Hi all! I have a basswood slab that I want to engrave a sign onto. It is .61 inches thick so I know I have to take out the crumb tray.
I’m unsure of what speed/power to use for the engrave? I only bought one so I really don’t want to mess it up!
Thank you in advance for any advice 
i would just use the basswood hardwood settings for PG.
Once you remove the crumb tray and elevate the slab so that it is in the focus range, it doesn’t matter to the Glowforge if you are engraving a basswood slab, basswood spoon handle or basswood cutting board. It only matters that it is basswood, so start with that setting.
What is most important is that you understand how to properly focus and align your artwork on an item such as this without the crumbtray. An improper focus will result in a poor engrave.
One other thing…don’t move the slab after you engrave it. If it needs more work as long as you don’t move it you can make a second pass to make it darker or change your settings and try again.
As you are engraving on the end grain, be prepared for the grain to show up in the engraved parts. The darker areas will probably not engrave as deeply as the lighter areas so you will not have a consistent engrave.
And remember you have two sides, so if you don’t like how it came out on one side you can always flip it over.
So I raise it up into the correct area height wise, and enter the thickness of my material? And then use set focus before I place the artwork? I’ve only done one thing without the crumb tray in and it didn’t matter if I messed that one up 
You don’t need to enter the material thickness, just use set focus. As long as the top of your material is between 1.4 to ~2" from the floor of the GF, set focus will pick it up and take care of the material thickness setting for you.
Cheers! 
Check out this focus height device. Works with or without the crumb tray.
If you find the slab is not quite thick enough w/out the crumb tray, there are supports you can search for, posted in the forum.
