[cjenkins]

Bit of a tangent, but you might have better luck with hardwood vs. plywood. The glue in plywood makes it more difficult for CO2 lasers to cut through. I was super surprised when someone at work mentioned they were able to blow through some hardwood in a single pass but had a struggle to get through plywood.

[Arrath]

Does the heating from the laser cause any softening of the glue/weakening/delamination of the layers?

[xavieralexandre]

Some types of glue absorb a lot of the laser energy. There are dedicated plywood optimized for laser cutting https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/blog/?p=6042