The xTool S1 is the best diode laser for a small shop doing wood, leather, dark acrylic, and prepared metal marking—but it will not cut metal, and it is not the right tool for thick clear acrylic. If that's the only takeaway from this xtool s1 laser cutter review, you're already ahead of the mistakes I made.
Look, I get why people search xtool s1 cut metal. I did too. The S1 looks like a serious machine, and the 20W/40W modules sound like they should cut through anything. But a blue diode laser is not a CO2 or fiber laser. Power helps, but it does not change the wavelength. That one fact cost me $900.
The Short Answer
- Cut wood: Yes, up to roughly 10–15mm with the right module and multiple passes.
- Cut dark acrylic: Yes, thin and medium thickness works after presets are dialed in.
- Cut metal: No. Not steel, not aluminum.
- Mark metal: Yes, if it's anodized, powder-coated, or prepared with black laser engraving marking paper.
- Clear acrylic: Not well. A CO2 laser is the better tool.
Why I Have an Opinion Worth Reading
I run a small engraving and fabrication shop. I've been handling laser orders for five years, and I've used the xTool S1 daily since November 2023. In that time, I've run more than 1,400 jobs through it. I have also made and documented 14 significant mistakes, and together they represent about $4,200 in wasted material and rework. Most of those mistakes came from assuming things the product page never promised.
I went back and forth between the S1 and a budget CO2 laser for two weeks before buying it. The CO2 offered more raw cutting power. The S1 offered a smaller footprint, less venting hassle, and a camera-based alignment system. I chose the S1 because most of my work is engraving and light cutting, not heavy material removal. That decision has been mostly right—with exceptions I'll cover below.
Can the xTool S1 Cut Metal? No, and Here's Why
The short answer is no. The xTool S1 cannot cut sheet metal. The blue laser wavelength, around 455nm, is absorbed by wood and many plastics, but most bare metal reflects it. You can increase the power or slow the speed, but the reflection still wins. I am not saying the S1 is weak. I'm saying it's the wrong wavelength for metal cutting.
In March 2024, I tried to cut a batch of 1mm steel nameplates with the 20W module. I assumed higher power can cut thin metal. I didn't verify. Thirty minutes into one job, the file had scanned the same line three times, and the steel was scorched but not cut. The piece was still 1mm thick. It didn't cut. Period.
That mistake cost me $320 in wasted steel, machine time, and my own pride. The real lesson was not about xTool. It was about reading spec sheets. As of January 2025, xTool's official S1 product page describes the machine as designed for engraving and cutting on materials like wood, leather, and acrylic, and for marking certain metals. It does not advertise metal cutting.
Laser Marking Acrylic: Two Different Jobs
Laser marking acrylic can mean two things: engraving a frost or layer into the surface, or cutting through a sheet. The S1 handles one of those much better than the other.
For engraving on dark acrylic, the S1 is impressive. The 455nm wavelength is absorbed by dark material, so a 3mm black cast acrylic plaque marks cleanly with a frosted white texture. For cutting, it also works on thin dark acrylic, especially with air assist. But clear and transparent acrylic is a different story. The beam passes through instead of being absorbed, which can leave melted edges or no mark at all.
I learned this on a July 2024 project: 60 clear acrylic plaques for an event. I assumed laser marking acrylic meant the laser could handle clear material. It did not. The marks were faint, and the edges looked like a burned jellyfish. I had to redo all 60 on black acrylic. That's when I started checking absorbed vs. transmitted before buying material. If you need clear acrylic, use a CO2 laser or choose a different material.
Black Laser Engraving Marking Paper: The Metal Marking Workaround
If you want a black mark on stainless steel or other bare metal without buying a fiber laser, black laser engraving marking paper is the best workaround I've found. You cut a piece slightly larger than your design, lay it on the metal, and run the laser at a normal metal-marking focus. The laser burns the coating onto the surface. The mark is dark, durable, and looks almost like anodizing on the right object.
In September 2024, I had a 48-piece order for stainless steel tumblers. The customer wanted a small logo and a name on each tumbler. I had just bought a cheaper brand of black laser engraving marking paper. I tested one tumbler, and it looked perfect. Then I ran the batch. By the sixth tumbler, the marks were wiping off with a damp towel.
The most frustrating part? The test piece was perfect. You'd think a successful test means the batch is safe, but consumables vary from batch to batch. The cheaper film had an uneven coating thickness. We had to sand, clean, and redo all 48 tumblers. That run cost about $640 in tumblers plus four hours of labor. Now I keep a test scrap tray on the bench and scrub-test every new batch before production.
Laser Cut Building Files: The S1's Happy Place
One of our regular jobs is cutting architectural model kits. Architects send us laser cut building files in SVG, DXF, or PDF format. We import them into LightBurn, assign colors to cut / engrave / score layers, and run them on the S1. It's the most reliable part of my workflow.
The S1's enclosed design and camera make alignment much easier than an open-frame machine. I don't have to guess where the first corner is, which is huge when the file has dozens of small pieces. Most laser cut building files are made for materials like 1/16-inch or 1/8-inch basswood, cardboard, and thin acrylic. Those are exactly the materials the S1 handles well. We cut more than 200 architectural model kits last year without a single ruined sheet.
If you design laser cut building files, the S1 is a forgiving enough machine to test with. But keep your expectations in line: it's a desktop tool for light building model work, not a sheet-metal shop.
Which Module Should You Buy?
The S1's modular design is one of its best features. You can swap 10W, 20W, or 40W modules. The 10W is fine for engraving wood and light cutting. The 20W handles most small-shop work. The 40W cuts faster and has more headroom for thicker wood, but it doesn't change the metal-cutting physics. I went back and forth between 20W and 40W for about a week. The 20W won because it was enough for 90% of my jobs, and the money saved let me buy a rotary bundle and more marking film.
If I had it to do over again, I would still buy the 20W. But I would also budget for a CO2 rental or outsourcing for clear acrylic and thick sheets. That's not a failure of the S1; it's a boundary I should have accepted earlier. I keep a folder in LightBurn named xtool-s1 for every material recipe I've tested; that folder has saved me more times than I can count.
The Bottom Line: Know the Machine's Limits
A vendor who says 'we don't do that' is more trustworthy than one who says 'we do everything'. Same with tools. I'd rather use a machine with clear boundaries than one that overpromises and underdelivers. The xTool S1 is not a universal laser solution. It won't cut steel. It won't handle clear acrylic well. And it sometimes needs consumables like black laser engraving marking paper to mark metal.
But if your world is wood, leather, dark acrylic, architectural model kits, and custom merchandise, the S1 is honestly a no-brainer. Just don't ask it to be something it isn't. When you know the boundary, the machine becomes a lot easier to trust.
