I’m brand new here - just opened my package on Wednesday night! (So still very much in learning mode.)
I want to make a box with solid lid but incorporate an indentation where a card can sit in the slot and sort of stand up for display. (The box is for affirmation cards where you can store the cards in the box and pull one out each day and put it on top to display it.)
It wouldn’t be a cut. But wouldn’t be an engrave either. How do I do a ‘deep’ engrave?
There’s no way to get an exact depth except by trial and error, but basically your options are multiple passes, slower speed, higher power, and combinations of those 3 things. (See the tutorial on manual settings over on the support site for a better understanding of what each of those does.)
Definitely watch closely during the engraves, since all of these things increase the risk of fire. (Not in a scary-don’t-do it way, just in a be a smart laser user way.) 
I’d recommend doing a cut and just using two layers of material. A nice predictable depth.
I will try that. Thank you! (Now, to learn what just using two layers means lol.)
Thank you, sounds good! I will play around with those things.
Yesterday I was using unmasked birch plywood from Home Depot and noticed it got really charred and there was much smoke. Then I figured out how to lower the power (full vs 80% then 60%) and it made a huge difference. Now I’ll go learn about passes and speed.
That’s what I love hearing!!! So many people just want others to spoon feed them settings instead of taking the time to learn how to test and optimize them perfectly for each unique material. Kudos!
Also as soon as I figure out where Discourse has gone and hidden my bookmarks I’ll come back and point you to a very helpful post by @evansd2 on dialing in settings and other stuff that’s great for beginners. (Unless he beats me to it!)
Just two layers of material…with a (cut) slot only in the top piece.
Found it! This post is GOLDEN. Click on #6 to learn to dial in settings, but make sure to read the rest as well.
One thing to be aware of is that the power (and speed) scale is not linear. So 50 is not 1/2 of 100. It does make it harder to keep track of how much you want to decrease (or increase) power or speed in order to sneak up on the desire results.
In my opinion, based on owning my GF since 2017, I do not believe trying to cut a slot at a uniform depth to hold a card into a single piece of material is practical. It would have to be at least 1/4" and you would struggle to get acceptable results.
As others have stated, the best solution is to use two layers of material, and the lower layer does not need to be the entire size of the upper, just enough to cover a slot cut (not engraved) into the top layer. Something like this from a side view:
With a little creativity, you could even cut the slot at an angle, like so:
To do that, you would need to elevate the back side of your material and then use “set focus” to set the correct focus for the beam. Settings would otherwise be the same for cutting the “lid” as no extra power is needed, just a different focus height.
All of the suggestions above are great and from wonderful, helpful people.
Here is mine - you could make your top of the box full size, then add (glue on to the top) 2 thin, long pieces to the top just where you want to hold the card.
That’s “outside the box” thinking, for sure! 
Oh! If you are feeling really fancy, you could decorate the bits you glue on top.
@eflyguy Thanks for that input - love that solution!
@Helene love that too - will play around and see what I come up with.
Thanks for all the great ideas!
I’ll also point out that a score is literally a cut that doesn’t go all the way through. It’s only the width of your laserbeam (about .17mm or .007") so depending on the width of your cards you might have to do multiples next to each other, and run the risk of cutting through if they overlap.
Testing, testing, testing!
You can widen the score by using a defocused one - I usually just change the focal distance to .5in since that’s the max it will take. That gives the fattest line possible without having to create a bunch of overlapping or near overlapping lines to score. It also runs faster as a result.
Yes, and it also makes it shallower - so you’d still have to do multiple passes to get a deep enough groove to hold a card 
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