Ok, I'm an official lurker as I wanted to make sure I could do what I thought I could do...
I have a laser table with 2'x4' capacity, vacuum table, ac servo drives, and a flowing CO2 laser..
Cuts balsa (haven't tried anything thicker than 3/16 YET) like a hot knife through really soft butter, Popular ply (3ply, 3mm) very nicely.
Now for the tough test.... 5-7ply birch plywood, cuts 1/8, butcher cut on 1/4...
Question is this, currently using compressed air to keep optics clean/cutting jet, has anyone tried/used something else as "cutting assist gas"?
I tried "unamix" (75 CO2/25 Argon) not much better.