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Creality Falcon A1 Pro settings — cut & engrave cheat sheet
Starting-point power, speed and pass settings for the Creality Falcon A1 Pro — an enclosed 20 W diode laser (~450 nm) with an optional 2 W infrared add-on for metal. We have not run this machine ourselves: every number below comes from Creality's own published specs or from independent reviews and user reports, credited as we go. Run your own test grid before a real job — batches and machines both vary.
Creality Falcon A1 Pro settings (power % / speed mm/min / passes)
Creality does not publish a numeric power and speed chart for the Falcon A1 Pro on its website — the real material library lives inside the free Falcon Design Space app and is not exposed as page text. The values below combine Creality's own cut-capability claims for this exact model with an independent hands-on review that logged real power, speed and pass settings on a 20 W unit. Where neither source gives a figure — MDF, cardboard, slate — the row is left out rather than guessed. Treat all of it as a starting point and run your own test grid before a real job.
| Material | Job | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Basswood 3 mm | Cut | 100% / 200 / 1 pass |
| Plywood 6 mm | Cut | 100% / 150 / 2–3 passes |
| Leather 2–3 mm | Engrave | 30% / 3000 / 1 pass |
| Anodised aluminium | Mark | 60% / 5000 / 1 pass |
Clear acrylic: the Falcon A1 Pro's main laser is a 20 W diode (~450 nm) and cannot cut truly clear or transparent acrylic — the beam passes straight through it. Creality's own material list for this machine specifies dark, opaque acrylic, not clear, for exactly that reason. For clear acrylic you need a CO2 laser.
Always: the table above comes from a 2026 third-party review of this exact machine, not from us. Confirm focus and air assist before trusting any row, and don't hold 100% power to force a thicker cut through — add a pass instead. Wood engraving was also logged — photo work on maple ran cleanly at 8000 mm/min — but no power figure was published for that one, so it is left out of the table.
Get an exact price for the Creality Falcon A1 Pro
Settings tell you the speed; turning that into a price needs your actual cut length. Drop your file into the laser cutting time calculator to convert its path length into machine time at these speeds, then open the main calculator to turn that time into a price with your own hourly rate and setup cost.
What a Falcon A1 Pro needs next to it
The A1 Pro is enclosed, so the closed lid handles eye protection. What owners report instead is smoke building up inside on long jobs, and bare metal that the blue diode cannot mark on its own.
Inline duct fan for the exhaust: Check price on Amazon ↗
Laser marking spray for bare metal: Check price on Amazon ↗
Basswood sheets 3 mm: Check price on Amazon ↗
Anodised aluminium blanks: Check price on Amazon ↗
Disclosure: some links are affiliate links — if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Prices are approximate list prices at the time of writing; always check the current offer.
Bed size: what actually fits
Creality's own listing puts the Falcon A1 Pro 20 W's working area at 358 × 268 mm (14.1 × 10.6 in). That is smaller than it looks in product photos, and it is the single most common source of a laser buyer's first disappointment.
It is also smaller than the machine one rung down: the standalone Falcon A1 10 W (no Pro) has a larger 305 × 381 mm bed. Going Pro buys more power, a camera and autofocus — not more room. If working area matters more to you than the extra 10 W, weigh that up before ordering.
| Common stock | Size | On this machine |
|---|---|---|
| A4 sheet | 297 × 210 mm | Fits |
| A3 sheet | 420 × 297 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
| 300 × 300 mm craft ply | 300 × 300 mm | Does not fit — the 268 mm short side is 32 mm too narrow |
| 400 × 400 mm sheet | 400 × 400 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
| 600 × 400 mm sheet | 600 × 400 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
| Tumbler, with rotary | ~90 mm dia. | Not out of the box — the rotary bracket ships in the box, the roller unit is sold separately |
A 358 × 268 mm bed is generous for coasters, keychains and single A4-scale panels, and tight for anything that wants a full sheet in one load.
What the Creality Falcon A1 Pro cannot do
This machine's main laser is a 20 W blue diode at around 450 nm, and that wavelength sets hard limits no setting can move:
- No clear or transparent acrylic. The beam passes straight through it instead of cutting it. Dark, opaque acrylic cuts; Creality's own materials list for this machine says as much. Clear needs a CO2 laser.
- No bare or polished metal, at any power. Steel, aluminium and brass reflect most of a 450 nm beam and conduct the rest away as heat before it can do any work. Anodised aluminium is the one exception on the base laser — it marks well because the beam is ablating a dyed oxide coating, not the aluminium underneath.
- Metal needs the optional 2 W IR module, and even that only marks. Creality sells a separate infrared head for gold, silver, brass, iron, aluminium, stainless steel and similar. It etches a surface; it does not cut metal, at any power, with either laser.
- No glass engraving without a coating. Glass is as transparent to 450 nm as clear acrylic is — it needs a paint or tape coating to absorb the beam at all.
- Single-pass depth is optics-limited. Creality's own marketing claims up to 10 mm basswood or 8 mm black acrylic in one pass; an independent review of this machine held to 3 mm basswood for a clean single pass and used 2–3 passes for 6 mm plywood. Treat the bigger number as a best case on ideal stock, not a default.
- The enclosure caps material height. It is a flat-bed, lid-closed design, and Creality does not publish a maximum material height for this model — check clearance against your own piece, especially anything tall, before committing a design.
Troubleshooting: symptom, cause, fix
| Symptom | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke haze builds up inside the enclosure on longer jobs | The stock exhaust fan is under-powered for sustained cutting — flagged independently by two reviewers | Vent the rear port to an external smoke purifier or outside air, keep the lid seal and camera lens clean, and avoid stacking slow passes on smoky material like MDF. |
| Rotary has no axis option in the control software | Users on the LightBurn forum report the rotary axis is not exposed for this machine out of the box | Check the current firmware and software version on the Creality Wiki before wiring a rotary in, and confirm rotary support is switched on in machine settings first — this is a known open issue, not a wiring fault. |
| A Creality preset's power percentage looks wrong once the file is in LightBurn | Falcon Design Space and LightBurn scale laser power differently, so presets do not carry over one to one — also reported on the LightBurn forum | Do not trust an imported percentage. Run a small test square in whichever program you will actually cut from and adjust from there. |
| Camera preview does not line up with where the laser actually fires | Camera calibration drifts, particularly when driving the machine through a third-party LightBurn driver file instead of Falcon Design Space | Recalibrate the camera in Falcon Design Space before a precision job, and treat drag-and-drop placement as approximate on tight-tolerance work. |
| Cut does not go all the way through, top face looks fine | Focus set for the wrong thickness, or speed too high for the pass count | Re-run autofocus for this exact sheet, then drop speed before adding a pass. Check the underside, not the top. |
| Edges heavily charred on wood | Air assist not reaching the beam path, or too many slow passes stacking heat | Confirm the air nozzle is aimed at the cut point, not just switched on, and prefer fewer, faster passes over many slow ones. |
If none of that helps, work through why won't my laser cut all the way through? or how to stop burn marks on wood.
Material cost per sheet
Settings tell you the time; material tells you the rest of the price, and prices move often enough that we have not priced a sheet for this page — treat any figure you see elsewhere as a starting point to verify yourself. For stock sized sensibly for a 358 × 268 mm bed, see where to buy laser materials. Pricing pages for what this machine actually handles: Plywood 3 Mm · Plywood 6 Mm · Leather 2 Mm · Plexiglass 3 Mm.
FAQ
What is the Creality Falcon A1 Pro's bed size?
358 × 268 mm (14.1 × 10.6 inches) - Creality's own published working area for the 20 W Pro model. The cheaper Falcon A1 10W (no Pro) actually has a larger 305 × 381 mm bed, so going Pro buys more power, a camera and autofocus, not more room.
What power and speed cuts 3 mm basswood on the Creality Falcon A1 Pro?
An independent review of this exact 20 W machine logged 100% power at 200 mm/min for a single clean pass through 3 mm basswood, with air assist on. That is a starting point, not a guarantee - run a small test on your own sheet first, since batches of basswood vary.
Can the Creality Falcon A1 Pro cut clear acrylic?
No. The Falcon A1 Pro's main laser is a 20 W diode at around 450 nm, and clear acrylic is transparent to that wavelength, so the beam passes straight through instead of cutting it. Creality's own materials list for this machine specifies dark, opaque acrylic for exactly that reason. Clear acrylic needs a CO2 laser.
What is the difference between the Falcon A1 and the Falcon A1 Pro?
The Pro steps up from a 10 W to a 20 W blue diode, adds an optional 2 W infrared module for marking metal and plastics, and adds a touchscreen, Wi-Fi app control and AI camera autofocus. It does not add bed size - the standard 10 W Falcon A1 actually has the larger working area of the two, at 305 × 381 mm against the Pro's 358 × 268 mm.
Does the Creality Falcon A1 Pro need marking spray for metal?
For bare or polished metal, yes. The base 20 W blue diode reflects off steel, aluminium and brass and cannot mark them alone; a marking spray gives the beam something to fuse into instead. Anodised aluminium is the exception - the blue diode marks it directly by burning off the dyed coating, no spray needed. Creality's optional 2 W infrared module is built for metal marking if you do this often and want to skip the spray.