Which laser diode to choose for DIY laser engraver?

Question

Do it yourself

I looked in the direction of a Chinese engraver and decided that I could do the same myself from a couple of old CD drives. And the question arose, which laser diode to choose for such a craft?
Eyes run up from the abundance of combinations of different colors and capacities.
Is there a difference between infrared and vice versa, blue-violet? (not by color, of course. But if possible, use for engraving)?
What is the practical difference in the operation of 808nm and 950nm?
What about blue 450nm?
Will there be a difference in performance between 1W blue and 1W infrared?
Maybe there are some sensible resources on the topic?

Answer 1

The difference in "color" will be at least 1) different absorption by the material being processed - I can’t think of where to get information better, 2) in optics (at least you need to focus the beam - this is one lens, well, or more) - something that works well with thermal radiation will not cope up to the mark with blue. All this has already been written in the comments. But - if I made "from a couple of old CD-drives" (more precisely, I would prefer DVD), then I would take the diode from there. There is about 200 mW, plus nothing prevents using native optics. Enough for a tree.