Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this - I literally just got my Glowforge an hour ago lol. I have a few things I plan on making, but puzzles are high on the list. I would love to do ones with printed/sublimated images on it. I’ve heard MDF is best, but I don’t know where to buy it or which brand is best. Does anyone have any tips on where to start? If it helps at all I can’t make a puzzle larger than US letter size paper.
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First, which Glowforge did you get? Secondly MDF is about the worst that the big glowforges can use and for the smaller Aura and Spark the MDF is so dirty it is recommended not ro use at all. There is different materials that are best for each level of Glowforge.
Third you need to learn how to use your machine by going through and doing the starting designs. A Glowforge is among the easiest to use but it is not like a drill press.
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I appreciate the honesty! I got the Spark. I haven’t been able to test anything yet (still figuring out which window the vent will fit through 
), but I’m still making plans about things that would be strictly engraving I can do with my lineart if this isn’t feasible. Tbh I’m more intrested in acrylic anyway, so puzzles are more on the back burner.
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You can totally make puzzles with acrylic - I don’t know if you can sublimate on it though.
You can totally sublimate on plywood, and the light plywood that 
sells is layered wood, rather than an MDF core between layers of wood veneer. There are other sellers that have all-wood plywood, but I haven’t gotten any so I can’t speak to specifics.
One of the other things that the Spark/Aura machine is fabulous at is paper craft. Layered designs, and cards, and, and, and 
You’re going to have so much fun!
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There is another issue with Aura and Spark as the laser light is blue. In the big machines thre laser light is infrared and almost nothing is transparent to that. However, anything that you could see a blue light through will be transparent to your Spark.
If you get something like this you could check out any acrylic and if you can see the flashlight through it you will not be able to cut it with your spark.
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Thank you for the suggestions! Im SO excited to start using it! 
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You can sublimate on acrylic, but lighter colors/clear are best for that, so it may be a matter of finding the lightest acrylic that the aura will cut. The challenge with sublimating acrylic is that it gets melty, so you have to be careful not to warp it or get fingerprints permanently embedded!
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I prefer to make my puzzles out acrylic - no char to clean up and the pieces feel clicky and premium.
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