Q1. I have a 10W, 10600nm, CO2 Synrad laser that I'm going to try out on my CNC machine. I want to try it out on cardboard and whatever other light material I can find. I have a plywood table on my machine so I need to protect it from the laser. Any suggestions? Ideally with minimal reflections.

Q2. My test firing of the laser produced quite a lot of smoke. Would a computer fan suffice to clear the area? What stops the cutouts blowing away too?

I'm minimising expenditure on this until I'm satisfied that everything works.

Many thanks.