Cheap lasers? They're cheap now.
Well some of them are.
When I got my first laser (age 14 thanks to a school physics
teacher helping me remove a HeNe tube and PSU from an old
supermarket barcode scanner.) Still cost me £60 though.
Took me 6 months at the time to save up to get it.
In those days a laser that could burn things for the average person
would have cost more than a car. I remember getting a brocure
in the mail from a company selling 30mw argon blue/green lasers
+ a basic 10k scanning system in kit form for £2000 ($4000)
I really wanted one at the time, but I was saving up for my dream car at the time.
Celica Gt-Four (which I still have to this day. Saw one on tv with the castrol graphics
and fell in love with them.)