Ask any laser forum what speed and power to use for cutting 3mm plywood and you will get five different answers. That is not because people guess badly. It is because laser cutting settings depend on your exact machine, your tube's true output, your lens, your air assist, and even the batch of wood on your bed. This guide gives you honest starting points for wood, acrylic, leather, and slate on a 50-60W CO2 machine, teaches you the four dials every chart is built from, and walks you through building a test grid that finds the numbers that work on your machine. In about an hour of testing, you will have a settings chart more accurate than anything you can download.

Why No Universal Laser Cutting Settings Chart Works

Every settings chart you find online comes with the same quiet problem: it was made on somebody else's machine. A chart from a 60W tube with a 2-inch lens and strong air assist will not transfer cleanly to a worn 50W tube with a dirty lens and no air. The numbers on the chart are not wrong. They just describe a machine you do not own.

Here is why the transfer breaks down:

• Tube wattage varies. A tube labeled 50W may measure 44W when new or 58W, and it fades over its life. Two identical-looking machines can differ by 20 percent in real output.
• Optics change the beam. Focal length, lens cleanliness, and mirror alignment decide how much energy actually lands in the spot. A lens with a film of smoke residue wastes power you paid for.
• Air assist changes everything. Air assist is a stream of compressed air blowing across the cut point. It clears smoke, cools the edge, and lets you cut faster. Machines with and without it need very different power numbers.
• Materials are inconsistent. Plywood glue, acrylic casting batches, and leather tanning all vary. Even two sheets from the same supplier can behave differently.

So use published charts for what they are good at: getting you close on the first try, so your test grid starts near the answer instead of from zero. That is exactly how this article is built. The tables below are starting points, not promises. The How To section turns them into numbers that fit your machine.

The Four Dials: Speed, Power, DPI, and Passes

Every laser cutting and engraving job, on every machine and every software package, comes down to four dials. Learn what each one controls and you can read any chart, translate between any software, and fix most bad results without asking anyone.

Speed

Speed is how fast the laser head moves across the material, usually shown in mm/s or inches per second. Speed controls how long the beam dwells on any given spot. Slow the head down and each point of material receives more heat; speed it up and it receives less. For cutting, slower speed means a deeper cut. For engraving, slower speed means a darker, deeper mark. Speed is the dial you will adjust most often, because it is safe to change in small steps without rethinking the whole job.

Power

Power is the strength of the beam while it is firing, shown as a percentage of the tube's maximum. Power and speed work together as one dial split in two: 100 percent power at 10 mm/s delivers roughly the same energy as 50 percent power at 5 mm/s. Two cautions. First, most CO2 tubes live longer if you run them at 90 percent or less, so charts that say "100% power" assume short bursts, not all-day running. Second, many tubes are weak below about 10 percent, so very low power settings behave less predictably than mid-range ones.

DPI

DPI means dots per inch, and it applies to engraving. When you engrave, the machine does not burn solid areas; it burns a grid of tiny dots, and DPI sets how tightly packed those dots are. At 300 DPI the machine lays down 300 lines of dots per inch of material. Higher DPI gives finer detail but takes much longer, because the head has to travel more lines. For photos and images with shading, software uses dithering, which converts the gray shades of a picture into patterns of dots that the eye reads as smooth tones. For line art and text, dithering is off and DPI mostly controls edge crispness.

Passes

A pass is one complete run of the job. If one pass at full power does not cut through 6mm plywood, you can run two passes instead of slowing to a crawl. Passes trade time for depth, and they have a hidden cost: the first pass opens a channel, called the kerf (the width of the slot the beam removes), and on later passes much of the energy leaks down that channel and scorches the cut walls instead of cutting deeper. As a rule, cut with as few passes as possible, and never engrave in multiple passes expecting clean results; engraving gets muddy, not deeper.

Starting Points by Material: Wood, Acrylic, Leather, Slate

The tables below assume a 50-60W CO2 machine, a 2-inch focal length lens, air assist on, and software set in mm/s and percent power. Write down your results as you go, because your machine will drift from these numbers within a few tests. Focus, meaning the exact distance between the lens and the material surface, must be set correctly first; no settings table can rescue an out-of-focus beam.

Wood

| Job | Power | Speed | Passes | Notes |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Cut 3mm plywood | 100% | 8-12 mm/s | 1 | Air assist strong; expect some edge char |

| Cut 6mm plywood | 100% | 3-5 mm/s | 1-2 | Wet glue may need a second pass |

| Cut 3mm hardwood | 100% | 5-8 mm/s | 1 | Cleaner edge than plywood |

| Engrave wood (text/line art) | 15-25% | 250-350 mm/s | 1 | 300-400 DPI |

| Engrave wood (photo) | 15-20% | 300-400 mm/s | 1 | 400-500 DPI, dithering on |

| Score wood | 10-15% | 150-250 mm/s | 1 | Test on a hidden edge first |

Plywood char comes mostly from the glue between layers. Lower-power, higher-speed combinations often give a browner, cleaner edge than slow full-power cuts.

Acrylic

| Job | Power | Speed | Passes | Notes |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Cut 3mm cast acrylic | 100% | 12-18 mm/s | 1 | Edge should look flame-polished |

| Cut 6mm cast acrylic | 100% | 5-8 mm/s | 1 | Slow and steady beats multiple passes |

| Engrave cast acrylic | 15-25% | 200-300 mm/s | 1 | Gives a frosted white mark |

| Score acrylic | 8-12% | 200-300 mm/s | 1 | For fold lines and detail |

Use cast acrylic for engraving; extruded acrylic engraves cloudy and unpredictable. Cast acrylic cuts to a clear, glass-smooth edge, which is the fastest way to tell the two apart.

Leather

| Job | Power | Speed | Passes | Notes |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Engrave leather | 15-25% | 200-300 mm/s | 1 | 300-400 DPI |

| Cut 2-3mm leather | 100% | 8-12 mm/s | 1 | Vegetable-tanned only |

| Score leather | 10-15% | 200-300 mm/s | 1 | Good for stitching guides |

Only use vegetable-tanned leather. Chrome-tanned leather releases fumes containing chromium compounds when burned, and it is not safe to laser. Leather also produces strong smoke smell; run ventilation at full and clean the bed after.

Slate

| Job | Power | Speed | Passes | Notes |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Engrave slate | 20-30% | 150-250 mm/s | 1 | 300-400 DPI |

| Engrave slate (photo) | 20-25% | 200-300 mm/s | 1 | 400-500 DPI, dithering on |

Slate is only engraved, never cut. The mark is a bright white-gray against the dark stone, which makes it a favorite for coasters and memorial pieces. Wipe with a damp cloth after engraving to remove loose mineral dust.

Cut vs Engrave vs Score: Same Material, Three Setting Sets

One sheet of 3mm plywood, three very different jobs, three different setting sets. The pattern behind all of them is energy per unit length: cutting needs maximum energy in every millimeter, scoring needs a trace of it, and engraving needs a little spread over an area.

| Job type | Power | Speed | DPI | Result |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Cut (through) | 100% | 10 mm/s | n/a | Piece drops out, kerf about 0.2mm |

| Engrave (fill) | 20% | 350 mm/s | 300 | Burned area, tan-to-brown color |

| Score (line) | 10% | 200 mm/s | n/a | Thin dark line, material stays whole |

The order of magnitude matters as much as the numbers. A cut job might take 60 times more energy per millimeter than a score job on the same material. This is why you never reuse a cut setting for engraving "just a bit lighter" by feel; the scales are different instruments. When you build your own chart, keep cut, engrave, and score sections separate per material so you are never guessing which column a number belongs to.

How to Build a Test Grid That Finds Your Machine's Settings

A test grid is a square of small shapes, each burned at a different combination of speed and power. One grid, one run, and you can read your machine's true behavior off the bed. You need your laser software, one sheet of your target material, and about an hour.

Step 1 — Pick your material and lock everything else

Use the exact material and thickness you plan to cut in production, from the same stock. Set focus height, air assist, and job type exactly as you will run them later. A grid tested at one focus height is invalid at another.

Step 2 — Draw the grid in your software

Draw a row of 20mm squares, five or six across, with 5mm gaps. Duplicate the row to make five or six rows. Each square gets its own setting: speed varies across the columns, power varies down the rows. Using the wood table above as a guide, one grid might run power from 60 to 100 percent in steps, and speed from 4 to 12 mm/s.

Step 3 — Label the grid on the material

Burn or engrave a tiny label in each square corner, or write a legend on paper and photograph the grid right after it runs. Six months from now, an unlabeled burned grid is useless. Inside your software, name each square's layer or setting so the job file itself is the legend.

Step 4 — Run the cut grid and read it

Run the job and let the material cool. Push each square with your finger. The correct setting is the one where the square drops out cleanly with the least char and the narrowest kerf, at the highest speed and lowest power that still achieves it. Any square that did not cut through, and any square with heavy charring, is out.

Step 5 — Run the engrave grid the same way

For engraving, fill the squares with a mix of small text and a shaded patch, then vary power and speed. You are looking for the square with clear, legible marks and even tone, not the darkest one. Note the DPI you used, because engrave results are meaningless without it.

Step 6 — Confirm on a real shape

Squares lie a little. A setting that cuts a 20mm square cleanly can char on a job with long, tight curves, because corners slow the head down. Cut your actual project shape once at the chosen settings before committing a full sheet of material.

Step 7 — Record the winners

Write the winning settings into your chart immediately, with the date and the material batch. Test grids get thrown away; charts do not.

Reading Burn Marks: What Char and Dross Tell You to Change

Burn marks are your machine talking. Every bad result names its own cause once you know the vocabulary.

Heavy black char on wood

A light tan edge on cut wood is normal. A black, crumbly, sooty edge means too much heat reached the cut walls. Raise speed before you lower power, because slowing down also increases dwell on the glue lines that cause char. If char appears only at the bottom of the cut, your beam is losing focus partway down; check focus height first.

Dross on acrylic

Dross is the rough, melted, gray-white residue on the underside edge of cut acrylic. A clean cut leaves a flame-polished edge you can run a finger along with no resistance. Dross on the bottom edge usually means power was slightly short of the mark for that speed, or air assist is aimed too high above the cut line. Drop speed by 10-15 percent and retest before touching power.

Faint or patchy engraving

Uneven engraving depth across a job usually points to the bed, not the settings. Reflections off a worn honeycomb bed, a tilted material surface, or a material with a varnish coat that burns unevenly all show up as patchy tone. Re-focus on the actual surface and test a scrap corner.

Wide, flared cut lines

If the kerf looks wider than before, or cut edges suddenly look fibrous and torn, your beam quality has dropped. The usual causes are a dirty lens, a misaligned mirror, or an aging tube. Clean the optics, run an alignment check, and only then blame the settings chart.

Saving Settings: A Machine-Specific Chart That Actually Gets Used

The whole point of testing is a chart you actually open before every job. Keep it simple and physical: a spreadsheet or a laminated card taped inside the machine lid. For every entry, record the same columns every time: material, thickness, job type, power, speed, DPI, passes, air assist level, focus offset, date, and one line of results. The date matters more than it seems. CO2 tubes lose power as they age, so a setting that cut perfectly in March may need 5-10 percent more power by autumn. When results drift, retest one grid rather than nudging numbers by feel, and update the chart. Save tested settings inside your laser software too, named by material and thickness, so a repeat job is two clicks instead of a lookup. A chart that lives in someone's head dies with the next software update.

Field Notes: Settings Details Worth Knowing

Air assist pressure tuning

Air assist pressure deserves tuning, not just switching on. Too little air and smoke lingers in the kerf, so edges char and cutting speed drops. Too much air and the jet cools the cut line and can blow debris onto the lens. Start near 15 psi for wood and acrylic, adjusting in small steps while you watch the smoke trail.

Focus height is the quiet dial

Focus height is the quiet dial behind every table in this article. Half a millimeter of error can turn a clean cut into a scorched failure. Many operators focus a hair below the surface for engraving and slightly into the material for cutting. Re-check focus for every thickness change, because lens position is what concentrates the beam's energy.

Kerf compensation in design software

Kerf runs about 0.1 to 0.3mm wide on a hobby CO2 machine, wider at slow speeds. Design software can compensate by offsetting vector lines outward or inward. Without compensation, an inlaid puzzle piece fits loose on outer cuts and tight on inner ones. Test the fit with a simple two-part square before committing to a whole sheet.

Masking paper for clean surfaces

Masking paper solves the surface scorch problem on wood and leather. Apply transfer tape before cutting, burn through it, then peel it off to reveal a mark-free face. The tape slightly reduces effective cutting energy, so expect to drop speed by 10 percent versus your bare-material chart entry. Low-tack tape is the safe choice for finished surfaces.

Honeycomb bed reflections

The honeycomb bed reflects the beam back into the underside of your work, leaving a faint ghost of every engraving. Slate and dark wood hide it, but light plywood and leather show it clearly. Raise the material off the bed on pins or bars so the reflection defocuses, or accept the ghost and design around it.

Cast versus extruded acrylic

Cast and extruded acrylic cut at similar speeds but behave differently everywhere else. Extruded engraves a cloudy gray that never looks clean, while cast engraves bright frosted white. Extruded also melts and welds itself during cutting more readily. If your supplier cannot say which type they sell, engrave a corner: bright white means cast.

Plywood glue is the real variable

Plywood glue content varies more than the wood itself. Interior-grade plywood engraves unevenly where glue pockets sit, and some glue resists the beam entirely, leaving pale streaks. Baltic birch is the maker favorite because its layers are thin and its glue burns consistently. Cheap construction plywood can also contain compounds you do not want vaporizing indoors.

Cut order on busy sheets

Cut order matters once a sheet has many parts. Cut interior details and engravings first, and outer contours last. If the outer shape is cut first, the freed piece can tilt into the kerf, catch the air assist jet, and be dragged across the bed. Most software sorts this for you, but always check the preview.

Corner slowdown and heat buildup

Most controllers slow the head for sharp corners, which concentrates heat exactly where you least want it. Round the corners of vector designs slightly, or accept darker corners on engraving jobs. On cutting jobs, corner slowdown actually helps, because it gives the beam a moment to close the kerf. Know which behavior your job needs before blaming the settings.

Dithering choice for photo engraving

Photo engraving quality depends on dithering choices more than on power. Jarvis and Stucki dithering patterns produce smoother tonal ramps than basic Bayer patterns on wood. Test the same photo with two dithering algorithms at your chosen DPI, because the difference is visible immediately. Also try mirroring the photo; wood grain flatters light from one side.

Common Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What speed and power should I use for laser cutting?

A: There is no single answer, but the starting points in this article get you close on a 50-60W CO2 machine: for 3mm plywood, try 100 percent power at 8-12 mm/s; for 3mm cast acrylic, 100 percent at 12-18 mm/s. Run a test grid around those numbers and pick the fastest, least-charred square that cuts through.

Q2: Is there a universal laser settings chart?

A: No. Real output varies between tubes of the same rating, optics and air assist change the energy that reaches the material, and material batches differ. Universal charts are useful as starting points for your first test, not as final settings.

Q3: What DPI is best for laser engraving?

A: 300-400 DPI suits most text and line art, and 400-500 DPI suits photos with shading. Higher DPI adds detail but also adds job time, because the head must travel more lines. Test a small area first, because the same DPI can look different on different materials.

Q4: Why does the same setting cut differently on two machines?

A: Wattage labels are approximate and tubes age differently, so two "50W" machines can differ by 20 percent in real output. Lens condition, mirror alignment, air assist, and focus height all shift the energy delivered to the material. Copying settings between machines is a starting point, never a result.

Q5: How do I make my own laser settings test grid?

A: Draw a grid of small squares in your laser software, vary speed across the columns and power down the rows, and run it on your exact material. Label every square, run the job, and record the square that cuts or engraves cleanly with the least char. The full step-by-step is in the How To section above.

Related reading

Everything in this guide is written for the craft and maker side of laser work, where materials are sold in small sheets and machines run a few hours a week. Industrial production is a different world: thicker metal, higher wattage, and machines rated for continuous shifts. If you are curious what that side looks like, or you are scaling a hobby business toward production work, see the industrial laser cutter range at hflaser.com/laser-cutter.html for a look at the machines and settings behind factory-floor laser cutting.