First off let's hear it for fire extinguishers! I have twice the capacity in my shop that the fire code demands. Then I added a 15 lb CO2 on the Shopbot frame. CO2 is much kinder to equipment than dry chem and there's no residue to clean up. Just make sure it's big enough to do the job. I know it's not rated for wood fires but a good sized one will due the job if you do yours, trust me!
As for tooling I won't touch Freud tools or sawblades any more. They just don't have the quality they once had years ago. Make sure your tooling is designed and balanced as a CNC tool from the get go and you'll have much better luck. Also, sharp means if I drag it across my finger nail the edge tries to "bite" not just slide across.
I wonder if you are by chance cutting import core plywood? I refuse to cut it any more. It destroys tooling at an amazing rate and I hit so many pieces of steel and other tool destroying trash that it is now banned from my shop. The only exception being Arauco and Elliotis. Two south american cores that have proven to be stable and safe. NO CHINESE OR INDONESIAN! An incident with import core plywood burned a 1' diameter hole in my spoiboard before my operator got the machine stopped and we extinguished it.
As for the variables under the "VR" command I have tweeked them to do a better job of cutting my typical parts order which is usually complex shaped small to medium sized parts nested into full sheets using a "Single Sheet" material strategy.
Move ramp speed .4
Move ramp rate .235
3D Ramp threshold 750
Min distance to check .13
Slow corner 40
Cutting nothing but cabinet parts might change these settings some as would extensive 3D work. I typically cut poplar core 3/4" ply in a single pass at 18,000 rpm with a feed rate of 7 to 8 IPS with a single flute compression spiral. Another very good choice is a single flute polished O flute up spiral.
