a 40W CO2 can do
I run a Monport 40W CO2 in my shop. It cuts 6mm birch plywood in one pass at around 10mm per second. It engraves detailed photo maps on 3mm acrylic. It marks leather coasters and cuts 3mm MDF like butter.
Here’s what that machine handles for me on a regular week:
- Custom wooden signs up to 12×8 inches
- Acrylic earrings and keychains in 3mm cast acrylic
- Leather patches and coasters in 3 to 4mm veg tan
- Plywood project boxes and small organizers
- Paper invitations and cardstock cuts
The 40W tube gives you enough power for production work, not just hobby cuts. I can run 20 acrylic keychains in a batch and move on. Speed matters when you’re filling orders.
A 40W CO2 will not cut thick hardwood in one pass. It will not touch bare metal. It will not cut 10mm acrylic without multiple passes and edge quality problems. Know the limits before you buy.
What a 30W fiber can do
My Monport 30W fiber is for metal. I engrave tumbler blanks, aluminum dog tags, stainless steel jewelry, and coated tool handles. The marking is permanent and the detail is extremely fine because the fiber spot size is smaller than CO2.
Fiber is fast on metal. I can mark a full tumbler wrap in under two minutes. The same design on a rotary with my CO2 would take longer and the quality wouldn’t be there because CO2 just doesn’t mark raw metal well.
Here’s my regular fiber work:
- Yeti-style tumbler blanks with full wraps
- Aluminum pet tags and luggage tags
- Stainless steel bracelet blanks
- Coated metal business cards
- Powder coated drinkware
Fiber does not cut wood. It will mark wood with a light burn, but it’s not a clean engrave and you lose all the detail you’d get from CO2. Some people run their fiber on wood anyway and the results look bad. Don’t do that.
Fiber also will not cut acrylic. It will mark it, but the marks are internal fractures and look cloudy. If acrylic is your main material, fiber is the wrong tool.
ROI based on what you actually sell
If you sell wooden signs, acrylic ornaments, leather goods, or anything that’s organic material, your ROI comes from a CO2 machine. You’ll be able to take on volume orders and your material cost stays low. A sheet of birch plywood is cheap. You can make 30 keychains from one sheet of acrylic that costs twelve dollars.
If you sell personalized metal drinkware, engraved tools, pet tags, or anything on bare metal, your ROI comes from a fiber. Metal blanks cost more than wood, but people pay more for them. A custom tumbler sells for 25 to 40 dollars depending on your market. Your material cost is maybe 8 dollars. The margin is there if you have the machine to mark it.
The break-even point is different for everyone, but here’s how I think about it. If I can sell 50 units of something at a margin of 15 dollars per unit, that’s 750 dollars gross profit. If that product requires a specific machine type, that machine pays for itself in volume. A Monport 40W CO2 runs around 400 to 500 dollars depending on the model. A 30W fiber is closer to 3000 dollars. You need a lot more tumbler sales to justify the fiber.
I bought my CO2 first because I was making wooden coasters and acrylic keychains. I had consistent orders and I knew the material costs. I added the fiber two years later when I started getting requests for metal that I had to turn down. That sucked, so I ran the numbers and bought the machine. Now I do both, but I didn’t start that way.
Common mistakes
- Buying fiber first because it sounds more advanced, then realizing you have no metal products to sell
- Assuming you need both machines right away when you haven’t sold 100 units of anything yet
- Buying the cheapest machine in each category without checking the work area size or whether it fits your actual product dimensions
- Thinking a 40W CO2 will cut 12mm hardwood in one clean pass (it won’t)
- Trying to engrave wood with a fiber and being disappointed with the results
- Skipping the question of what you’ll actually make and starting with “which laser is better”
What I do in my shop
I run orders on both machines, but they never overlap. Wooden signs, acrylic anything, leather coasters, all of that is CO2. Metal drinkware, dog tags, aluminum signs, that’s fiber. I don’t try to force one machine to do the other’s job.
When someone asks me which machine to buy, I ask them to list five products they want to make this month. If four of them are wood or acrylic, they need CO2. If four of them are metal, they need fiber. If it’s a mix, I tell them to pick the category that makes them more money or the one they’re more excited about. Start there, prove the concept, then add the second machine when you have orders you can’t fill.
I also tell people to check MonportSupport.com before they buy. I built that site because the stock manuals skip a lot of setup details that matter. You’ll find real alignment guides, material settings, and troubleshooting that isn’t in the box. Use discount code BMS13 when you order to support the site and save a few bucks.
Next step
Write down five products you want to make in the next 30 days. Look at the material for each one. If most of them are wood, acrylic, leather, or fabric, buy a CO2 laser. If most of them are metal, buy a fiber laser. Do not buy both until you’ve actually sold enough of one category to prove demand.