00:00:00
so we're going to be checking out a
00:00:01
brand new laser from xtool the P2 and I
00:00:04
might sound really different right now
00:00:07
uh and that's because this
00:00:09
laser is really different like really
00:00:14
really different all right let's uh get
00:00:17
into it so this is the xtool P2 I'm not
00:00:21
actually sure what P1 was but this is
00:00:23
the brand new CO2 laser from xtool this
00:00:27
has been the one a lot of people have
00:00:28
been asking about lot of people have
00:00:30
been very excited about so we're going
00:00:32
to dive into how this thing works and
00:00:34
we're going to compare it to some of the
00:00:35
other machines out there like the most
00:00:37
recent flux hexa which I did a review on
00:00:39
very recently as well as the glow Forge
00:00:42
some other competitors and xtools own D1
00:00:45
which is a diod laser so you can see
00:00:48
which one might be best for you okay so
00:00:50
let's get some Basics out of the way
00:00:51
this is a 55 wat laser tube that's
00:00:54
compared to about 50 Watts when you're
00:00:55
looking at polar or the gwick machine
00:00:58
which are pretty much the same thing and
00:00:59
then 60 WS for the hexa machine so the
00:01:02
work bed is 26x 14 and the actual
00:01:05
workable area is a little bit less so
00:01:07
still is pretty big not as big as the
00:01:09
hexa but bigger than the machines like
00:01:11
polar and gwick on the speed side of
00:01:13
things this is 600 mm/ second that is
00:01:16
your max speed but you kind of want to
00:01:18
take that Max Speed with a grain of salt
00:01:20
because this thing is going to be moving
00:01:21
around a lot especially if you're
00:01:23
actually cutting things out so you're
00:01:24
really going to be limited more by the
00:01:26
acceleration and for the most part these
00:01:28
machines are at about about the same
00:01:30
speed now the hexa has it at 900 mm/
00:01:33
second but other machines like the polar
00:01:35
and the gwick are in like the 500 to 600
00:01:37
range so this is pretty much in that
00:01:39
same ballpark and then overall on the
00:01:41
construction side of things uh it is
00:01:43
it's nice uh it does have a plastic
00:01:46
shell uh so like these parts are plastic
00:01:49
but the internal components so like this
00:01:53
right there this is pretty much all
00:01:55
metal so like your internal structure is
00:01:56
metal but the outside of it is like a
00:01:59
hard plastic some of the really nice
00:02:00
lasers this will actually be glass this
00:02:03
is like some type of polycarbonate
00:02:05
acrylic something like that and they
00:02:06
have these nice I think pneumatic strats
00:02:08
which lets you actually open it up you
00:02:10
get about like right there it's going to
00:02:12
hold it but the supports actually help
00:02:13
keep the lid open once you have it up so
00:02:15
it's not going to fall on your head
00:02:16
which would not be good now this machine
00:02:18
is actually sitting on top of the Riser
00:02:21
and we're going to get into what this
00:02:23
thing is in a minute because there's
00:02:25
actually quite a few features that this
00:02:26
allows you to do and then on the
00:02:28
connection side of things you can use
00:02:29
USB Ethernet as well as Wi-Fi which is
00:02:33
pretty much standard across all these
00:02:34
lasers other than glow Forge which is
00:02:36
just laser because they wants you to use
00:02:38
their Cloud software an xtools case they
00:02:40
do a really nice job on the software
00:02:42
side of things not only do they support
00:02:45
lightburn which is awesome and is my
00:02:47
favorite piece of software it is also
00:02:49
paid but this also comes with xtool
00:02:51
creative space and they really have been
00:02:54
upgrading that and adding lots of new
00:02:55
features from when I first used it way
00:02:57
back with I think the first D1 for for
00:02:59
most applications it's going to do a
00:03:01
really good job for you and they
00:03:03
actually have some pretty cool features
00:03:04
we're going to get into here in a minute
00:03:06
that I haven't seen on any other laser
00:03:08
in terms of the laser itself it is a CO2
00:03:11
laser meaning that the laser beam is
00:03:13
generated in the back you can see the
00:03:15
glass tube right here there's a water
00:03:16
reservoir right next to it so you have
00:03:18
to fill that up with water and a mix of
00:03:20
potentially anif freeze then that tube
00:03:22
generates the beam it shoots out this
00:03:24
back corner right here bounces through
00:03:26
this mirror then comes into the laser
00:03:28
head they have this cover which a lot of
00:03:31
the laser companies are starting to do
00:03:33
they actually cover up kind of the the
00:03:35
nuts and bolts of the thing but the lens
00:03:36
that finally focuses the laser is inside
00:03:39
of this and this is attached to a
00:03:41
movable z-axis so there's a steer motor
00:03:44
in here that gives you a pretty nice
00:03:45
z-axis travel in fact the max thickness
00:03:48
of material in this is 2 and 1/2 in and
00:03:51
if you kind of look in here uh that may
00:03:53
not be as obvious because their work bed
00:03:56
is different than any of the other
00:03:57
machines out there they actually take
00:03:59
cues from more of the industrial
00:04:00
machines and instead of a honeycomb bed
00:04:03
which I just pulled this one from the D1
00:04:05
so this is the one that xtool provides
00:04:07
you can see it's like a honeycomb shape
00:04:09
so when you cut things out it can fall
00:04:10
through but more importantly you're
00:04:11
getting air flow underneath that is the
00:04:13
big thing and while you want some type
00:04:15
of raised bed when you're using a laser
00:04:17
but for this guy they have these slaps
00:04:19
that are spaced throughout your work
00:04:22
area and these are removable and you
00:04:24
have a bunch of different slots to put
00:04:26
them in so you can definitely modify
00:04:27
them for your use case I find these
00:04:29
usually give give you way better air
00:04:30
flow than a honeycomb bed but if you're
00:04:32
doing the straight engraving they also
00:04:34
have a removable tray that is at the
00:04:36
bottom this pulls out right here you can
00:04:38
already see some of the stuff I've been
00:04:40
cutting out but once you take that out
00:04:42
that frees you up to the workspace
00:04:44
underneath and the Riser which again
00:04:46
we'll get into here in a second now out
00:04:47
of the box this comes with support for
00:04:49
their rotary module which you can also
00:04:51
use on the D1 I think that is the
00:04:53
connection for it right there and
00:04:54
because you have so many different
00:04:55
options with your work bed you're able
00:04:56
to drop that down a lot further and
00:04:59
especially when you're using the Riser
00:05:01
you're able to get that really low so
00:05:02
you can do some pretty thick cylinders
00:05:04
cups gtis whatever you want to engrave
00:05:06
it does a nice job and you actually get
00:05:08
8.2 in of clearance when you're using
00:05:11
this Riser so you can definitely get
00:05:13
some thick materials it also has
00:05:15
internal air assist it's got a fan in
00:05:17
the back pretty standard with all the
00:05:18
other machines now on the safety side of
00:05:21
things this actually has a feature that
00:05:23
isn't on any other lasers I've tested
00:05:25
even my high-end Thunder laser or my
00:05:27
bigger industrial M Tech laser doesn't
00:05:29
have this and this is a mechanical lock
00:05:31
that will actually lock this lid when
00:05:33
it's running which is definitely great
00:05:35
if you're in a space with kids or people
00:05:37
that aren't familiar with these type
00:05:39
things now most of these machines if you
00:05:40
open the lid it automatically Cuts power
00:05:43
to the machine but in this case you
00:05:45
physically can't open it the lock is
00:05:47
actually right here so when you go to
00:05:50
start the laser which this button right
00:05:51
here does it this pops out and you can't
00:05:54
open the lid now another safety feature
00:05:56
this has that you really only see on the
00:05:58
high-end machines is a physical safety
00:06:00
switch it's actually right over here you
00:06:02
probably can't see it so you can stop
00:06:04
the laser with the button but you could
00:06:05
also just hit the safety switch and that
00:06:07
is going to kill the power to the
00:06:08
machine as well and then in terms of
00:06:10
physical controls you really only have
00:06:12
one and that is a button that's going to
00:06:14
be the same as a glow Forge your polar
00:06:16
or your gwick your flux hexa actually
00:06:19
has a color touchcreen that is built in
00:06:21
so like a little tablet basically which
00:06:23
is really nice but this is a little bit
00:06:24
more than just the button because they
00:06:26
do give you a display and it will give
00:06:27
you like a little indicator in terms of
00:06:29
like how much longer your job has it
00:06:30
also lets you know if you have like
00:06:31
Wi-Fi connection if your lid's locked
00:06:33
just a couple symbols that at a glance
00:06:34
you can kind of see what the status of
00:06:36
your machine is all right now one
00:06:37
feature that is becoming very common on
00:06:39
these desktop co2's is a camera system
00:06:42
and this definitely has one in fact this
00:06:44
kind of matches the glow Forge level in
00:06:46
terms of having multiple cameras so
00:06:49
there is one right here if I move this
00:06:51
out of the way this is a wide angle
00:06:54
camera so when you have the lid shut or
00:06:56
actually when you have it open since
00:06:58
this isn't moving you can get a wide
00:06:59
angle view in the software of what is on
00:07:02
your work bed that's really handy now if
00:07:04
you're doing really precise positioning
00:07:06
this isn't exact it actually has another
00:07:09
camera in the laser head itself or like
00:07:11
the laser head assembly it's like right
00:07:13
there and in the software you can take
00:07:14
pictures of specific positions in your
00:07:17
work bed so you can line things up
00:07:19
exactly it'll kind of overlay this image
00:07:21
on top of the wide angle image and they
00:07:23
don't quite line up which is a little
00:07:24
bit annoying but it definitely works now
00:07:27
the focus system is pretty interesting
00:07:29
so so on the polar and the gwick
00:07:31
machines it does have a z-axis that can
00:07:33
move up and down with a stipper motor
00:07:36
but you still have to Define what the
00:07:37
thickness is of your material in the
00:07:39
software to be able to do it this guy
00:07:41
will measure it and it's actually using
00:07:43
a red laser dot I believe to do it and
00:07:45
there's two that are actually on the
00:07:47
machine one comes out this corner right
00:07:51
over here and in the software you can
00:07:53
get like a general thickness of your
00:07:55
material this doesn't move so you'll see
00:07:58
that red laser dot when you close the
00:07:59
lid if your material is the same
00:08:01
thickness and its position so that red
00:08:02
laser dot is hitting it you're going to
00:08:04
be good to go now this also has another
00:08:06
laser pointer that's like right here in
00:08:08
this corner that lets you move the laser
00:08:09
head around to take a measurement from
00:08:11
there they're saying that one is more
00:08:13
exact and from my testing it does a
00:08:15
pretty good job now since you're able to
00:08:17
take thickness measurements at different
00:08:19
points over your material you can
00:08:21
actually use material that isn't uniform
00:08:23
or flat this was just a bent up sheet of
00:08:26
paper that I put in here and they have
00:08:28
this curved surface ability which will
00:08:30
basically give you a grid of points over
00:08:32
the surface the laser head will move to
00:08:34
each of those points take a measurement
00:08:36
and they give you this like virtual 3D
00:08:38
rendering of what your surface is then
00:08:40
you can put your artwork on top of that
00:08:42
and either cut and engrave and as this
00:08:44
is going you can see this is
00:08:46
automatically moving the z-axis while
00:08:49
this machine is running the only other
00:08:51
machine I've ever seen this on is the
00:08:52
full spectrum Muse and that one is
00:08:55
actually doing it live so like while it
00:08:57
is going it is taking that measurement
00:08:59
this is something you need to do
00:09:00
beforehand so you can't move the
00:09:01
material after you've kind of taken your
00:09:03
measurement and got everything set so it
00:09:04
takes a little bit longer but is really
00:09:06
cool to see how they've got this
00:09:08
implemented so practically I've seen
00:09:09
people use this on like organic surfaces
00:09:11
AKA I've done this with like rocks
00:09:13
before since this not perfectly flat or
00:09:16
even like leaves if you're doing a
00:09:17
really light engraving but you kind of
00:09:19
want to follow like the Contours of the
00:09:21
leaf and then even I did a test of if
00:09:23
you had something angled so it was a
00:09:24
flat board but I put it at an angle and
00:09:27
the laser head was able to go up and
00:09:29
down as we were going across the
00:09:31
material so if you're engraving
00:09:32
something that even is rounded this is
00:09:34
going to be able to do a really good job
00:09:35
of figuring that out for you now I won't
00:09:37
get deep into the actual performance for
00:09:39
the most part these CR2 lasers are going
00:09:41
to perform pretty similar the only real
00:09:43
difference is going to be how strong the
00:09:44
actual laser tube is and then how
00:09:46
quickly it can move the laser hit around
00:09:47
to keep up with that power this is on 3
00:09:51
mm Basswood so you can see we're getting
00:09:53
some cutting at the top actually messed
00:09:55
it up and I ran it to slow down there
00:09:57
but it does a good job and in general
00:09:58
this is what I definitely recommend
00:09:59
people do some type of test where you
00:10:01
have a bunch of different parameters for
00:10:03
your material and your machine to see
00:10:05
what's going to work the best okay but
00:10:07
let's actually get into what is probably
00:10:09
the most unique feature of this machine
00:10:12
other than that curved surface ability
00:10:14
which is nice and that is once you take
00:10:16
out this tray it actually has a few
00:10:19
different places where you can put this
00:10:20
tray back in and I think these are just
00:10:22
labeled by height or you can also just
00:10:24
remove this tray completely now what's
00:10:25
cool is not only do you have this like
00:10:27
pass through slot right here as well as
00:10:28
one in in the very back so what's nice
00:10:30
is if you have a big piece of material
00:10:33
you can actually pass this all the way
00:10:35
through your machine so you're able to
00:10:37
engrave really big things where you're
00:10:39
only limited by the width of the machine
00:10:41
now glow Forge also has a front and back
00:10:43
pass through and they give you some
00:10:45
tiling abilities that let you do really
00:10:47
long materials X tool decided to step
00:10:50
that up and actually created a conveyor
00:10:53
belt system that will automatically move
00:10:56
your material through the machine while
00:10:59
it is running I have never seen anything
00:11:03
like this on a machine now here is a
00:11:05
shot from xtool of that actually running
00:11:07
this is on a pre-production machine so
00:11:09
it might look a little bit different I
00:11:11
don't have mine set up right now but I
00:11:12
am planning on doing a follow-up where I
00:11:14
dedicate the majority of the video of
00:11:16
actually showing off that conveyor built
00:11:18
feature just because it's so crazy I
00:11:20
thought it deserved it but just know
00:11:21
even if you don't have that having a
00:11:23
pass through is super handy when you're
00:11:25
working with big material now we really
00:11:27
are starting to get into a pretty fun
00:11:29
era of having a lot of these nice
00:11:31
desktop CO2 machines that you can get
00:11:34
here's a quick chart of all the ones I
00:11:35
have recently reviewed in my shop so the
00:11:37
xtool P2 the flux hexa the M Tech polar
00:11:41
the gwick Cloud Pro 2 as well as I am
00:11:45
throwing the glow Forge Pro in there now
00:11:47
this chart doesn't include the bigger
00:11:49
more industrial style units you can get
00:11:50
from M Tech or nicer Brands like thunder
00:11:52
or even epilog these are specifically
00:11:55
these desktop style like glow Forge
00:11:57
basically style machines you can see
00:11:59
these these all kind of Stack up pretty
00:12:01
similar and if I was going to recommend
00:12:03
one for you it would be really hard
00:12:05
because some of these features May
00:12:07
matter more to you than others with the
00:12:09
big one probably being price so this
00:12:12
isn't the most expensive that is the
00:12:14
glow Forge which is like 7,000 bucks or
00:12:16
even the flux hexa at 6,300 this is
00:12:20
currently
00:12:21
$4,200 at the time of this video I think
00:12:24
they're actually running like a pre-sale
00:12:25
so it's probably going to go up from
00:12:27
there but now relatively it is in the
00:12:29
middle because then you have the polar
00:12:30
and the gwick in the
00:12:32
$3,000 range so really what is that
00:12:34
like, $1,500 extra getting you well in
00:12:38
terms of the P2 itself it is going to
00:12:41
give you a bigger work area a little bit
00:12:43
more powerful glass tube and a really
00:12:46
nice camera system with the polar the
00:12:48
gwick and this you can use light bur
00:12:50
with all of them which has been like a
00:12:51
key decider for me when I recommend in
00:12:53
the past but the part that really makes
00:12:55
this stand out is just like this guy the
00:12:57
Riser which is an additional cost you
00:13:00
can buy all this as a package currently
00:13:02
this is probably going to be like in the
00:13:03
$6 to ,000 additional expense range but
00:13:07
this opens you up to really being able
00:13:09
to use a rotary you can use a rotary
00:13:12
even without it you're going to be just
00:13:14
super limited by size but then throwing
00:13:15
in the pass through on the front and the
00:13:17
back you can get some really big
00:13:20
material inside of this as well as
00:13:22
having really thick material that you
00:13:23
want to engrave so overall it's a nice
00:13:26
machine and if those features are really
00:13:28
important to you this really could be a
00:13:30
nice option for you to check out now
00:13:32
let's compare this to the other machine
00:13:34
from xtool their D1 specifically just
00:13:37
how does a co2 machine compare to a
00:13:39
diode laser now you've got pros on
00:13:42
either side the pros for a diode have to
00:13:45
do a lot with its form factor it's a lot
00:13:48
smaller although you can still engrave
00:13:49
really big things but it's like open air
00:13:51
so you can just put it on top of
00:13:53
something typically diodes are going to
00:13:54
have a smaller laser Dot and they're
00:13:56
just generated in a different manner I
00:13:58
usually find in engraving with a diode
00:14:00
you're going to get a darker nicer
00:14:02
engrave versus using a CO2 which this is
00:14:04
really geared towards more cutting you
00:14:06
can obviously do engraving with this I
00:14:08
just mostly cut stuff with my co2's
00:14:10
normally your co2's will also be faster
00:14:12
as a result exol just came out with
00:14:14
their 40 W module which does get really
00:14:16
close to the 55 watt but that 40 wat
00:14:18
module brings in probably the biggest
00:14:20
limitations in the biggest Pros for a
00:14:22
CO2 machine and that is the fact that it
00:14:24
is a fully integrated system that's safe
00:14:28
so this is fully enclosed versus a diode
00:14:31
which is just like out in the open the
00:14:32
laser itself is an invisible light
00:14:34
versus a diode that you need to have eye
00:14:36
projection on at all times I'd feel
00:14:38
totally fine running this with other
00:14:40
people around especially with the fact
00:14:41
that this can't be opened versus a diode
00:14:43
I really don't like to use unless it's
00:14:45
just me inside the shop and then these
00:14:47
co2's and this ones specifically have a
00:14:49
really nice camera system that's not
00:14:51
going to be something you're really
00:14:52
going to find with a diode now one
00:14:53
probably big Pro for a diode machine is
00:14:56
just the laser itself in the fact that
00:14:59
it is really interchangeable I swapped
00:15:01
out the 20 watt that I had on my Pro for
00:15:03
a 40 watt it didn't take long at all and
00:15:05
there definitely is a clear upgrade path
00:15:07
for that machine as you want to get
00:15:09
something that is stronger and more
00:15:11
powerful versus this you really can't
00:15:12
get a bigger more powerful laser because
00:15:15
the laser tube is going to get longer as
00:15:17
a result meaning the overall form factor
00:15:19
of this thing is going to have to change
00:15:21
but X tool is giving you some pretty
00:15:23
cool ways to improve the performance of
00:15:24
this machine by giving you more
00:15:26
functionalities with this crazy Riser
00:15:28
system which is
00:15:29
still just wild so I would love to know
00:15:31
what you think and what questions you
00:15:33
have about this machine I am planning on
00:15:35
doing a follow-up with that conveyor
00:15:36
belt and I would love to include your
00:15:38
questions with it as well and if you
00:15:40
want to check out probably the most
00:15:41
direct competitor to this which is the
00:15:43
flux hexa we're going to jump into that
00:15:45
review right now till next time go make
00:15:48
or break something in a shop see you
00:15:50
guys
00:15:59
p
