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xTool F1 settings — engrave & cut cheat sheet
The xTool F1 pairs a 10 W 455 nm diode laser with a 2 W 1064 nm infrared laser on an industrial galvo head, so one small enclosed machine covers both organic materials and bare metal. These are starting points from xTool's own published material data, not results from testing this machine ourselves — run a test grid before committing to a real piece.
xTool F1 settings (laser / power % / speed mm/s / passes / lines per cm)
The F1 is a galvo machine — a steerable mirror aims the beam instead of a gantry moving the head — so xTool's own software sets speed in millimetres per second (mm/s), not the mm/min used on this site's gantry-based machines like the D1 Pro or S1. The numbers below come from xTool's own published material-settings data, filtered to the two exact laser specs the F1 ships with: the 10 W 455 nm diode and the 2 W 1064 nm infrared. Treat them as a starting point and confirm on scrap with a material test grid before a real job.
| Material | Job | Laser | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basswood 3 mm | Cut | Diode 10 W | 90% / 3 mm/s / 1 pass |
| Basswood 3 mm | Engrave | Diode 10 W | 100% / 300 mm/s / 1 pass / 100 LPC |
| Leather, thin (~0.5 mm) | Cut | Diode 10 W | 90% / 10 mm/s / 1 pass |
| Leather, thin (~0.5 mm) | Engrave | Diode 10 W | 100% / 500 mm/s / 1 pass / 120 LPC |
| Slate (rock coaster) | Engrave | Diode 10 W | 100% / 500 mm/s / 1 pass / 90 LPC |
| Slate (rock coaster) | Engrave | Infrared 2 W | 100% / 100 mm/s / 1 pass / 240 LPC |
| Card / corrugated paper | Score | Diode 10 W | 75% / 110 mm/s / 1 pass |
| Card / corrugated paper | Engrave | Diode 10 W | 50% / 300 mm/s / 1 pass / 100 LPC |
| Dark acrylic 3 mm | Cut | Diode 10 W | 100% / 2 mm/s / 1 pass |
| Dark acrylic | Engrave | Infrared 2 W | 90% / 200 mm/s / 1 pass / 200 LPC |
| Stainless steel | Engrave | Infrared 2 W | 50% / 550 mm/s / 1 pass / 200 LPC |
| Aluminium | Engrave | Infrared 2 W | 100% / 600 mm/s / 1 pass / 200 LPC |
| Coated metal (business card) | Engrave | Diode 10 W | 100% / 400 mm/s / 1 pass / 160 LPC |
Anodised aluminium: xTool does not list it by name. Both lasers mark it, because what you remove is the dyed oxide layer, not the metal: start from the aluminium row above and adjust power in 5% steps on a spare piece.
Only one laser fires at a time. The diode and infrared sources cannot run together; XCS switches between them per layer, and which one you pick depends on the material, not the job type.
Get an exact price for the xTool F1
Settings tell you the power and speed; turning that into a price means multiplying job time by your hourly rate and adding material and setup. Run your engrave or cut time through the laser engraving time calculator, then use the calculator to turn that time into a full quote.
Blanks sized for the F1
The F1 works piece by piece in a 115 × 115 mm field, so its running cost is blanks, not sheets. These are the items its two lasers are built for: metal for the infrared, the rest for the diode.
Stainless steel dog tag blanks: Check price on Amazon ↗
Anodised aluminium business cards: Check price on Amazon ↗
Slate coasters: Check price on Amazon ↗
Leather keychain 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.
Engraving area: what actually fits
The xTool F1's working area is 115 × 115 mm, extendable to 115 × 400 mm with the optional slide extension; maximum object height under the lid is 113 mm. That is a small footprint next to the site's gantry machines, and it decides what actually goes under the lid in one pass.
| Common item | Size | On this machine |
|---|---|---|
| Business card | 85 × 54 mm | Fits |
| Dog tag | 50 × 28 mm | Fits |
| Phone case | ~150 × 75 mm | Needs the slide extension (115 × 400 mm) |
| A6 sheet | 105 × 148 mm | Needs the slide extension (115 × 400 mm) |
| A5 sheet | 148 × 210 mm | Does not fit — its short edge (148 mm) beats the fixed 115 mm axis even with the extension |
| Tumbler (with rotary) | ~90 mm diameter | Fits — needs the RA2 Pro rotary attachment |
| 300 × 300 mm board | 300 × 300 mm | Does not fit — this is not a sheet-cutting machine |
For anything in the “does not fit” rows, look at a gantry machine instead — the xTool S1 has a 498 × 319 mm bed built for full sheets.
What the xTool F1 cannot do
Knowing the hard limits saves more time than any settings tweak:
- No metal cutting, marking only. The 2 W infrared laser darkens or lightly ablates a metal's surface; it does not have the power to cut metal at any setting.
- No clear acrylic or glass. The 455 nm diode beam passes straight through transparent material, the same physics as every diode machine on this site. Coated or dark glass can be marked; clear glass needs a coating trick or a different laser entirely.
- Cutting is thin-material only. Officially rated for around 3 mm basswood and thin dark acrylic, and only at full power and walking-pace speed — this is not a sheet-cutting machine, and thicker stock will not go through in one pass.
- Small bed unless you add accessories. 115 × 115 mm stock only, 113 mm object height; anything bigger needs the slide extension or the RA2 Pro rotary.
Troubleshooting: symptom, cause, fix
| Symptom | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| XCS cannot find the F1 over Wi-Fi | The F1 only supports 2.4 GHz, not 5 GHz, and dislikes special characters in the network name | Switch the router to 2.4 GHz, rename the SSID to plain characters, turn off any VPN, or connect over USB-C instead. |
| Auto-focus fails or times out | Auto-focus works by photographing the bed and uploading it to XCS; a weak or dropped Wi-Fi link breaks that step | Move closer to the router or switch to a direct USB-C connection for the session. |
| Firmware update stalls or fails partway | Connection dropped mid-update | Restart both XCS and the machine, then retry the update over USB-C rather than Wi-Fi. |
| Nothing happens on the material | Wrong laser selected in XCS — infrared picked for wood, or diode picked for bare metal | Check the Laser Type parameter first: diode for wood, leather, paper and dark acrylic; infrared for bare or coated metal. |
| Metal mark comes out grey and faint, not black | Speed too high or power too low for that metal's oxidation point | Drop speed or raise power in 5% steps and re-test on a spare piece. |
| Grinding or screeching noise, beam will not fire | Galvo motor or laser module fault, not a settings problem | Stop the job and contact xTool support for repair or replacement rather than working around it. |
If Wi-Fi keeps dropping mid-job specifically, also check that your router is not on a 10.0.0.x address range — a handful of F1 owners have reported that range causing repeated disconnects where 192.168.0.x worked fine.
Material cost per item
The F1 works piece by piece rather than sheet by sheet, so cost per item comes from small-format blanks — a business card, a dog tag, a coaster — rather than nesting parts across a full board. Buy stock sized for the 115 × 115 mm bed (or 115 × 400 mm with the slide extension) instead of cutting standard sheet stock down to fit, and see where to buy laser materials for suppliers who stock these smaller formats.
FAQ
Should I use the diode or the infrared laser for a material?
Use the 10 W diode (455 nm, blue) for organic and light materials: wood, leather, paper, card, slate and cutting dark acrylic. Use the 2 W infrared laser (1064 nm) for bare and coated metal: stainless steel, aluminium, brass, copper, silver and gold, plus some plastics. xTool's own settings even split dark acrylic between the two lasers: the diode cuts it, the infrared engraves it. Only one laser fires at a time, and XCS switches between them by material, not job type.
Can the xTool F1 cut clear acrylic or glass?
No. Neither laser is absorbed the way it needs to be. The 455 nm diode passes straight through transparent acrylic and glass, and the 2 W infrared laser is too weak to cut either one even though it can mark some plastics and coated or dark glass. For clear acrylic or glass cutting you need a CO2 laser.
What is dot duration on the xTool F1?
Dot duration is how long the laser fires at each point during bitmap (photo or dithered) engraving, measured in microseconds. xTool's own published F1 settings run from around 150 microseconds on stainless steel and slate up to 450 microseconds on wood and coasters — longer dwell burns deeper and darker but slows the job, shorter is faster and lighter. It only applies in bitmap engrave mode; vector jobs are controlled by speed and power instead.
What is lines per cm (LPC) on the xTool F1?
Lines per cm sets how many raster lines the galvo draws per centimetre when vector-engraving a filled area — it is the F1's resolution control. xTool's published F1 settings run from about 90 LPC on slate to 200 LPC and more on metal. Higher LPC gives finer detail and takes longer to run; raise it only until banding disappears, since more than that just costs machine time nobody will see.
How much does it cost to run the xTool F1?
Laser jobs are priced by machine time: engrave or mark time, worked out from speed, passes and area, multiplied by your hourly rate, plus setup. Run the job through the free engraving time calculator, then multiply by your hourly rate and add material and setup.