I'm an office administrator for a 40-person manufacturing and design company. I manage the purchasing—roughly $180,000 yearly across 30 vendors—and I'm the one who ordered the xTool S1 40W when we decided to bring some prototype cutting in-house. I am not the laser engineer. I don't have a physics background. I do have a binder of settings, a measuring tape, and a lot of opinions about acrylic.
This checklist is for small business owners and other non-laser-experts who own an xTool S1 40W and need to cut acrylic and wood without turning a project into a two-day test. It's the process I wish I had before I made our first mess.
What This Checklist Covers
This is a step-by-step checklist. It assumes you already have an xTool S1 with the 40W laser module, you've done the setup, and you're using xTool Creative Space or LightBurn. If you're trying to find a cost-effective laser machine for wood, the S1 40W is a decent candidate. But this isn't a sales pitch; it's a use-the-tool-correctly guide.
If you need a metal welder, stop here. The S1 is not that. You'd be looking for a handheld laser welder for sale—that's a different machine for a different job. The S1 won't weld metal, though it can engrave coated metal.
The Checklist
Step 1: Verify Your Material
Before any settings, check what the material actually is. From the outside, acrylic is acrylic. The reality is that cast and extruded acrylic behave completely differently under a diode laser. Extruded sheets are more likely to melt, wave, and leave cloudy edges. Cast acrylic gives a cleaner, frosty white cut edge. For xTool S1 40W acrylic cutting, cast is generally the safer choice. The old 'you need CO2 for acrylic' claim comes from an era when blue-diode lasers were much weaker. A 40W diode can handle thin to medium acrylic and really good wood. It's not a miracle machine, but it is a practical one.
For wood, use birch plywood or basswood. Avoid MDF, particle board, and plywood with unknown glue—the fumes can be toxic and the cut quality is poor. If the plank doesn't say 'laser-safe,' don't assume it is. Also run the S1 in its enclosure and vent to the outside. Laser cutting produces fumes that you don't want in your lungs.
Checkpoint: Write down the material type and thickness. This goes in your settings log.
Step 2: Remove Protection and Set Focus
Remove the thin film from acrylic before cutting. It sounds obvious, but when you're busy, it's easy to forget. The film can stick to the lens and cause a haze that weakens the beam.
Then set focus. The S1 has a focus tool. Use it. A 1mm focus error is not a small thing—it's the difference between a clean edge and a sloped, burnished one. I made this mistake exactly once. The test piece looked fine from the top; the bottom wasn't cut through.
Checkpoint: Focus to the surface of the material. If you change material thickness, re-focus. There is no 'close enough.'
Step 3: xTool S1 40W Acrylic Settings (Starting Points)
Here are the xTool S1 40W acrylic settings I currently use in xTool Creative Space. These are starting points, not laws. Your machine, environment, and material batch will shift things by a few mm/s. Always run a test cut first.
| Material | Thickness | Speed (mm/s) | Power (%) | Passes | Air Assist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cast acrylic (clear/colored) | 3 mm | 6 | 95 | 1 | ON |
| Cast acrylic | 5 mm | 4 | 100 | 2 | ON |
| Birch plywood | 3 mm | 15 | 90 | 1 | ON |
| Basswood | 5 mm | 9 | 95 | 2 | ON |
These are for a clean, focused machine. If you're using LightBurn, these settings should translate; just test the first file.
Checkpoint: Add the exact settings to your log with a date and material batch number.
Step 4: Turn On Air Assist
Air assist is not a luxury. It blows away smoke and keeps the lens clear. Smoke between the beam and the material means lost power. It also reduces edge charring. Use it for every cut, not just wood.
If you're using the S1's built-in air assist or an external compressor, make sure it's switched on before you start. 'On' in software is not the same as physical airflow. We learned that after a batch of acrylic came out with soot stuck to the edges (ugh).
Checkpoint: Put your hand near the nozzle before hitting start. You should feel air moving.
Step 5: Run a Test Cut—a Real One
When I say 'test cut,' I mean cut a 20mm square, not just a single line. A line can cut through on one pass but leave a lip at corners. A square shows corner quality, edge quality, and whether the bottom is actually through. Cut it in a corner of the material or on a scrap piece from the same batch.
This is the step that 'slow' people skip and 'fast' people later regret. We've run maybe 45 jobs on ours. Maybe 50, I'd have to check the maintenance log. The ones that went wrong were the ones without a test cut.
Time certainty matters more than speed. In March 2024, we paid $400 extra for rush delivery of acrylic material because the vendor's 'expedited' option was the only way to hit a deadline. The cheaper vendor would have been 'probably on time'—and a missed trade show would have cost five figures. The $400 premium was worth it. Rush-print pricing for next-day service typically runs 50 to 100 percent above standard, based on major online printer fee structures I checked in January 2025. So the $400 surcharge wasn't shocking.
The reason I'm okay paying for certainty is that uncertainty makes me slow. Known settings mean I can hit 'start' and trust the result. Unknown settings mean I babysit a machine for an hour.
Checkpoint: If the square drops out clean, proceed. If not, adjust speed by 2-3 mm/s, or add a pass, and test again.
Step 6: Clean and Post-Process
After the cut, remove the piece and clean residue. For acrylic, isopropyl alcohol works well for surface residue. Don't soak it; a quick wipe is enough. For wood, use a dry brush or fine sandpaper on the edges. If the lens looks cloudy, clean it with the recommended lens cleaner only. Do not touch the laser lens while cleaning.
Sometimes the edge is clean, sometimes it's not. Not ideal, but workable if you're going to hide the edge with a frame.
Checkpoint: The edges should be consistent across the whole piece. If one corner looks burnt and another doesn't, focus is off.
Common Mistakes
- Assuming all acrylic is the same. It's not. Cast vs extruded changes results more than any setting.
- Not re-focusing after changing material. I've done it. It wastes time.
- Skipping air assist to save time. It doesn't save time; it makes the cut worse.
- Using a laser machine for wood only for wood. If you bought an S1 40W, it will also do acrylic, leather, and coated metal engraving. But each material needs its own settings.
- Looking for a handheld laser welder for sale when you realize the S1 can't weld metal. That's a separate category. Don't try to cut steel with it.
When to Ignore My Settings
This worked for us. Our shop is climate-controlled, the lens is clean, and we have a reliable batch of cast acrylic. Your mileage may vary if you're working in a humid garage, using off-brand acrylic, or if your lens is dusty. I can only speak to my own context.
I'm not a laser engineer. If you're cutting acrylic for medical or safety-critical parts, get real engineering input. This is a checklist for signs, displays, and mockups, not for load-bearing structural components. I'd recommend consulting xTool's official support docs and forums for edge cases.
Final Thought: Certainty Is the Deliverable
As a buyer, I've learned that 'cheap and quick' is usually a myth. Everything is a tradeoff. The xTool S1 40W isn't the cheapest laser machine for wood, nor the most expensive. For our workflow, the determinism is the value. I know what material goes in, I know the settings from the log, and I know what comes out.
That's what I mean by time certainty. The machine doesn't just cut acrylic—it cuts out the uncertainty that makes every project slow. And a good wood laser cut is as much about preparation as it is about power.
