Two part question

[Kimmy Armstrong]

First thank you for the help with the transfer tape. The local sign store gave me some to try.
I guess my first question is this- I have a Epilog mini 50watt and we are cutting 1/4" birch plywood with an image dry mounted over top. When cutting the air assist seems to blow and exhaust everything to the left over our image, so the soot etc. is thicker on the left of the image. I realise that the transfer tape should resolve this, but is there anything that can be done to reduce it?

Second we are getting a good cut at a speed of 18, 100% power, (getting incomplete cut at 20 speed and 100% power) but getting a lot of charring of the cuts along the edges. We have had the frequency anywhere from 500 to 2,000. What is the best frequency to get that nice honey color along the edge of the cut lines? (lower or higher)

[Larry Bratton]

On my EXT, the air assist tube can be moved around. You might try that. Be careful not to get the tube in the way of the beam though.

Lower is better on wood. 500 is what I use.

[John Noell]

In my experience, the nice light edge color depends more on the wood than your settings. Some plys and woods that look very similar cut quite differently - and I am not talking about interior versus exterior ply, where extereior ply uses a glue that never cuts without turning black. (I should note that the plywoods in Fiji use very different woods than in the USA or Europe.)