I am attempting to make puzzles and I have read thru many of the comments and tried to follow some of the steps already given but with no luck. I am using 30pct chipboard, elmers craft bond glue, medium tack masking (I’ve also tried without the mask), and printed images sent to me by “potential clients” from my inkjet printer. I’ve entered several different settings (speeds, focus levels, precision) but the problem I am running into is that
there is a black residue getting on my hands
sometimes it looks like it is about to catch fire so I’ll change the settings but then it doesnt cut completing through
You are using a laser to burn away part of the material. The black residue is the soot left from the burning operation. All paper and wood products will have some of this residue.
It also sounds like you may not have optimized your settings for this specific material, and you may be getting some deviation from batch to batch.
There are a number of guides here in the forums on how to optimize your settings, I suggest you start there and make sure you have the best combination of power and speed for the material. Once you have that down, see if the issues persist. If so, you may need to consider a different material.