My xTool S1 Cost Me $1,800 in Beginner Mistakes (Read This Before Buying)

It was 11:42 on a Thursday night, and the smell of scorched birch plywood had just drifted upstairs. My wife paused the TV show she was watching to give me that look—the one that says please tell me that's part of the design.

It was not part of the design.

The custom wooden tags I'd been cutting for a $120 order had come out beautiful on the top and burned on the back. Every single one. The culprit? Not the laser. Not the settings. It was the missing honeycomb panel—the cheap piece of metal grid I'd decided was an upsell.

If you're new to laser machines, or if you're sitting at midnight searching the same things I searched back then—"lasercutter metall," "laser welder manufacturers," "can you laser engrave ceramic"—maybe my story will save you a few hundred dollars and a lot of embarrassment.

Why I bought the xTool S1

I run a small side business with my wife. She designs custom wedding favors and small merchandise; I'm the production department. That means I bought the machine, I loaded the materials, and I did the increasingly frantic Google searches.

Before the S1, we outsourced everything. Keychains, signs, engraved glass—we paid $3–6 per piece, waited two or three weeks per batch, and watched our margins disappear. To be fair, outsourcing still makes sense for some things: 500 business cards run $35–60 at online printers (14pt cardstock, double-sided, standard turnaround, based on publicly listed prices from January 2025), and 1,000 flyers cost $80–150. There's no way to beat that at home without a printing press.

But custom engraving is different. A machine you own is free to run, aside from materials and electricity. So in late 2024, I bought the xTool S1 with the 20W module. I don't recall the exact sale price—don't hold me to it—but it was under $1,000 at the time. My reasoning was simple: control the timeline, control the cost.

That reasoning was sound. The execution? Not so much.

The honeycomb panel was my first mistake

The honeycomb panel is a metal grid that sits underneath your material. When the laser cuts through, the beam exits into those hexagonal gaps instead of reflecting off whatever is underneath. It also helps air assist push smoke and debris out of the cut, which means cleaner edges and less charring.

I skipped it. I used the stock slats that came with the machine. Here's what that did:

• The beam reflected off the slats and left ghost marks on the back of my pieces
• Smoke got trapped under the material and scorched the bottom edges
• On acrylic, it created micro-cracks; on wood, it looked like a blowtorch attachment had been installed

That $120 tag order? Every piece had a dark, burned pattern on the back. I shipped them anyway because there was no time to re-cut, and I still feel bad about it.

So here's the first thing I'd tell any new owner: buy the xTool S1 honeycomb panel. It's not a luxury accessory—it's part of the system. I finally ordered one after the tag incident, and it fixed 90% of my quality problems overnight. (I don't remember the exact price, but I think it was around $60–70. Check current pricing—these things change.)

What I got wrong about laser modules

The xTool S1 is modular. You can swap laser modules depending on the job. I started with the 20W module and later added the 40W because I wanted to cut thicker wood.

What I didn't understand is that the modules aren't just "more power than the previous one." They behave differently:

• The 20W gives finer detail and is excellent for engraving and thin materials. I use it for text-heavy work.
• The 40W cuts faster and handles thicker wood, but it leaves a wider kerf—the cut width is larger, so fine details can burn away at full power.
• For engraving with the 40W, run lower power and higher speed. Crank it to 100% and you'll crater the surface.

Take this with a grain of salt—I'm not a laser technician. The presets in the xTool software are a good starting point. What I recommend is keeping a settings journal. I wasted about $200 in wood planks before I started writing down which power/speed combo worked on which material.

'Lasercutter metall' is a trap (I fell for it)

About two months in, a client asked if I could cut custom metal tags. I didn't know if a diode laser could do it, so I went to Google. At some point, the autocomplete led me to a German forum thread about lasercutter metall—German for "laser cutter metal." I spent the better part of a week convinced I'd bought the wrong machine.

Here's the short answer: a diode laser like the xTool S1 cannot cut bare metal with the standard 20W or 40W modules.

Why? Diode lasers emit light around 450nm (blue light). Bare metal reflects most of that wavelength instead of absorbing it. You get a reflection hazard (wear laser safety goggles) and, at best, a weak, slow discoloration. Industrial metal cutting uses fiber lasers or CO₂ lasers at much higher output and different wavelengths—the kind of equipment you'd encounter when searching for laser welder manufacturers. Those are not the same tools, and they cost 10–100x more.

What the S1 can do with metal:

• Engrave anodized aluminum (the beam removes the coating and leaves a light mark)
• Engrave powder-coated or painted metal
• Mark stainless steel with a marking spray like CerMark (results at 40W are okay, not great, in my experience)

So if "lasercutter metall" is your search because you want to cut steel sheets on a desktop budget: that's not this machine. If you need metal engraving on thin coated items, the S1 can do it—with the right prep.

Can you laser engrave ceramic? Yes—but not the way I thought

A local coffee shop asked if I could engrave 30 branded ceramic mugs. I said yes because I'd engraved glass successfully (20W module, low speed, rotary jig). I assumed ceramic would behave the same way.

It didn't.

Glazed ceramic absorbs the diode laser energy unevenly. The glaze heats up, expands, and flakes off. I went through seven test mugs (don't tell my wife how many) before I found a combination that worked: lower power—around 40% on the 20W module—with a faster speed and multiple passes. The mark isn't deep. It's more of a frosted color change in the glaze than an engraved groove. On unglazed or matte ceramic, it's even fainter.

The xTool S1 rotary attachment helped with the mug curvature, but I still had to re-focus manually for each mug because the surface distance changes as it rotates. It was fiddly, it took hours, and by the end, the profit margin was almost gone. We delivered all 30 mugs on time, and the shop still orders from us. Worth it in the end? Yes. But I should have tested first and quoted accordingly.

So, can you laser engrave ceramic with an xTool S1? Yes, if by "engrave" you mean a subtle frosted mark and if you're willing to test patiently. No, if you expect deep, carved lines. And never skip the test pieces.

I almost bought a laser welder by accident

This one still makes me laugh. Somewhere between the metal research and the ceramic fiasco, I got the idea that maybe I should have bought a machine that does everything—cut, engrave, and weld. My search history literally included the phrase "laser welder manufacturers."

Here's the thing that took me a while to understand: laser welding and laser engraving are not the same technology. A laser welder uses a focused beam to melt and fuse metal. It's used in manufacturing, tooling, and jewelry repair. Even the compact units from reputable laser welder manufacturers cost several thousand dollars. They're for pinpoint heat, not for raster engraving a logo onto a wooden keychain.

I was essentially asking whether a sewing machine can knit a sweater. Different mechanism, different purpose. If anyone else is having this moment of confusion: keep your diode laser for engraving and cutting. If you need metal welding, find a local welder or buy a dedicated machine—don't expect one box to do both.

The order that turned it around

The turning point arrived as a wedding favor order: 50 wooden keychains and 50 ceramic coasters, with a name and date engraved on each. The planner needed everything in three weeks. My first instinct was to say no, because the ceramic fiasco was fresh.

Instead, I made a deal with myself: one full day of testing, and I wouldn't touch the real materials until the tests looked right. That day turned into my pre-job checklist:

1. Swapped in the 20W module for the keychains (finer detail, less charring)
2. Put the honeycomb panel in place (yes, for cutting the keychain blanks)
3. Tested the ceramic coasters at five different power/speed combinations on cheap tiles
4. Let each test piece cool completely before inspecting—thermal cracks show up after cooling
5. Wrote down every usable setting in the journal before starting the real batch

The keychains took about four minutes each. The coasters took eight minutes each at the "frosted" setting I'd accidentally found at 40% power. The order went out on time. The planner was happy. The roughly $700 profit from that job paid for the honeycomb panel, the rotary attachment, and a chunk of the 40W module.

Honestly? I'm so glad I tested that day. I was one "let's just send it" decision away from shipping 50 cracked ceramic coasters to a very stressed wedding planner.

What I'd tell myself on day one

It took me six months and around $1,800 in wasted materials, replacement pieces, and one genuinely avoidable oven-cleaner experiment (don't ask) to understand that the machine was never the problem—my expectations were.

The xTool S1 is a seriously capable desktop laser. It's not an industrial metal cutter, it's not a welder, and it's not magic. The accessories you skip are usually the ones you need. The settings you don't test are the ones that burn. Also: ventilate your workspace and wear the safety glasses—this is a tool, not a toy.

I've kept a mistake journal since that wedding favor order. It has 47 entries now. Every one of them taught me more than the successes did.

If you're new to this, here's the short version of everything I learned:

Buy the honeycomb panel before you even start. Learn what each module does before you swap it. Don't search for "lasercutter metall" unless you're ready for the answer. Yes, you can engrave ceramic, but test on cheap tiles first. No, you don't need a laser welder for this.

I still take small orders. I always will. The vendors who treated my $200 orders seriously when I was starting out are the ones I still hire for bigger jobs today. That's how I treat every $50 keychain customer, too. Small doesn't mean unimportant—it means potential.

And if you're reading this at midnight, the S1 still in its box, wondering where to start: start with a test piece. Write down what happens. Own your mistakes before your clients do.

It'll save you about $1,800. Trust me.