xTool P2 55W Desktop CO2 Laser Cutter: specs, value

xTool P2 55W Desktop CO2 Laser Cutter evaluation

Laser chopping is taking the maker world by storm, the identical means that 3D printing had years in the past. What was as soon as a distinct segment pastime by those that have been comfy developing their very own lasers piecemeal has now opened up because of ready-to-use laser machines that anybody can buy.

Whereas Glowforge might be some of the well-known ready-to-use lasers on the market, it is from the one one.

That is why we’re excited to try xTool’s P2 55W Desktop CO2 Laser Cutter. It is an all-in-one machine that has the prospect to revolutionize at-home laser work.

Earlier than I get all the way down to speaking about my private expertise with the P2 Laser, here is a handful of helpful specs that it is best to in all probability know earlier than we get began.

I could be a little skittish with regards to establishing unfamiliar instruments. That is doubly true for something giant or inherently harmful. The P2 weighs nearly 100 lbs and is roofed in a bunch of stickers warning you to not catch your work space on fireplace or shoot a laser into your eyeball — so I used to be a bit hesitant to get began.

I used to be instantly overwhelmed once I lastly obtained time to unbox the P2. Nonetheless, in hindsight, I did not must be. Because it seems, xTool has made a product nearly anybody can arrange.

When you get your P2 out of the field — in all probability probably the most troublesome process of the whole setup course of — it solely takes about 20 minutes to get your laser operational. That is distinctive, whether or not you are very keen or nervous, because it means you will transfer by means of the annoying setup steps nearly instantly.

xTool P2 55W Desktop CO2 Laser Cutter evaluation – – Popping open the again to verify the laser tube

The setup consists principally of doing a number of fast checks to make sure your gantry and laser head transfer freely, confirming your laser tube is not cracked, filling your reservoir with purified (or distilled) water and antifreeze, and attaching your exhaust hose.

Accessing the reservoir tank is finished by eradicating eleven screws, popping off the again cowl, and unscrewing the cap to the tank. Whereas xTool would not furnish the distilled water you will want, it does give you antifreeze and a helpful funnel.

When including the antifreeze, it’s essential to seek the advice of a helpful chart to determine how a lot so as to add. That is necessary in the event you plan to accommodate your laser in unheated or under-heated workspaces like a storage or basement workshop.

As soon as you have obtained your fluids within the machine, it is time to get calibrating. I used to be anticipating calibration to be an actual nightmare — kind of the identical means that calibrating a 3D printer will be arduous — however it wasn’t. I assume a few of this was luck, as my P2 did not require a whole lot of fussing. Nonetheless, calibrating a laser cutter is much less fiddly than a 3D printer.

You may want to attach your machine to a pc by way of USB to calibrate. There isn’t any means round this, which suggests in the event you’re a desktop person, you’ll want to transfer your desktop briefly into your workspace, even in the event you plan on utilizing the machine wirelessly along with your iPad.

Utilizing xTool Inventive Area, you merely set your laser head to the decrease proper nook. Then, apply a masking tape over the opening on the laser head. Shut the lid of your laser, pulse a couple of times — not too many occasions, as you possibly can set the tape on fireplace — and see the place your mark lands.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – Calibrating the laser entails making an attempt to not mild a chunk of masking tape on fireplace

You are good if it hits inside 3mm of heart on the opening. If not, you have obtained some fiddly work forward. You may must seize the included screwdriver and hex key and regulate your mirror till you will get your laser to burn a gap in the course of the tape.

Happily, xTool has an amazing video that exhibits what you will must do in the event you deviate exterior that vary.

Mine was barely off-center — undoubtedly inside the 3mm vary — , however I nonetheless fussed with it a bit to see if I might get it even nearer to the middle. It took me about three minutes in complete to get the outcomes I needed, bringing the overall setup time — not together with breaks — to below 20 minutes.

Earlier than I get into the precise product, I need to speak about xTool Inventive Area, or XCS for brief. XCS is the software program that xTool has designed for use along side its merchandise for calibration and creating tasks.

I used to be blown away by how straightforward XCS is to make use of, no matter whether or not I used to be utilizing it on my iMac or iPad. It has a quite simple interface that’s intuitive to make use of.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – Laying out a minimize file in xTool Inventive Area on iPad

As a result of I’ve some expertise with 3D printer, design, and CAD software program, I did not really feel like I wanted to search for any tutorials. Nonetheless, do you have to want additional assist, the web is filled with tutorials for utilizing XCS, together with many from xTool.

Beginning a undertaking is as straightforward as snapping an image of the supplies in your undertaking mattress with the xTool digicam. Then, you drag your undertaking file into it, place it on the fabric, and ensure your settings are appropriate. Adjusting settings is finished simply inside the right-hand sidebar.

After that, you simply must press course of, begin, after which hit the button in your xTool P2 — that is it.

If you would like, you possibly can even design tasks in XCS, although the instruments could be a little rudimentary. I discovered that it’s a bit simpler to design in Adobe Illustrator or comparable program, save out as a .SVG, and import into XCS.

You are not beholden to XCS, both. Like many 3D printers, xTool means that you can use different software program to function their machines. Many individuals are very loyal to Lightburn, however within the curiosity of transparency, I by no means bothered to make use of it. I discovered XCS greater than sufficient for my wants.

You is likely to be questioning what you are able to do with the xTool P2 — and rightfully so. Based on xTool, you possibly can minimize and engrave paper, wooden, acrylic, leather-based, cardboard, MDF, felt, and rubber — however this is not an exhaustive checklist.

I personally have tried wooden, paper, chipboard, cardboard, and acrylic throughout my check. Nonetheless, a fast scouring of the web exhibits you may as well minimize and engrave cloth, slate, mylar, marble, tile, and glass.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – Engraving on the entrance of a chipboard pocket book

Nonetheless, it is price noting that there are some things you can not minimize with any CO2 laser, P2, or different.

Don’t try to engrave or minimize galvanized metals, as they’re coated in zinc. When heated, zinc off-gasses a really poisonous gasoline.

Chopping most plastics will not work, both. Not solely do they soften somewhat than minimize cleanly, however in addition they are inclined to catch fireplace. ABS, HDPE, and polycarbonate can’t be used with laser cutters. Moreover, PVC off gasses harmful chlorine gasoline which isn’t solely hazardous to anybody who breathes it in, additionally it is corrosive to metallic, which is not good to your machine.

Laser chopping goes to create smoke, which you will must take care of. The most cost effective approach to take care of that is merely to toss your exhaust hose out of your window. When you’ve got a everlasting location to your machine, you would possibly need to add a wall vent.

These aren’t the one choices, although — you may as well look into shopping for a devoted air filter. xTool was good sufficient to ship its smoke air purifier — or air filter — alongside the P2.

The smoke air purifier is a PC-tower-sized field you hook as much as your vent. It has a three-stage filter system that pulls the air out of your laser by means of the highest and out by means of the entrance.

It is extremely easy — there is a knob on the aspect that controls how a lot suction the filter makes use of, an influence swap on the again, and a lid to drag out and substitute your filters as wanted.

Setup is tremendous straightforward, too. You simply connect the vent hose out of your laser cutter to the highest of the air filter, tighten the metallic bracket across the hose, and also you’re executed. If you want, you possibly can even vent the purified air by way of a second hose, do you have to determine to.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – The Smoke Air purifier below the laser desk

The highest layer of the filter is designed to seize giant particles. This layer is washable and goes to get the dirtiest first.

The second layer is a HEPA honeycomb construction that xTool says filters out 99.97% of 0.03m particles. The third layer is an activated carbon filter. This layer is designed to soak up dangerous gasses and unsightly odors.

How typically you alter your filter will enormously rely upon how typically you run your laser and what you are chopping. There is not something on the filter itself to inform you when it must be modified — no lights, no little show — so you will need to depend on a spot verify of the highest filter.

I assumed the smoke air purifier labored fairly properly. It is loud however not deafeningly so, and definitely not a lot louder than the P2 itself. I had already resolved to put on listening to safety across the laser- it by no means hurts to be overly cautious- so I wasn’t too bothered. That stated, I would not run it whereas the youngsters are napping or in the event you plan on taking an necessary cellphone name the following room over.

The smoke air purifier isn’t an inexpensive accent by any means — at $800, it’s a appreciable funding. Substitute filters aren’t low cost, both — it prices $136 to switch all three filters.

Nonetheless, in the event you can’t externally vent your laser in your workspace or need to cut back the quantity of dangerous emissions your laser makes, it isn’t a nasty concept to choose one up.

As soon as I obtained every little thing arrange, which once more — solely took me a couple of half hour — I used to be prepared to begin my first undertaking. I made a decision to begin with one thing fairly easy — a set of wood coasters.

I opened up xTool XCS, and the P2 robotically despatched me an image of the chopping mattress. This allowed me to see precisely the place to position my minimize information.

I’ll say that as a result of it’s a wide-angle lens, there is a tiny little bit of distortion. For many tasks, this is not going to be an issue.

However, in the event you’re doing cuts that want a whole lot of precision — say, in the event you’re utilizing materials that you’ve got already minimize shapes from earlier than — you possibly can select a precision snapshot that makes use of the digicam hooked up to the top of the laser.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – Because it seems, a laser cuts 3mm basswood very, in a short time

As soon as I had a transparent image of the 3-millimeter basswood I needed to chop, all I needed to do was drag my minimize file, an .SVG, to the fabric, place it how I needed, and press course of. Then, after urgent “begin,” I simply needed to hit the shiny silver button on the P2.

From begin to end, the 4 wood coasters solely took a few minutes to chop. The laser shortly labored on such a fancy undertaking — I used to be considerably shocked. Because it seems, chopping could be very, very fast.

My subsequent undertaking was one I would needed to do for some time. I needed to make a bit of keychain of a cease signal. So, this time I headed to Adobe Illustrator, designed a cease signal, and imported it into XCS. After a fast search of easy methods to correctly engrave acrylic, I arrange a multi-step engrave-and-cut undertaking.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – engraving clear acrylic leads to a neat frosted glass impact

I hit the massive silver button on the P2, and 7 minutes later, I had my keychain. The frosted impact was unimaginable, and I marveled on the precision.

From there, I minimize and engraved many issues: geometric jewellery, a coffin-shaped trinket field, a wood jewellery stand, some acrylic lights, and extra. Each time, I used to be impressed with the velocity and precision of the machine.

That being stated, that does not imply I did not have failures. The failures appeared apparent in hindsight, however hindsight is 20/20, so I will not fault myself too badly there.

I had initially needed to make a puzzle out of basswood for my dad. I began the undertaking by engraving an AI-generated picture of a canine I created in XCS. The engraving took about 45 minutes as a result of it was very detailed.

After it was completed engraving, it started the minimize — and that is the place I would actually screwed up. You see, the xTool P2 comes with a slatted base, which simply so occurred to be in regards to the width of a puzzle piece.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – Errors have been made

When the laser started chopping, items fell by means of the slats to the ground of the laser mattress and have been shortly ignited by the laser because it repeated passes over the identical space.

Sure, I began a small fireplace three or 4 tasks in. Nonetheless, the fireplace went out once I turned off the laser. So, to its credit score, the machine does a reasonably good job of not permitting small flames to get out of hand shortly. That being stated, conserving a hearth extinguisher close by is a great concept.

I additionally realized that even when sanded, acrylic would not adhere to itself very properly with normal CA glue. Because it seems, you want particular glue that successfully welds the acrylic to itself.

My final lesson was one I ought to have in all probability predicted getting into. Nonetheless, in my pleasure to start a residing hinge undertaking, I scaled down my guide field undertaking to suit inside a sheet of basswood. The problem was that I did not understand that scaling it down additionally scaled down the holes, which have been correctly sized for a 3-millimeter materials thickness.

So, after I used to be executed, I realized that each gap in my undertaking was now about 1.5mm too small for the tabs. Whereas this was annoying, it was fixable and required me to take rotary instruments and hand-widen the slots. So, not my best second, however definitely not sufficient to show me off of laser chopping.

Once I began this evaluation, I struggled with recommending a product that prices north of $4,000. That is a substantial price, particularly in the event you’ve not delved into laser chopping already.

Nonetheless, it is laborious not to advocate the P2, too. As somebody who all the time dreamed of utilizing a laser cutter however had zero expertise, I am unable to say sufficient constructive issues about it.

I’ve solely spent a number of weeks with it, however I’ve already obtained family and friends asking if they’ll pay me to chop tasks for them. I have already got Mom’s Day and Father’s Day presents deliberate out. I’ve already provide you with dozens of concepts for tasks I am unable to wait to begin on.

xTool P2 Laser evaluation – An engraved acrylic lamp

A fast journey to Etsy exhibits that the typical price of a laser undertaking file is below $5. Supplies, whereas not filth low cost, aren’t terribly costly, both. After I blew by means of the acrylic sheets xTool offered, I replenished my inventory with 40 new sheets for $31.

In the end, in the event you’re available in the market for a laser cutter and have the house for it, the xTool P2 is incredible. That is very true in the event you plan on utilizing it to create tasks you will promote. I might see the xTool paying for itself — and its repairs — very quickly flat.

You possibly can snag the xTool P2 55W Desktop CO2 Laser Cutter from xTool’s web site for a limited-time value of $4,299, which is down from its common value of $4,999. It is available in Area Grey and Pearl White.

Alternatively, xTool by way of Amazon shares the P2 55W Laser, however for $100 extra at press time.

A phrase about scores: It may be troublesome to assign a easy score to sure objects — I might argue that this product could be nearer to a 3 for a median crafter and a 5 for somebody who plans on creating an element or full-time gig out of laser chopping.

In the end, I selected to provide it a 4 out of 5 due to its versatility and ease of use juxtaposed with its excessive price and enormous dimension.

• Quick setup time
• Enclosed system
• Newbie pleasant
• Twin digicam system
• 55W laser able to chopping thick supplies
• Loads of add-ons to increase capabilities

• Costly startup price
• Requires exterior venting or devoted air filter for a further $800 buy
• Giant dimension might restrict the place you possibly can place it