Laser not powerful enough to cut

[LightBurn (Oz)]

Air assist is key:

The power of air assist

I added air assist to my 3.5w diode laser with the hope that it would cut perhaps 2mm wood. I initially borrowed a fellow forum members 3d printer skills to obtain an adapter to fit the laser but this delivered the airflow a little too high and it was so noisy due to the diameter of the inlet. So I needed to change the noise issue and so I used a metal drinking straw which I feel directs the air better and increases the psi(?) as it’s a smaller outlet (5mm instead of 10mm). The noise is now g…