Nothing clever, but these three habits changed my output more than any settings tweak.
1. Blue painter's tape on everything porous. Plywood, MDF, bamboo, cork. Engrave straight through the tape, peel while warm. No smoke halo, no scrubbing. For cutting, tape both faces and your edges stay pale instead of sooty.
2. IPA and a microfibre after every job on non-porous stuff. Anodised metal, acrylic, coated tumblers — residue looks like a bad engrave until you wipe it.
3. Vacuum the bed and the fan, weekly. Dust on the lens costs you power, and power loss looks exactly like a settings problem. I chased "my machine is getting weaker" for two weeks once. It was a filthy protective lens.
Bonus: keep every test tile you make. Drill a hole in the corner, put them on a keyring by material. When someone asks "what settings for 3mm walnut" you can answer in five seconds instead of guessing.
