So I bit the bullet and ordered a laser and some safety equipment to go with it.  I ordered the following:

• NEJE 30W (7.5w optical) laser module with power supply, mount and safety glasses
• Eagle 190nm-540nm OD6 laser goggles.
• Kidde 3-A:40-B:C fire extinguisher.
• Kidde battery operated smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarm.

I picked the laser module because it was a solid price vs performance.  I have an idea of also picking up a 0.5watt laser module to compare with.  There is a rumor that the smaller modules may be better for engraving because the laser spot is smaller and more square.  I want to see what the larger laser can do first.

The smoke detector may not be the right choice.  The rumor is that you should use a heat detector rather than a smoke detector, I guess we will find out.

Arkipita did a test of various laser glasses from ebay and found that the proper colored glasses did ok with 450 nm wavelength lasers, but they did not do as well as a certified pair of glasses.  I decided to keep the glasses that came with my laser but pony up the money for good glasses as well.  I can use the others as a backup set.

For now I'm going to hold off on the laser bed and vent system till I get a better sense of what is needed.  I suspect you can get by with a minimal bed and smoke may be a small problem or a large one.  I have several ideas but want to know how bad it is before investing heavily in equipment.

Anyway I don't know when it will all show up, but I'm nervous and exited.