Ref via Hackaday

http://jenslabs.com/2013/12/16/what-can-you-cut-with-a-300mw-diy-laser-cutt=
er/

Useful albeit low powered DIY LASER cutter.
Many "DIY" projects are of the "bolt together this commercial stuff" style.
This one utterly relies on premade components (300 mW LASER diodes are
seldom made at home) but has a good DIY component and produces a useful
device with functionality far different from that of the equipment that
it's made from.

They say:

 Since the diode (LPC-826) I have used is from a DVD burner and have an
output power of 300-400 mW, it can=92t be considered very powerful when it
comes to cutting lasers. It should not be confused with a CO2 laser which
have an output power of 50W, which is the type of laser that is normally is
used in professional laser cutters.

The materials I have tried so far are:

   - Adhesive plastic (stickers) =96 Cuts right through
   - Art Foam/EVA foam - Cuts right through
   - Wood =96 It burns the wood but does not cut. Can be used for engraving=
..
   - Paper =96 Black copy paper can easily be cut but thicker paper does no=
t
   work. White paper does not work.
   - ABS Plastic =96 The surface melts so it is possible to engrave but it
   can=92t be cut.
   - Plexiglass =96 Not a mark.
   - Plasticard =96 The thinnest sheet I tried could be cut at low speed bu=
t
   only after having been painted black.

Adhesive plastic

This is what I find by far the most useful application for this laser
cutter. So far it has been able to cut through any type and color of the
adhesive plastic that I have tried. It is quite easy to cut stencils or
stickers. I often use it for cutting custom drilling and cutting templates
for other projects. If you want to know how to use photoshop to create
stencils from pictures stencil revolution has a good
tutorial<http://www.stencilrevolution.com/tutorials/make-stencils-in-photos=
hop/>
..
Also:

http://hackaday.com/2013/05/06/dvd-laser-diode-used-to-build-a-laser-engrav=
er/

http://der-frickler.net/technik/lasergravierer    in German

HCL + H2O2 engraving / rusting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DCFzSHtQH-AU
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