Do you have a systematic way of testing to find laser settings for a material?

A1:
I start with “known” settings if I can find some that are similar and adjust n from that style machine to my own.
From there, I typically run a material test swatch.
If I have no material baseline, I’ll start with a very light pass that I know will minimally affect most materials in familiar with and run trial passes from there with different settings according to what each attempt yields. Usually this means starting at a high speed and low power and finding a convergence.

A2:
Past experience…. test 2mm circle in a hidden area if possible

A3:
For new materials, always start with high speed, low power for first pass to test, then adjust the power for more passes until you get good result.