Original Laser Cutter Power & Accuracy Issues

[Scott C. Lemon]

Over the last two weeks, something has happened to the main/original laser cutter.

1. Power - I noticed that I now have to put the "manual" power control at over twice the numbers that I used to (2 weeks ago) to cut anything.  Etching that used to be at 2, now has to be done at 5 and is irregular in depth.  Cutting that was done at 5, is not well past the "9" that is on the control ... going more towards 11+.  So something is going on that is not good.
   
   
2. Accuracy - there appears to now be a good bit of "overshoot" on corners that was not there before.  I can n o longer get clean squares when cutting 1/16" acrylic ... I've attached some images.  On each corner it is now obvious the laser is overshooting the corner and leaving cuts that are out of bounds.
   
   
3. "Scorching" - if you look at my images, the plastic is scorched ... more than usual ... along the cuts.  It seems to be worse than before, and is not coming off with polish like usual.  Seems to be in the direction that the air jet is blowing?

Anyhow ... hopefully some of this will help in debugging?