for 1/8" acrylic, i'm guessing you would need closer to a watt, with either water cooling or a monster heat sink. by monster i mean at least 4 pounds of aluminum with a whole lot of fins. water cooling would be much easier. i also would reccommend having a compressed air jet aimed at the place where the laser hits to blow all the fumes and crud away.

Hi! how's it going? I have always felt special, but this helps. lol.

 the higher the wattage the better(up to a point!), but you have to remember that laser diodes above around 1 watt need to be actively cooled like with some copper tubing wrapped around the housing and soldered with cold water pumped through it in a loop to and from a bucket. also realize that high power laser diodes have special power requirements, like 2.8 volts 6 amps. be sure you have a good adjustable power supply for this. also, i would recommend that you have some kind of opaque shield to protect you from any and all scattered laser light, because just because you can't see it doesn't mean it can't hurt you badly. I would recommend ebay as a starting place for your endeavor. a wise man once hung a sign outside his laboratory that said "there is a big laser in here, so if you are picky about how many limbs you have, then stay out!!"

Lasermaster over and out.

LAUNCH FIGHTERS ON MY MARK!!