There is a whole lot You could add in the video that related to the DIODE laser as a whole. Maintenance, spare part availability (laser head, focal lenses, protective lenses etc. (they are expensive and hard to get with some diode brands)) and price, long cut times, improper air assist (you should use an air compressor to get good results FYI). And NO ONE is talking about this point at all. Because if You dip Your head inside this exact problem, You will understand how disgusting it is. Right now, i looked for the s1 spare parts. All i see is the protective glass for 15$ that is sold as "laser lens". First off, you can buy like 20 of those for 5$ and they will work fine, considering this is a consumable, its quartz glass protective piece (it is not a lens), but what i do not see is a focusing lens. That part is a consumable and You cannot purchase it. The most crucial part of the lase besides the laser module itself. Your laser head goes bust? well, that will cost 1k+ to change or beg the suport to send you the focal lens. Everything you do to overcome the limitations of the machine by taping or spraying takes a lot of time and additional resources to make. The price for this piece of tech is on par with a diy co2 laser. I had been waiting for 6 months (no joke) for a new laser head from China and in this time built a co2 laser. It's not night and day. It's earth and moon in terms of how quick, accurate and hands off this is. A good air compressor is not only for the charring. It is a fire safety system. i have seen to many posts with co2 lasers and alike with small fishtanks combust when unattended. That is because of the air assist being too weak. All in all, i like the honesty. I stopped watching youtube in regards to laser cutting, because its all about those crappy diodes and compact co2 lasers with stupid hard to find tubes.
Great Job Tom. I purchased the laser a few weeks ago, and agree needs a handle. I 3d printed a handle for the 40w moduler. Works perfectly. I agree no camera, what is with this. So, I'm in the process of working on a camera installation. First, finding a camera that works with this bed size. I tried an older camera I had, it wokred, but I have a new camera coming that has greater FOV. We shall see, the hardest part, figuring out the mounting location for the best location,. I have it woking with lightburn, and created a few macros so that I can control the laser with the lid open. Again, great job.
Its aliment system is actually more precise because there is no parallax like with cameras. It's the same system used on high end commercial CO2 lasers that cost $5,000-$10,000
Finally, an honest review! Every other content maker who receives an Xtool laser sings the praises of Xtool, almost in a cult-like manner. Im not a hater, I have 2 Xtool lasers, with very few problems.
Have you seen the phone app that lets you take a picture of the stock as you've placed it in the S1 and then see that in XCS? I know it will let you align multiple items like pencils or something. Not sure if it will do the trick for bigger stuff.
Perfect review. Exactly the info I been looking for. I have learned the hard way about reviewers not mentioning the bad or leaving critical info out. Thanks
1.36 - Let me disagree with you... I started working with a Sculpfun S30 5 watt laser engraver, in a year of its work it has paid off the money invested in it many times and has ceased to satisfy the requests for the volume of work. Now I have bought an XTOOL S1 40W laser and an IR laser, which will be delivered soon. The little Sculpfun S30 made me enough money and earned me enough for the big XTOOL S1. Hopefully the XTOOL S1 will bring me even more profit.. ---- Thanks for the review and good luck!
@@mathieusimard We have a family souvenir shop.. Xtool S1 came, started working - the speed of work increased 2-8 times, the quality of engraving by an order of magnitude.. According to my modest calculations, the payback period will be 3-6 months.
Wowww finally someone telling a real and honest review. All other UA-camrs speak as if it were the invention of the century, these machines are great but don't do miracles.
Tom, I don’t upcycle, so I have only watched your game videos. I have to say, first, you have the THE best logo ever. Hands down (or head down). I think it is great that you started with the challenges/drawbacks. Another is the speed. If each of your items takes 1/2hr to an hr, as a side hustle it will be a slow slog. Look forward to seeing your chotchies (sp).
Thanks Tom for the review. I always wanted a laser cutter but could not justify the expense since I'm just crafting for myself and a few family members. After watching this review I decided I'm probably too stupid to figure all the adjustments out😂plus no good place to put it.
Still waiting on that followup video. Also have You by now estimated how long before the laser lens needs to be replaced on a diode laser machine? If it's non replaceable, the 40W diode module alone is 1.5K. I'm not sure one can make money with this machine but it was a fair number of uses in the shop other than engraving coasters to be sold at fairs. Here's some ideas for that follow up video. For starters You can cut router templates that are pretty accurate to within 0.1mm if You don't have a CNC machine, and this is a lot more quiet and creates less dust than a CNC. In fact, if You need to pick between a CNC and a laser cutter, I'd consider the laser to be a higher priority. Cutters get dull fast and break, laser does not (for practical comparison purposes). CNC machines need more maintenance in general, take up more space and have a higher running cost. They also need even more fiddling than lasers. Prototyping an overengineered latch mechanism for Your fold down router table extension? This will cut accurate plywood parts and they will fit together if You've designed them to. Same with all sorts of toolholders and modular drawer dividers for small parts. You can design and cut table saw jigs for compound angle cuts that would be difficult to make accurately on the table saw itself with much less material wasted as multiple nonrectangular parts can be cut from the same sheet if You spend some time rotating them and getting them all to fit, marking parts at the same time, even angle markings if the jig needs to tilt and a ruler that if jig needs to be offset, all accurate and simultaneous. Size of the S1 is sufficient for that. If You learn CAD modeling, You can combine plywood or opaque acrylic parts cut on a laser with 3D printed parts to create pretty elaborate jigs for glue-ups of clamping chair legs at difficult angles. Tamplates for furniture fixture and hinge placement - easy. If You cut them tight and press a metal bushing in the holes, You can use then not just for marking but as drilling jigs and not waste money on ones from Kreg. Buy varius size cheap beraings and You can make articulating arms that will press smaller pieces to a router table keeping Your fingers away fro the cutter or frictionless outfeed tables. Oh, and You can actually make custom PCB's for Arduino projects that control dust collection. At that point You're no longer a woodworker, but a tinkerer and that's fine as long as You're having fun designing all of it on the computer instead of sawing and sanding shit.
@@AlleyPicked cool, so the laser itself can run in an air gapped environment. What about Xtool’s “creative space” software? Can it run air gapped as well? Eg w no live/active internet connection?
@@AlleyPicked thanks, let me rephrase my question.. can all that be done without being connected to the internet/web….eg local network is air gapped from the internet..neither the pc running XCS nor the laser have network access to the internet.
Xtool a marketing company. Support sucks. Support never included in reviews. Never included horrible reviews of xtool support. Better get lucky getting it to work out of the box or……
That's a great point. I can only speak for my experience. I have 3 different xtool lasers. I have not had any hardware issues with them yet. Therefore no need for support. If you or anyone else has support issues, it's a good idea to post them on videos like mine so other people can read them. But I encourage you to be specific rather than saying things like "support sucks".
Owned the S1 for a year. It costs so much TIME to learn to use the software after each upgrade. Most expensive paperweight ever. Not having a camera causes tremendous material waste.
Completely ruins his legitimacy within the 1st 2 minutes by trying to tell the viewer it’s virtually impossible to make decent money with a machine such as the S1. I think everyone has to take such comments with a grain of salt as we have no idea where his mindset is in regard to finances, business acumen, etc. I’ve spoken with enough people who have made plenty of cash with such machines. It’s really about what YOUR mindset…not his.
@AlleyPicked I did a little over a year ago my S1 runs about 5to 6 hrs a day and with the exception of regular maintenance haven't touched the machine also it has paid for itself twice over being successful with laser engraving is not Esty or shows it's getting out there networking to pull down B2B jobs not this 1 off stuff
@@jbird28584I run a side-business, which relies pretty heavily on a laser. I agree with you. If you want to do well, it’s B2B large orders. I think most people don’t get that, and they expect to sit back and wait for Etsy orders. My advice to anybody who wants to give it a shot, is prepare to take zero profit for a while, and let it pay for itself, while you invest your time. Play the long game. Keep at it. And over time, you’ll build a customer base, word of mouth, and an online presence. (It took me almost a year to start getting little Etsy orders. I really don’t use it much, but they still come in from time to time.) If you stick with it, and you’re patient, you can build a good little income stream. If you don’t enjoy the process, maybe don’t take the leap. If you do enjoy it, you can build a hobby that pays!
you got to be using these tools , if you are a designer of something unique, which isn't offered. then you can make a profit and sell less. same as 3d printers
@Spartanthatdoesntgivearip What he expects from the laser machine, that it be flawless, all that he stated is total nonsense. Name me one machine in the world, any machine, that you have 100% efficiency with, without maintenance, additional material, adjustments, etc. I don't see any experience in this man at all, nor that he would actually talk about the laser machine, which is his first laser machine and which he has had for a few weeks..by the way, he will do everything for a few likes on UA-cam
What part of what I said was nonsense? This is my 4th machine. If you are going to be insulting, you should be specific. What did I say that was not correct?
There is a whole lot You could add in the video that related to the DIODE laser as a whole. Maintenance, spare part availability (laser head, focal lenses, protective lenses etc. (they are expensive and hard to get with some diode brands)) and price, long cut times, improper air assist (you should use an air compressor to get good results FYI). And NO ONE is talking about this point at all. Because if You dip Your head inside this exact problem, You will understand how disgusting it is. Right now, i looked for the s1 spare parts. All i see is the protective glass for 15$ that is sold as "laser lens". First off, you can buy like 20 of those for 5$ and they will work fine, considering this is a consumable, its quartz glass protective piece (it is not a lens), but what i do not see is a focusing lens. That part is a consumable and You cannot purchase it. The most crucial part of the lase besides the laser module itself. Your laser head goes bust? well, that will cost 1k+ to change or beg the suport to send you the focal lens.
Everything you do to overcome the limitations of the machine by taping or spraying takes a lot of time and additional resources to make. The price for this piece of tech is on par with a diy co2 laser. I had been waiting for 6 months (no joke) for a new laser head from China and in this time built a co2 laser. It's not night and day. It's earth and moon in terms of how quick, accurate and hands off this is. A good air compressor is not only for the charring. It is a fire safety system. i have seen to many posts with co2 lasers and alike with small fishtanks combust when unattended. That is because of the air assist being too weak. All in all, i like the honesty. I stopped watching youtube in regards to laser cutting, because its all about those crappy diodes and compact co2 lasers with stupid hard to find tubes.
Great Job Tom. I purchased the laser a few weeks ago, and agree needs a handle. I 3d printed a handle for the 40w moduler. Works perfectly. I agree no camera, what is with this. So, I'm in the process of working on a camera installation. First, finding a camera that works with this bed size. I tried an older camera I had, it wokred, but I have a new camera coming that has greater FOV. We shall see, the hardest part, figuring out the mounting location for the best location,. I have it woking with lightburn, and created a few macros so that I can control the laser with the lid open. Again, great job.
Its aliment system is actually more precise because there is no parallax like with cameras. It's the same system used on high end commercial CO2 lasers that cost $5,000-$10,000
Excellent, and much appreciated important info... thank you!
Finally, an honest review! Every other content maker who receives an Xtool laser sings the praises of Xtool, almost in a cult-like manner. Im not a hater, I have 2 Xtool lasers, with very few problems.
I agree! They are good machines but not the best thing since sliced bread as other make them out to be. Thanks for the feedback.
Have you seen the phone app that lets you take a picture of the stock as you've placed it in the S1 and then see that in XCS? I know it will let you align multiple items like pencils or something. Not sure if it will do the trick for bigger stuff.
Perfect review. Exactly the info I been looking for. I have learned the hard way about reviewers not mentioning the bad or leaving critical info out. Thanks
Good balanced and, above all, honest review. Thanks Tom.
Hi Mark, Lasers are interesting and useful but not for everyone. Thanks for tuning in.
You want them to provide items to modify your house ???
Fantastic review man! Seriously I enjoy the hard truth
1.36 - Let me disagree with you... I started working with a Sculpfun S30 5 watt laser engraver, in a year of its work it has paid off the money invested in it many times and has ceased to satisfy the requests for the volume of work. Now I have bought an XTOOL S1 40W laser and an IR laser, which will be delivered soon. The little Sculpfun S30 made me enough money and earned me enough for the big XTOOL S1.
Hopefully the XTOOL S1 will bring me even more profit..
----
Thanks for the review and good luck!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I appreciate it.
What kind of jobs do you get? And What pays the most?
@@mathieusimard We have a family souvenir shop.. Xtool S1 came, started working - the speed of work increased 2-8 times, the quality of engraving by an order of magnitude.. According to my modest calculations, the payback period will be 3-6 months.
Wowww finally someone telling a real and honest review. All other UA-camrs speak as if it were the invention of the century, these machines are great but don't do miracles.
Thanks.
Useful video, thanks Tom
Tom, I don’t upcycle, so I have only watched your game videos. I have to say, first, you have the THE best logo ever. Hands down (or head down).
I think it is great that you started with the challenges/drawbacks. Another is the speed. If each of your items takes 1/2hr to an hr, as a side hustle it will be a slow slog.
Look forward to seeing your chotchies (sp).
Thanks for watching and commenting! I also have more game and toy videos on the horizon.
Thanks Tom for the review. I always wanted a laser cutter but could not justify the expense since I'm just crafting for myself and a few family members. After watching this review I decided I'm probably too stupid to figure all the adjustments out😂plus no good place to put it.
I'm with you, donnamc.
They are fun but they do take up a lot of space. The xtool F1 is smaller but these aren't cheap. Have a good week.
Still waiting on that followup video. Also have You by now estimated how long before the laser lens needs to be replaced on a diode laser machine? If it's non replaceable, the 40W diode module alone is 1.5K.
I'm not sure one can make money with this machine but it was a fair number of uses in the shop other than engraving coasters to be sold at fairs.
Here's some ideas for that follow up video. For starters You can cut router templates that are pretty accurate to within 0.1mm if You don't have a CNC machine, and this is a lot more quiet and creates less dust than a CNC. In fact, if You need to pick between a CNC and a laser cutter, I'd consider the laser to be a higher priority. Cutters get dull fast and break, laser does not (for practical comparison purposes). CNC machines need more maintenance in general, take up more space and have a higher running cost. They also need even more fiddling than lasers. Prototyping an overengineered latch mechanism for Your fold down router table extension? This will cut accurate plywood parts and they will fit together if You've designed them to.
Same with all sorts of toolholders and modular drawer dividers for small parts. You can design and cut table saw jigs for compound angle cuts that would be difficult to make accurately on the table saw itself with much less material wasted as multiple nonrectangular parts can be cut from the same sheet if You spend some time rotating them and getting them all to fit, marking parts at the same time, even angle markings if the jig needs to tilt and a ruler that if jig needs to be offset, all accurate and simultaneous. Size of the S1 is sufficient for that.
If You learn CAD modeling, You can combine plywood or opaque acrylic parts cut on a laser with 3D printed parts to create pretty elaborate jigs for glue-ups of clamping chair legs at difficult angles. Tamplates for furniture fixture and hinge placement - easy. If You cut them tight and press a metal bushing in the holes, You can use then not just for marking but as drilling jigs and not waste money on ones from Kreg. Buy varius size cheap beraings and You can make articulating arms that will press smaller pieces to a router table keeping Your fingers away fro the cutter or frictionless outfeed tables. Oh, and You can actually make custom PCB's for Arduino projects that control dust collection. At that point You're no longer a woodworker, but a tinkerer and that's fine as long as You're having fun designing all of it on the computer instead of sawing and sanding shit.
One question that I see overlooked: is network connectivity required for the laser itself or the laser’s (assuming mfg’s software) to work.
No. You can use USB to a computer.
@@AlleyPicked cool, so the laser itself can run in an air gapped environment. What about Xtool’s “creative space” software? Can it run air gapped as well? Eg w no live/active internet connection?
Yes. When you launch the software, it tries to connect to the laser.If you have a USB connection to the laser, it finds the machine and works great.
@@AlleyPicked thanks, let me rephrase my question.. can all that be done without being connected to the internet/web….eg local network is air gapped from the internet..neither the pc running XCS nor the laser have network access to the internet.
Xtool a marketing company. Support sucks.
Support never included in reviews.
Never included horrible reviews of xtool support.
Better get lucky getting it to work out of the box or……
That's a great point. I can only speak for my experience. I have 3 different xtool lasers. I have not had any hardware issues with them yet. Therefore no need for support. If you or anyone else has support issues, it's a good idea to post them on videos like mine so other people can read them. But I encourage you to be specific rather than saying things like "support sucks".
Thank you for this! 😁
Owned the S1 for a year. It costs so much TIME to learn to use the software after each upgrade. Most expensive paperweight ever. Not having a camera causes tremendous material waste.
They make these laser seem great when they are just ok.
Completely ruins his legitimacy within the 1st 2 minutes by trying to tell the viewer it’s virtually impossible to make decent money with a machine such as the S1. I think everyone has to take such comments with a grain of salt as we have no idea where his mindset is in regard to finances, business acumen, etc. I’ve spoken with enough people who have made plenty of cash with such machines. It’s really about what YOUR mindset…not his.
Buy this machine, start a laser business -- then reply.
I agree
@AlleyPicked I did a little over a year ago my S1 runs about 5to 6 hrs a day and with the exception of regular maintenance haven't touched the machine also it has paid for itself twice over being successful with laser engraving is not Esty or shows it's getting out there networking to pull down B2B jobs not this 1 off stuff
@@jbird28584I run a side-business, which relies pretty heavily on a laser. I agree with you. If you want to do well, it’s B2B large orders. I think most people don’t get that, and they expect to sit back and wait for Etsy orders. My advice to anybody who wants to give it a shot, is prepare to take zero profit for a while, and let it pay for itself, while you invest your time. Play the long game. Keep at it. And over time, you’ll build a customer base, word of mouth, and an online presence. (It took me almost a year to start getting little Etsy orders. I really don’t use it much, but they still come in from time to time.) If you stick with it, and you’re patient, you can build a good little income stream. If you don’t enjoy the process, maybe don’t take the leap. If you do enjoy it, you can build a hobby that pays!
you got to be using these tools , if you are a designer of something unique, which isn't offered. then you can make a profit and sell less. same as 3d printers
you need to read a little bit, mean there are things called marketing and scaling your business, and be creative and love what you do.
Gonzalez Christopher Clark Scott Lewis David
So true!!!!!!
Hello, nice to connect with you🥰🥰🥰
Overpriced like the glow
If you know of a machine with similar features and a lower cost, I'm sure we'd all love to hear about it.
Have you looked at the WeCreat? ua-cam.com/video/FYIkpRzrup8/v-deo.html
There are a ton of people that had issues out of the box with the recreate new lasers
Moore Thomas Lopez Dorothy Moore Jason
Half way in and not a single detail on the s1
Bul@it
Yea. He was mostly just telling people what others shouldn’t do. All I wanna know is what are the weaknesses of the machine
@Spartanthatdoesntgivearip What he expects from the laser machine, that it be flawless, all that he stated is total nonsense. Name me one machine in the world, any machine, that you have 100% efficiency with, without maintenance, additional material, adjustments, etc. I don't see any experience in this man at all, nor that he would actually talk about the laser machine, which is his first laser machine and which he has had for a few weeks..by the way, he will do everything for a few likes on UA-cam
@@mizoo87 true
What part of what I said was nonsense? This is my 4th machine. If you are going to be insulting, you should be specific. What did I say that was not correct?
@@AlleyPicked it’s ok you don’t have to be hostile
Seems like a bunch of nit picky stuff to me.