Vector cutting Maple Appleply plywood- Help needed

[Kimmy Armstrong]

I have a Epilog 50 watt mini and have been searching for the best 1/4" plywood to use for vector cutting with the least amount of voids and a hard wood veneer. Red oak has too much tannic acid and coats the image. The quality of baltic birch and maple seems really bad in our area. Anyway, we cut through the red oak veneer with no problem 17 speed, 70% power, and 400 frequency and got a nice honey color on the edge. We found a source for 1/4" maple appleply plywood & had it shipped, it is lovely! The problem is I can't cut through it. I have used speeds down to 3 and up, with 100% power. Anyone else have this problem? According to the book, I should be able to cut 3/4" plywood at some of these settings. Two passes won't work because I just get too much char on my images. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance.

[Larry Bratton]

Problem with plywood is that the glue causes problems. Appleply is made of birch and alder cores, I can't see why you can't cut it. You should be able to get through it with 50 watts at 10s/100p/500f. Are you sure it is flat? Are you using air assist? Can you get through it with 2 passes disregarding the charring? You might try focusing down into the material a little bit and see what happens with that. I haven't cut any 1/4 BB lately but I cut some 1/8 last week at 25s/100p/500f with 40 watts. It took me two passes on part of it because it wasn't totally flat, but my edges were just fine. I hit them with a little 400 grit sandpaper with some DNA and they look great.

[Mark A Johnson]

The best plywood around are the 5'x5' Baltic Birch Plywood. You need to spec that its Baltic Birch. There is also Birch in the 4x8 sheets, however its not as good.

I'm in the Denver area if its close, I would be happy to help you.

[Craig Matheny]

Kimmy I cut 1/8"{ BAltic birch all day long in my 45 watt epilog 15% sp 100% power 500f. Witht hat said you need to find BB/BB or BBB/BB grade there will be no glue voids in it and the center layer will be BB at the least. The 4x8 ply is no good due to the use of exterior glue you need the 5x5. We sell Lazer models out of this never have to sand anything and the edges have a great color. Look at the photo of the models to see the edges 187441

Now cutting 1/4" I can cut 1/4" solid boards at 8% sp 100% power 500f can not cut ply that thick. I have noticed with Epilog a discrepence in my opinion in the manual look at the wood setting from diffrent power machines and they make no sense on how they get there numbers. What part of the country are you from I my=icght be able to give you a supplier for your wood that is good.

[Kimmy Armstrong]

Thanks, nice photos. I'm in Hagerstown, MD