My nephew uses a 50W Laser ($1,000+, air assist, the cutting bed raises/lowers by electric motor), but a 40W Laser ($400, base price) will do the job, only slightly slower. The 40W Laser will cut MDF, Basswood, etc.
I believe there is a free program called Laser Burn? You should read up on the Chinese 40W Lasers on the Web, and search YouTube for insights into them
My nephew cut me some 54mm scale, multi-story building walls, for what appear to be stores, on the ground floor, with windows suggesting offices or apartments, on the upper floors (4-6 stories tall). these are going to be used for gaming with plastic Army Men figures.
I came up with the idea of Hot Gluing plastic drinking straw sections to the corners of walls, one higher than the other, on opposite wall sections: insert a wooden dowel down the lined up straws, to hold the wall sections together; pull out the dowels, and the wall sections come apart.
Be sure to seal the MDF with wood sealer, first. Otherwise the MDF will absorb most of the paint applied, and it will look terrible, until you apply 3-4 coats of paint! The wood sealer is water-based, and it just brushes on, drying within 30 minutes.
I do not need whole floors within my buildings, so I plan to Hot Glue 2-inch wide strips of MDF below the windows, to form a ledge to place minis along, at the windows, of the upper floors. My rules abstract battles on interior floors, so I don't need the whole floor built.
The $400 USD CO2 Lasers do not have air assist -- it can be added for additional cost. The air assist blows compressed air onto the surface being burned, to keep any flames from arising, also minimizing the black burn marks surrounding the laser burn point.
The Laser must be vented outside, to avoid poisoning yourself with toxic fumes from the burning process. NEVER burn any kind of foam! Many plastics will also give off deadly toxic gases, such as Chlorine, or Cyanide. Even if you vent them outside, these gases are still very dangerous, as the Laser Cutter is not well ventilated, and fumes may still enter the area surrounding the Laser!
Learn as much as you can, before you buy one. Make sure you will use it enough to justify the cost of the equipment, and the installation costs (outside venting…). Cheers!