Maple plywood 3mm and bamboo plywood 3mm

What settings were you using for the maple? It looks like you simply need to slow your cut. You will need to add masking or a backing material to prevent flashback from the bed.

Bamboo is a very difficult product to cut and chars badly (which is why it makes an OK material to engrave.)

I normally use masking tape … this is just for trying without to see if it changes anything. parameter use 133, 97 and 3 passages and 129, full and 2 passages. never perfect cut sometimes it cuts better than other patterns for no reason. do you have an idea for the settings? since I am always obliged to adjust lower than the parameters my machine can have a problem

Proofgrade “Medium” Maple Plywood is a little thicker than 3mm, and cuts in one pass at 168 speed, FULL power on a Pro.

It may be that the core of the material you have is simply not suitable for cutting with the laser. It sounds like it is not consistent.

Make sure all your lenses are clean – that could also be affecting it.

I also find it bizarre. the material is however laser compatible because sold by a brand of laser “trotec”. could you tell me when you cut proofgrade material the pre-record settings match for your machine? because in my case it never works … for example the hardwood 3 mm mapple I have to adjust my machine to 160 er full for it to work …

The setting I posted is the default for Maple Ply and works perfectly.

Dirty optics can cause it to not cut through.

I cleaned all the lenses, the mirror and the machine … I also do not see any problems on the lens … I have the impression that the problem is there from the start I must always lower the settings to make a good cut … I wonder if there can be a problem of connection of the bulb?

The best way to know for sure is to cut the “Gift of Good Measure” on 3mm PG draftboard using the PG settings. If that doesn’t cut through, then there may be a problem with your machine, and you’ll need to open a support ticket and send photos of it (front and back) to Support (either via email or by posting in the Problems and Support section here on the forum). With non-PG material, it’s hard to know whether it’s the machine or the material.

thanks for our help. there must be a problem since the beginning then because the pf that I had received the cutting parameters never worked, I always had to lower them. Anyway, thanks again for your help.

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A few things perhaps already suggested. Are you using “Set Focus” for the distance? Are you seeing any flame during the cut? If the smoke turns to flame even for a second it will not cut as deeply there. Magnets will affect the fan increasing the likelihood of flame, but crud in the head fan will do that too. As noted bamboo burns most easily.

You are much better off going very slow vs multiple passes. Again focus is critical as if the power is wasted charring the sides, it is wasted more trying to go through the smoke coming through the sides. going 120 even at full power will cut deeper than three passes at 160 if there is not a flame.

The very slighted smudge on any surface will reduce the power transmitted and egrade the cut so very clean optics are needed. A common problem is folk missing the little window hiding under the left overhang where the power is first sent from.

Are you using “Set Focus” for the distance? Do you see a flame while cutting? If the smoke turns into a flame, even for a second, it will not cut as deeply. The magnets will affect the fan increasing the likelihood of flame, but so will the dirt in the head fan.
yes I help the point that I bring myself … yes there is a flame from time to time … what to do? more gently even at the lowest it does not cut and it burns the wood … the fan is dirty es that this can be a problem. I don’t have anything to clean it for now, can I use dry blast air? tell you about a window on the left? Can the bulb be incorrectly connected?

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With the machine off and the hose of a vacuum cleaner attached to the exhaust of the head fan (I used an old C-pap hose) I squirt Purell hand sanitizer into the fan that the running vacuum will speed up and clean everything.

This was what it looked like before cleaning…

As noted any flame will reduce the power of the cut a great deal.

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This is entirely subjective, and I can think of several reasons why multiple passes are a better idea than a very slow pass, mostly because of increased fire damage and char at slower speeds.

Have you run a proper material cut test? To me this just looks like you underpowered the cuts. Try this if you haven’t:

Anyway, I’d lean toward two hot fast passes before I did a slower one in most cases.

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I have played with that a lot, but under the first cut the wood often hardens against future cuts, the raw wood hydrocarbons burn much better than the charcoal, the sides of the cut also reduce the power. I have tried cutting 3/8 plywood with very bad results no matter how many passes until I engraved a deep area wide enough to cut down the middle of it.

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thanks i will try your file. I too find that several passes with a less high force allows not to burn the wood. What worries me the most is that for any material including pg I decrease the speed by 20 for a good cut. does this happen to other users?

I stand by my recommendation.

thank you very much, i will try. you think this may be the cause of my problem?

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Did you put the lens back in upside down? If the lens is put in upside down you will have problems cutting.

Since the plywood was sold to you by trotec, and is only 3mm, I suspect it should cut well. Some people do slow their speed by about 5 for proofgrade. Slowing it by 20 does not seem reasonable to me. If the material is warped, if the material is not very flat against the crumbtray, then the problems you report would be expected. If your proofgade is laying flat and you need to lower your speed by 20 to just cut through, I would open a support ticket.

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I have to re-check but the lens is well on the side. the material is flat as much as possible and I store it well flat. I will open a request for assistance. I wasn’t worried before because I always managed to cut the speed down and I thought it was normal. I lower it for pf of minimum 20 or more for certain materials pf. Thank you very much for your advice.

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If you do, note that support will only help with proofgrade materials. They would ask you to print the “Gift of Good Measure” on the spare Medium Draftboard they sent with the machine, and post pictures of the front and back if it does not cut thru completely.