You might think a diode laser is just good for engraving, but this diode laser from xTool can accurately and quickly cut through more than 9mm MDF in just a few passes. It’s perfect for template making in the workshop.

In the box is the xTool D1 pro with a 20 Watt diode laser. I will do a quick unboxing and assembly, and tell you more about this laser engraver and cutter.

The unit is extremely well packaged. Assembly is required, but it only takes 20 minutes or so. All the tools are provided, except for scissors to trim a few cable ties.

With this unit, also came the RA2 Pro Rotary attachment, however I will review this in a separate video.

The instruction manual is in colour, very detailed and easy to follow.

What makes the D1 Pro special, is the 20 Watt diode laser module. This is achieved by combining four 5 Watt lasers into one.

xTool claims that it can cut 10mm Basswood and 8mm Black Acrylic in one pass, however I do not have any of these materials on hand, so my tests will be with different materials that I typically use in the workshop.

Speed claims are 24000mm/minute or 400mm/second. The X and Y gantries run on steel rails and steel wheels for greater accuracy and longer product lifetime.

The unit is equipped with limit switches, which avoids your machine bumping into the rails and eventually destroying itself, and it is also useful for absolute position in your laser control software.

The quality and good looks of this unit is really up there with the best. The fit and finish of the parts are beautiful, and everything just bolted together seamlessly.

I also received the Air Assist pump that greatly reduces burn marks on your engraving and cutting. It is really rather quiet, can pump 30 Litres of air per minute, and it comes with a few accessories of its own to easily fit it to the laser module. Switching it on and off is a manual affair, and cannot be controlled via your laser control software. This is a slight drawback, since I found myself more than a few times not having switched it on and getting some unnecessary burn marks on my cuts.

xTool has its own, what they call ‘Creative Space All-in-one laser cutter software for design, editing, laser processing and machine control’. It’s OK for the beginner, but nothing to write home about. You need this software to set up the unit initially and run software updates, but after that I recommend that you get the much more powerful and useful ‘Lightburn’ software. It will cost you about $60 or so at the time of this video, but certainly worth it. Luckily the xTool D1 Pro supports it, however you do need to download a profile for it to load into Lightburn.

The Creative Space software does have a very useful Projects section that has a few cool projects for you to try.

After initial setup, I used the Creative Space software to do a quick cut of a supplied 3mm Basswood ply sample. It is a very soft wood, and cuts like butter. I messed up the 1st try when the wood moved, but on the second attempt I taped it down and it worked flawlessly with the provided settings in the Creative Space software.

Of course, I immediately wanted to try and cut something much thicker. This is 9mm MDF that it cuts in two passes. I was impressed for sure.

There are two things I would recommend if you get this machine, that is the Honeycomb Working Panel, especially if you are going to do a lot of cutting, but more importantly, since this is an open-frame laser cutter, is the xTool Enclosure or build your own. Using a laser can be very dangerous, and I feel an enclosure with the ability to exhaust and filter smoke and fumes to be essential, for your safety and for your health.

After setting up the unit with Lightburn, I continued to create a few test cuts for different MDF thicknesses, in this case 6mm and then 9mm. This helped me determine the ideal speed and power setting for each material thickness to get the cleanest and most accurate cut for future reference.

This brings me to the part where I make a template for cutting accurate holes for mounting speaker drivers in enclosure baffles, and is one of the main reasons that I will be using this laser cutter as part of my regular useful tools in the workshop.

After cutting the template for a Lavoce 3inch full range driver, the fit at the end was perfect.

Something else I also want to try is using the laser to cut a pattern or even my logo into veneer to decorate a speaker and make it a bit more interesting. The opportunities here are only limited by your imagination.

This next test run is to determine engraving speed and power for Birch plywood. As said before, it is really useful to do these test runs on the materials you will most likely use, as a quick reference in the future.

I did try some other materials, such as an anodised aluminium ruler, just engraving my logo. It was a bit faint, but the anodising on this ruler is not very deeply etched.

The last engraving I tried was a painted spirit level. The laser removes the paint and leaves a rather dirty residue, but it wipes off and gives a perfect result in the end.

To conclude, I am truly impressed by the xTool D1 Pro. It looks good, cuts thick wood for template use accurately, and can engrave fast.

Below is a link to the xTool D1 Pro and a list of its accessories and discount codes.

Thank you xTool for sending out this unit to review and try out.

Discount Offers:

🎃🎃 xTool Halloween Treats on US Store: 10/21-11/01 PDT

(xTool US Store): https://bit.ly/3SIFHFL

🔥🔥 8% off Discount: XTHALLOWEEN (Valid Date: 10/21-11/01 PDT)

👉👉 Discount code is for ALL machines and accessories

✨✨All machines go with a free material box.

🎇🎇 xTool Halloween Treats on EU Store: 25/10-01/11 PDT (xTool EU Store): https://bit.ly/3DdCqbG

🎊🎊 8% off for all xTool products (No Code Needed & Not Include Small Business Bundle)

🎈🎈 Up to 25% off for Smoke Purifier and Filter Replacement Kit