7 things I wish I knew BEFORE buying the XTool D1 Pro 20W

--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Lasers I Use: Xtool D1 Pro, and Xtool P2

Here's those other videos I mentioned:

[swimbikerunmud]

Really appreciate your clear and concise explanations on what you found to be your pros and cons about each model. Just enough detail to defend your position without gettin' deep in the weeds. An informative post for sure. I'm a fan. Keep up the good work.

[BADGIZM]

6:20 i saw a video where someone found an air pump for a fishtank that was an exact match aside from the power cord which was a dial instead of a switch. it was also 100$ cheaper than xtools lol.

[Azarathification]

For your speed: Use offset fill instead of fill, for things like this where you have either multiple different sections or for shapes with space inside (such as the letter O etc). I just loosely replicated the size and speed that you have for the exact same image, and it goes from 1hr 24m 28s for fill, to just 19m 59s for offset fill. Over an hour saved there. If you click "Show traversal moves" in preview, you'll see the wasted time the laser head spends moving over blank areas.

[B.A.Bassangler]

Great job brutha! I've watched a bunch and you brought up points no one else did. Thanks.

[dtiger]

Note on the time it takes. It looks like you were using lightburn. You can change the order it engraves the piece. Instead of engraving all the tracks and text across the board at the same time, you can set it to do one track and label at a time. You'll eliminate the travel time it takes to go from one to another as it moves across the board. This will shorten the time some. Play with it and how you group them.

[rightpassage]

GOOD to see someone else with the extension kit! Subed, Hope to see some cool stuff!! I got the 20w 2-in-1 deluxe kit enclosed!

[ericb]

Very thorough …I look forward to seeing what you create

[EddieSheffield]

Nice overview! Another unit that's a close competitor to the XTool is the Atezr P20. Very similar in not only capabilities but construction / design as well. I just ordered one a couple days ago so looking forward to getting it. It's a upgrade from my Sculpfun S6 Pro which is a 5 watt unit. It's been a great machine and I'm planning to keep it too, just want more power.

And as noted in another comment, you probably need to change your cut settings on that tracks plaque. Your cut time is only about 20 minutes, but you have over an hour of rapid moves. In the cut settings for the fill layer, at the bottom are options for "Fill all shapes at once", "Fill groups together", and "Fill shapes individually". It usually defaults to the first one, but to be honest unless it's a fairly small or very dense (little white space) image it's probably not a good choice. Try the other two settings and see what kind of times you get. Which is better will depend on how you have the shapes in your design grouped. Offhand, I'd suggest making each track a group, each name a group, and the title another group and try "Fill groups together". It can take some experimenting to find the most efficient approach.

Another trick that can speed things up if you have a large "hollow" shape (for example, an empty circle) is to split the object in two or more parts and put each part on a different layer but with identical cut settings. That way the laser can do each half individually without having to traverse from one side of the circle to the other with each pass. The direction you split will also depend on which direction you're scanning the laser. For horizontal scanning, split into left / right halves.

Hope that helps! Looking forward to more content from you!

[cdgarcia]

You covered good points. Wish I would’ve researched before buying but still looks like xtool is a good product. I agree on lack of air assist out of the box and pro of upgrade-ability

[surferdudemi]

Why would you want air-assist off? It prevents flame-ups and keeps the head clean from back flash and back splatter

[didierszylowicz]

Hi, just a little word about the air assist not being adjustable, I just receive mine yesterday and it now has a small rheostat on the electric cord. But still no remote control from computer 😞
About the support team, I agree, I had a response to my question in less than 4 hours !
Logistics was not as good thought, took 2 weeks to receive my D1 Pro 5W, which end up being in fact a 20W... BUT NO COMPLAINT 🙂
Finally great vidéos (plural) THANKS

[BitSmythe]

You run into the limit (sensor) because of project positioning. Remember, there’s an offset between the positioning crosshair and the actual laser. It’s not that they’re “pretty sensitive, ” but they’re perfectly accurate!

[ShopRamblings]

I have been looking at getting a laser. Did you look at the TwoTrees TS2? I have never used a laser, but I like that it auto focuses the laser, comes with air assist connection, has a larger area, and wifi. If you had dismissed it, why?

[bertram-raven]

As I don't have an enclosure, I leave mine on the balcony when burning. For FDM I have a filtered "hot box" which uses three charcoal filters. I have an adaptor to it for soldering which works well so I will make another adaptor for the laser enclosure I am building from aircraft composite like my hot-box. The aircraft composite I use is alu-acrylic-alu in a 0.3/3.0/0.3mm sandwich.
It is light enough to hold together with just tabs and hot-glue.
Aluminium and graphine reinforced belts are good for preventing expansion due to heat but Kevlar reinforced are cheaper and work just as well if you are not moving a head over 800g. (Which is pretty much all of us outside an industrial situation)

[Jasonver-bswz]

It would be nice if they the extension pieces with the end pieces and the gantry or sell the pieces separate. I have the 1064nm and the 20w and 40% of a second frame.

[patrickbledsoe]

Great points thank you for the info sir

[BitSmythe]

2:54. If the fan is *exhaust, * why would you be getting cold air?

[kennybrooks]

I’m a newby but it looks like you engraved horizontally and lost a lot of time in “white space”. Have you tried grouping each track set and engraving each complete before moving to the next?

[rrdavis]

I have the D1 Pro 2 in one with the extension kit. I've spent more time and money building the biggest enclosure you have ever seen.
The main thing I see in ordering the extension from the git go is that you wind up with half enough parts to build another machine. It would be nice for them to offer the extension as an option. Two side rails, extra standard belts and wiring harness and extra power supply. I could build another machine just for the infrared laser or one to keep the RA2 accessories set up in.

I cant imagine running this in a home without any enclosure. I have a high velocity three speed six inch exhaust and still get some odor issues.
The other item needed is a full length honeycomb. With two standard ones you have a large middle section of rail joint.

I think I saw an update coming for the Wi-Fi. No issue for me because I'm running a mini computer on the station.
One other thing they should work on is the wiring of the main cable and placement of the motherboard.
Overall The machine is impressive in appearance and construction. I like the built in projects that have the library of settings for the main materials provided in the samples kit.

One thing to note on all enclosures is the placement of the intake port. One user sent photos of the fan module that had sucked up a ton of residual smudge. The laser is cutting and the air assist is blowing the material downward. If you place your intake up top it is pulling a supply of the dirt up where the cooling fan can take it in.
with the air stream going down from the start let it keep on its path and draft into the exhaust intake tube. Position the air intake to the enclosure to cause the air to draft across and down away form the material and laser.

[BitSmythe]

2:12. Do you expect to BURN something and _not_ have smoke??