I saw the VERY COOL solution that JoeGadget assembled for cutting segmented-bowl pieces on the laser engraver =>

https://www.instructables.com/id/Segmented-Turning-Blank-for-bowls-and-cups/

I reproduced his work, then proceeded to cut a few strips of cherry and birch using his method...

I make my stuff at TechShop in San Jose...

Step 1: I Wanted to Save Time...

I saw that cutting was taking more time than needed. Since Laser time is at a premium, I decided to modify the drawing and minimize the number of times the laser has to make cuts.

I also wanted to minimize "dead travel time" - when the laser is just traveling and not doing any work.

So I went for some Serpent action...

I'm attaching a snippet of the Corel file that enables the Serpent.

Step 2: And I Save Bodacious Amounts of Time

The Laser driver's algorithm is a bit confusing, but overall I saved a great deal of time, since the intersecting faces only needed to be cut once for two 'puzzle' pieces.