I’ve done 1/4" hardwood walnut before with one pass. I can do some oak, but not all. 1/4" plywood is hit and miss, depending on the glue and the core.
The Glowforge is best with 1/8". Pro does better with thicker though.
Best tip I got for cutting 1/4" is setting focus height at .125". I’m able to get through maple and walnut hardwood measuring .27-.28" with one pass with my pro at 120 speed Full power.
3 Likes
you can probably go faster than that. i’ve been cutting a lot of 1/4" walnut hardwood the past few months at 135/full (on a basic). and i’m focused at the actual height (1/4"). zero issues, clean cuts.
Setting the focus height to .125" when cutting 1/4" material means you’re trying to cut with a fatty of an out of focus laser beam, spreading out the heat over a larger area, which makes it less effective at cutting.
120 is very slow for cutting 1/4" material on a Pro, you have to go that slow because you’re trying to cut with the equivalent of a dull blade. Keep the focus set to auto.
3 Likes
Good to know, anything to save time is helpful.
Setting the focus height seemed to create straighter edges for me on thicker material than auto, maybe it’s in my head but there’s a thread from a year or more ago regarding it.
you’re probably going to see some pretty diminishing returns on that at 1/4". and that’s probably why you had to cut at 120 instead of faster, because your beam was defocused at the surface. and it may lead to much larger kerfs.
when you’re cutting something very deep and doing multiple passes, it may have more value to change the focus on subsequent passes.
Here was my test on 3/8" maple, focusing at different heights:
Here’s another by someone else, on acrylic:
Both have pics, if you click on them. 
1 Like