In Part 2 of my Longer Ray5 10W review, I put the machine to work on a bunch of real-world materials and share the settings that got me the best results. I start the way I pretty much always do with a new laser—MDF. I engraved a quote on a coaster and, while my framing/positioning was a little off on the first try (new machine learning curve), the engrave still came out nicely. Then I cut 3mm MDF coasters at 300mm/min and 100% power, and the cut quality was excellent—clean through the back and the pieces popped out easily. I did notice some slight burning, and I think air assist would have helped if you’re doing a lot of cutting. From there I tested cardstock (fast, clean cuts and surprisingly good engraving at 6000 speed / 10% power), aluminum business cards (my first settings were way too intense, but 6000 / 80% cleaned it up), slate (always a great beginner material—this one looked beautiful at 6000 / 80%), leather (worked, but my scrap leather shredded a bit), and denim (tricky—2000 / 25% wasn’t great, but 8000 / 20% gave me a much better result). I also walk through the 3.5" touchscreen for offline G-code jobs, and I share my honest concern: my unit did not shut off when tilted, even though movement protection is listed.