I quit! I need help with settings for 1/4 plywood from Home Depot

Also quarter inch isn’t quarter inch sometimes… Most stuff I’ve gotten at home depot aside from their MDF is 5mm thick.

The birch that I get there I use full power and ~140 speed. Might be a good starting point to try and go from there.

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As others have said, too many variables to give you numbers, some 1/4 I’ve bought just won’t cut.

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You can use settings for a similar Proofgrade material, such as the “thick” (1/4") Maple Ply, as a starting point. Make up a simple design - a small circle or square (or both) and cut out on the edge where it won’t waste much material. Examine it, adjust settings as needed.

Make sure the material is flat on the bed. When you tap on it, there should be no rattling or bowing.

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Don’t forget to use the Set Focus tool to get the height of the material correct. The function can be found behind the gear icon on the top tool ribbon in the GFUI.

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I bought a sheet of 1/4 inch Birch from Home Depot before I knew better and some of it worked and some of it didn’t this is when it didn’t…

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Just realized - if this is the design you are attempting, it’s designed for 1/8", not 1/4", ply. The parts will not fit correctly if you try it on 1/4".

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You might find Boxes.py a better way to get a design that you want based on 1/4 inch wood but as others have noted you need to measure everything to make everything fit.

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Baltic birch (or as my local wood place calls it, “Russian” birch), has been pretty reliable for me. Every once in a while I hit a spot that won’t cut through, but for not being PG, I feel like it’s pretty good for the price.

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Speaking of…

Here is some 1/8” BB I ran into tonight.

image image image

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Yeah, it’s not PG. But it’s more reliable than other stuff I’ve tried. :slight_smile:

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I would rather have empty than Bondo!:disappointed:

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Thank you for your help

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Thank you for taking the time to help me.

Thank you I forgot all about the set focus. I need measure the wood it was exactly 1/4 inch.

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Thank you for your help. I measured the 1/4 wood in several places it was reading 1/4 inch.

Thank you so very much for your response and help,

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Baltic Birch and Russian Birch are different. Russian tends to have a few more voids and ply overlap errors. But the quality of the Russian has come a long way in the past few years. I would still avoid it for small stuff with interconnecting parts.

Good luck with it though.

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Good to know. I’ve had good luck with what I’ve been getting; have burned my way through quite a bit of it over the past year. :slight_smile:

I had bad enough luck with HD birch to be leery of using it again. The Oak is much better even where it is bad though in terms of fibrous gunk.

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