Would anyone mind posting their manual settings they may be using on the S1 20W for 3mm basswood? No matter what I do I keep getting smoke stains, usually on the left side of my designs. I think the exhaust fan creates too much air draw creating a steady stream of air going to the top left of each piece. I'm a novice laser user and have done all the traditional troubleshooting including but probably not limited to: Speed and Power tests (lots of them), air assist settings, focus changes, etc.

The best results are with the air assist on setting 4 for both cutting and engraving but there is still a shimmer of smoke stain on the pieces.

You can see some test pieces here using the built in basswood engrave and cut settings but different air assists settings. Top row is air assist from 1-4 and bottom one is without. It's a bit hard to see but most of the stain is below the word “On” and on the left white border of the whole piece.

I'm having a much bigger issue with leather but will put that in a different post. I will note that I have another 22W laser from another brand that engraves and cuts these 2 materials beautifully so I know it can be done, especially since I had a similar setup with a tent hood, exhaust, and air assist. I think the biggest difference still is either the quality of the laser or the exhaust fan works too well and causes the smoke to drag on the pieces instead of rising and then being sucked out.