Hi. I just got my GF Plus and am a complete newbie, so I hope I’m asking this question in the right place. How do you prevent scorch marks when you cut or engrave card stock? Thanks in advance.
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Like with any other material, you can mask it. You should use lower tack masking most likely, medium or lower.
#2:
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With dialed-in settings (that just cut through), I see very little scorching on the surface of assorted card/cover stocks.
Tacking it down to something like a Seklema mat can also help reduce flashback (when you see scorching on the back/under side).
It’s easy to get burned particles on light-colored stock. That’s not scorching but, can look similar. I sometimes use Post-it tape to lift burnt particles away from the surface before removing a cut piece from the machine.
For smaller pieces, Post-it tape will work as a masking.
If you want absolutely no scorching on a piece of light-colored stock, Frisket film (a type of low-tack masking) works well and, comes in larger sizes. It’s spendy but, does a great job. There are probably other good masking options but, that’s what I have tried and use so far.
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Thank you!
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Like @evermorian said, dial in the settings until you just make it through. This was a little hot, but not bad. This is copy paper.
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This has helped lots of people: Somewhat Comprehensive Testing of Settings for Cutting Paper and Cardstock
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Thank you! That’s exactly what I need.
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Thank you.
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Thanks for the info. Your paper cut is beautiful! The level of detail is amazing. I’ve seen a couple of posts where people said they use Engrave instead of Cut. Which do you use?
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This is stunning! It looks like lace.
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That cut paper (lace) is beautiful!!!
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That is engraved through.
Thanks, that was the inspiration, but it’s the precision of a laser beam that rendered that. I had very little to dowith it - besides dialing in the settings. Looking for that sweet spot is a treasure hunt, enjoy the ride. 
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Even though I managed to minimize scorching this is the one material that I tend to use my vinyl plotter instead for light colours. Light card stock can be tricky.
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In addition to this, there was promising research done with using pin beds to reduce smoke residue on the back side of a cut.
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Don’t know how well a pin-bed will work with paper - you need to stop it blowing around, which gets more complicated.
Just gonna leave this here…
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Thank you for the info.
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Rabbit hole alert!
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Late to the game here, but I just got through running a boatload of 1" circle cuts on posterboard and it was scorching badly…until I pressed down a couple of sheets of paper masking tape on the grid to block the underside air flow. (I could place subsequent sheets of posterboard on the tape without having to mask each piece. Worked extremely well, for about ten boards. Then just had to lay down fresh tape, because it does get cut up and will peel off eventually.) 
No more scorch marks. And less burning paper smell.
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Thanks for the tip! What kind of masking paper tape did you use?