Cutting 5 ply 12mm plywood with a 22 w falcon 2

Hi I am after suggestion of the speed, power for a falcon2 22 W to cut 5 ply 12mm plywood. (not good quality plywood) So far I’m not doing very well and just seem to burn the timber and not cutting through

Plywood with many knots and exterior glue, is not suitable for this type laser machines, and not at all in this thickness. Even with my 60 watt CO2 laser it is problematic to cut everything from 4-5mm and up when it is the “bad” plywood. The post -processing time and all the charred remains in this process of cleaning the edges are not worth it.

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Thank you for your advice. I’m a beginner, so all advice is appreciated, cheers.

You’re Welcome!, To get some good experiences, especially at first with a new laser machine, I would recommend that you buy interior plywood, if you can get preferably aeroplane birch plywood 3mm. It is a little more expensive as “normal” plywood, but the nice results you can easily achieve with this material is worth it.

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Already did, and with very good results. Just want to experiment with other, and thicker woods, cheers.

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Hello, I also have the Falcon 2 22W and in addition to the response of @bernd.dk, personally after multiple experiences I prefer to cut thick parts with a CNC router and a finish bit, it’s faster and especially the machining is cleaner … without cleaning or sanding the finish cut

That machine really is limited to cutting interior plywood up to 6 mm without any significant charring.

I use this 5 mm plywood all the time and it’s fantastic. I get it from Lowe’s hardware. Here is the name of the plywood: RevolutionPly Plywood 5mm x 4-ft x 8-ft Poplar Sanded Plywood

It has a beautiful finish on both side sides, more on one side than the other, and with a 20W M100 Atomstack laser module, I can cut it at 90% power and a speed of 300mm/min. Check it out. It’s $27 for a 4 x 8 sheet. I get eight 24 x 24" pieces out of it or eighteen 16 x 16" pieces. Simply fantastic. If you want - you can get thirty-two 12 x 12" pieces - less than 85 cents per. Can’t beat it.

It could indicate that it is poplar or a similar product or some sandwich with soft wood and maybe Birch as a cover.

That’s correct and most likely the case. Regardless, it’s fantastic for laser cutting, then staining/painting and whatever. Much cheaper than anything you can buy on Amazon or Temu.

Tx for your reply. Do you know the settings for using perspecs ?

I doubt you can use my settings, I work primarily with a CO2 laser. But if you can use them anyway, I’d like to write them down for you.

Tx for your assistance, i know how to remove the back ground from a picture, but cannot remember how to draw an outline of the picture subject ready for cutting, do you know how ? Cheers,

You can make an “outline offset” of the image and set it to a cutting layer

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Thank you for reminding it, I just needed it :+1: