Screen Printing with a Laser Cutter? // xTool S1 40 Watt Laser Cutter + Screen Printer Kit

Hey! welcome to my new garage AKA my future epic workspace I know it's not much to look at right now but I have taken a major stride thanks to  this this is the xTool S1 a 40 W diode laser cutter with some really interesting tricks up its sleeve including the ability to laser engrave screens for screen printing that's something I've never heard of before and it sounded really interesting so I'm super eager to try it out and that's what we're going to do in today's video so let's get right into it this video is sponsored in part by KiwiCo stick around to learn more back in California I tried out xTool's P2 laser cutter which is their flagship CO2 laser and I was thoroughly impressed CO2 lasers are known for being very capable and powerful and the P2 lived up to that hype but diode lasers  have seemingly been catching up over the last few years with new advances in combining lasers to create a single strong beam like the 40 W output of this S1 all without the extra hassle of liquid cooling and aligning mirrors that CO2 lasers come with they're also more affordable with this S1 selling at nearly half the price of the P2 so I figured it was worth trying out full disclosure xTool did send me the S1 laser cutter and several accessories free of charge so that I can make this video for you but my commitment is always to you the viewers first and foremost and my aim here is to share my unfiltered and honest experience and opinions with this machine so here I am unpacking the laser cutter and there really isn't much that goes into setting up this machine this S1 is sleek and stylish right down to the packaging you know it's done right when even the unboxing is fun as I mentioned I got some of the optional upgrades as well like this riser base for engraving taller objects and this rotary module for engraving spheres and cylinders which I yet to install the basic kit does come with this honeycomb bed as well as the Smart Air Assist unit which blows air through the laser nozzle both of which are useful for getting cleaner results and since my workshop is rather small and enclosed I also got xTool's Smoke Purifier  which filters the exhaust that's a somewhat large added expense but probably a sensible health conscious decision for a lot of environments now we'll connect the 40 W laser module with just a couple of screws xTool also sells a 20 W module that can  save you a few hundred dollars but I really hope to max out this machine so I went with the more powerful option but I am also curious about this infrared module which is apparently ideal for engraving metal and plastic so let me know if you'd like to see me try that out in a future video anyways there's not much more to set up we'll just stick on this magnetic height gauge and peel off all of that peely goodness of course there's also the standalone  screen printer which is the culmination of this video but the S1 comes with a fun kit of various materials that I just had to try out so let's explore those first well actually before any of that I'm going to test out the absolute basics by testing some features on this bit of  cardboard I cut off the packaging the S1 comes with these big magnetic tabs and those stick to the honeycomb bed I found that to be a pretty effective way to hold down materials within the xTool Creative Space software there's already a preset for cardboard and then to figure out the height of the material you literally just pull the laser head over the part and you click measure to 'boop' the part with the probe and get a precise measurement next we need to map out our processing area and I found this to be very interesting because the S1 doesn't have a built-in top down camera like the P2 but instead we'll once again drag the laser head to mark the opposite corners of the material with the press of a button while this doesn't seem as fancy as a camera the direct feedback between the machine and the soft software arguably makes this a more accurate method of capturing the area you want to cut or engrave as with the other xTool laser cutters this S1 is compatible with the popular Lightburn software but I've also found that their proprietary xTool Creative [Space] here handles everything I want to do quite easily so I prepped my design sent that to the machine and in just over 3 minutes I had this nice clean engraving now on to some more exciting materials I was super intrigued by this stainless steel charm so I immediately threw that onto the bed just sliding this cardboard underneath to make it easier to mark the boundary for circular objects like this that's done by simply marking three points around the circumference again I just applied the default settings the software has for stainless steel and I let the S1 do its thing here's the result a few minutes later pretty awesome my alignment was maybe a little bit off so for the other side I raised the part up which makes the lines on that laser crosshair sharper so I can mark the boundary with more precision sure enough that attempt was centered even better but the engravings on both sides are really crisp and detailed engraving steel was just too fun so I had to throw some of my house keys under the laser as well and for irregular shapes like this the xTool software has a polygon marking option that lets you go around and plot as many points as you need to get a good sense of your marking surface again it's simultaneously kind of janky but also really effective I'm honestly not entirely sure of the material composition of my keys and some came out a bit clearer than others but I think the results are really nice overall next it's time for acrylic and this is where CO2 lasers like the P2 really shine so I was curious to see how the S1 handles this 3mm black acrylic here it is cutting in real time maybe not as fast as a CO2 laser but not slow either and afterwards the cutouts fell away really cleanly and the result is super nice a CO2 laser is still required for clear acrylic but this diode can clearly manage opaque acrylic like this without a problem speaking of clear materials I was surprised to see these glass ornaments included in the material kit since the diode laser should presumably pass right through I had to place this cardboard underneath just to see the marking laser and sure enough when I started engraving the laser just started burning the cardboard underneath I let it finish regardless and it actually looked like the surface that was against the cardboard did etch a bit so I washed it off in the sink and  look at that etched glass with a diode laser how cool that's why it's always worth trying things results from experimentation can often be surprising I did realize right afterwards that  this sheet which also came in the material kit is marking paper which is meant to enable engraving on glass, ceramics, and other tricky materials so that explains the glass in the kit apparently you just wet this paper and apply it kind of like a temporary tattoo I gave that an hour to dry and tried engraving it with the marking paper preset but the result was much lighter than my first attempt and the piece was still pretty wet so that's probably why thin sheets of wood like this are probably the most common material to use with CO2 and diode laser cutters so I whipped up some quick pieces to try out the engraving and cutting capabilities of the S1 by now I was expecting good results from this machine but I was still impressed by the nice dark engraving and super clean single pass cuts it pulled off there's still a little bit of flashing, those  burn marks on the edges that could be reduced with masking tape or a light sanding but even as it is I'd say this engraving is more than acceptable for many purposes like storing my Wi-Fi settings  and lifetime savings of Bitcoin another cool piece included with the laser cutter is this stone coaster which I decided to use to test one of the designs I'll be screen printing in a bit here's a really cool shot of the laser and action I love that the lid of the S1 blocks  the harmful wavelength of the laser while still letting us peek inside besides making it easier to ensure that things are going according to plan it's just way more fun as with all of these materials I simply selected the right preset from the xTool software and the result was stunning even the thinnest lines in this design came out perfectly clear and the contrast on this slate is fantastic the final test material that came with my S1 was this piece of faux leather but I still haven't decided what to make with it so leave a comment if you have any fun ideas for now I was way too eager to do some laser screen printing so let's get to that right after this thank you thank you and thanks to KiwiCo for sponsoring today's video my nephew just turned 2 years old and I got to fulfill my 'Cool Uncle duties' by gifting him KiwiCo's 'Let's Play!' crate for his birthday the open-ended stacking shapes are great for encouraging his imagination and he loves to pretend that they're cake on top of that I treated myself to this "Eureka Crate" which came with everything I needed to build this ukulele including the most adorable screwdriver I've ever seen every KiwiCo project is thoughtfully designed with thorough and fun instructions and you always end up with something cool this ukulele was a blast to build and because it's mostly wood I did some extra credit and used my new laser cutter to engrave this celestial forest scene on the body so you could say that this crate really inspired me whatever your age or interests there is a KiwiCo crate for you so visit kiwico.com/makeanything and you'll get 50% off your first month of their monthly lines okay we are back with the xTool Screen  Printer and like the S1 it's shipped nearly ready to go including all the materials and supplies needed to start printing this magnetic board snaps solidly onto the screen printer and three knobs at the bottom can be used for fine-tuning the alignment of your pieces the printing frame locks into this hinge at the top which can easily be swiveled and there's also a spring-loaded bit that lets you raise and lower the screen parallel to your printing surface and that can be locked into place with this knob there's also this tacky cutting mat which can help keep items in place during the printing process the Multicolor Screen Printing Kit comes with four of these frames and 12 specially coated screens made specifically for lasering those are lined into place with some cardboard stuck on one side and then these screen fixing pins are wedged into each side and rotated to tighten the screen next we'll flip these toggles to fully lock the screen down and further tighten it once we've removed that cardboard you can tell that the screen is really nice and taught the top screen did apparently suffer a bit of damage during shipping so I'm just going to use that for my first test cut now one thing that makes this system a potential game changer is this alignment piece that screws directly onto the front frame of the S1 laser cutter that interfaces with the screen printing frames so that they can be consistently placed in the exact same position which should make it much easier to create multiple aligned screens for each color of a multicolor print with just that piece the frames weren't sitting completely flat on the honeycomb bed so I ended up using several of the included standoffs along the length of the bed and with the frame sitting on those it still fit snugly into the alignment piece that's one process that I didn't see explicitly explained in the manual but it worked well for me from there the process of engraving was the same as with any other material the xTool software has a preset for the screen printing mesh as well and the only thing to consider is that your design should be mirrored since we are engraving from the bottom of the screen here is my little test design the logo for my Swedish Vlog channel Skapa Allt and there was a slight cloudiness to one side of the engraving but the coating seems to be gone and the lines look crisp so I decided to try printing with it this tote bag came with the screen printing kit so I'm going to start with that since it's xTool approved I just gave it a quick ironing first to get the fabric as flat and smooth as possible I also slipped some cardboard inside the bag to prevent ink from bleeding through and to to keep it flat and then I positioned it on the printing platform then comes the screen we just prepared which simply slides into place and locks in with these two toggles now I can lower the platform so the screen rests against the bag and twist this knob to lock it at that height now that everything's fastened I can just triple check that positioning before actually printing screen printing is one of those things where you just have the one shot to get it right so it is a bit nerve-wracking to commit to it but eventually I opened up the included black ink smeared a bit above my graphic and in this case I chose the technique of flooding the screen first and then lowering the screen and doing another pass with the squeegee then the reveal and ooh so close to perfection everything except for that bottom line came out super crisp I guess I may have flooded the bottom a bit too much or maybe I didn't keep the screen pressed down firmly enough still the overall result left me optimistic so I set up my next screen and began preparing my next big print I decided to go for a three-color print which I'm designing here in Adobe Illustrator it's a modified version of that same logo for Skapa Allt and I've made it bloom with all of these  little blue yellow wildflowers to represent the coming spring once I was happy with my design  I exported it to a single SVG file but since the colors are on individual layers the xTool software recognizes them as separate colors and brings them in on their own layers which is super handy it even color-coded the layers accordingly here I can make any final adjustments mirroring the graphic and rotating everything so it will print in the correct orientation and with the default settings for the coated screen applied I hid all but one layer and began processing it but every layer still appeared in the engraving I eventually noticed this object settings panel with an 'ignore' option and that was the solution so I prepared my black screen first with the main graphic and sent it to the laser after 1 hour and 5 minutes I had my first screen now I can just swap in the next screen change which color I'll engrave and laser the other two colors the idea here is that everything is precisely positioned within the software and with the physical alignment tools so that each color will print in the exact  same place as the last again there did seem to be some cloudy residue left behind from the laser process and I don't know if that would have affect anything but to be safe I used a blower to dust off my screens this design has some really thin lines so it was tough to tell if the engraving  went all the way through but overall it looked like all the tiny details were captured so I went ahead with printing I installed the first screen and began aligning my tote bag and my initial plan was to hold the bag in place with these little clamps but those were interfering with the frame binder clips would probably have been ideal here but I didn't have any on hand so instead I decided to try out the included cutting mat with its slightly tacky surface hopefully that's enough to keep the bag from moving around between prints all right I got my paints out, the spatula, and the squeegee and for this first print I'll just be using black which I was apparently supposed to shake well maybe that's why my first print came out a bit sloppy anyways it's go time I put down what I hoped would be a sufficient amount of ink and once again pre-flooded the screen before pressing it down and doing another few passes with the squeegee when I lifted the screen I noticed that some parts didn't get inked so I put the screen back down and really pressed through on the left side to try to get the ink through but there were still some unprinted portions well luckily with my organic design some  imperfections didn't look too out of place so for the time being I decided to push forward and add the next two colors first I'll use my heat gun from a distance to dry that first pass of ink and that mostly worked except that it caused my cardboard insert to warp I'll just have to hope that the tacky mat prevented things from shifting around too much next I went for the yellow pass and I just placed little dabs of yellow above each flower since they are so small and sparse and I also decided to forego the flooding pass and just squeegee directly onto the fabric which seemed to work well for my final screen I thought it would be fun to mix some colors to add some extra variety so I prepared a bit of blue along with a blue and red mixture for a slightly more purple hue then I used my paint dab technique to scatter those two colors across the various flowers that was my final pass and here's the end result it's definitely not perfect with some areas a bit over-inked and other parts that didn't fully print but despite that I still think that the overall result is a pretty nice piece of art well what can I say screen printing is definitely an art form and that means it takes experience to master I do think most of the imperfections on this print here were a result of my technique rather than the system itself here despite the cardboard warping from my heat gun I do think the alignment is still pretty good but some binder clips to hold the bag down to the platform definitely would have helped me get that perfect also I really should have included equally thin and delicate details on my test screen before going on to this big print because small elements like that do typically require different power settings from the laser cutter I think I just got a little too confident after all of the other materials engraved so well using the default settings anyways I wouldn't really call this bag a failure if anything those slight imperfections just add to the natural artistic feel of it but I also didn't want to finish this video with any uncertainty so I decided I would give screen printing one more shot before salvaging my screen I did have to do some cleanup and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy that was the included inks are water-based and they washed away super quickly under running water although the screens are kind of large so I did end up taking them into the shower just to make things easier once my screen was clean and dry I put it back under the laser with the alignment piece I should theoretically be able to put it in the exact same position and do a second pass to clear the screen further of course in reality nothing is perfect so I was curious to see how well this would work it looks like the second pass might have been ever so slightly off but only by fractions of a millimeter so I was hopeful I did also increase the laser power by 10% on top of this being a second pass and I guess that was overkill because some parts of the mesh were disintegrated but the overall integrity still seems to be there so let's see what happens this time I'll be printing on a cotton t-shirt which has a nice smooth surface that should also lead to a cleaner print than the rough linen of the tote bag so I made my adjustments to line everything up perfectly prepped my ink and went for it again I chose not to flood the screen here and just squeegee directly on onto the shirt basically to give myself the fewest opportunities for error I still had to do a few passes since it's such a large design but once I was confident I'd covered everything I revealed the result which was absolutely fantastic this time every line got picked up and the edges are as crisp as they could possibly be finally the perfect print I was after I could not ask for a cleaner result I did decide to leave this as a one color print because I'm still a little bit scared of ruining a nice t-shirt I have come to appreciate the art of screen printing more throughout this process there's definitely a level of skill and finesse that's required to get really nice prints but I do think the system that xTool has created here gives us makers the best chance of getting things right I'll admit I haven't done regular multicolor screen printing before but I've done a single color screen print and even that can be kind of cumbersome and bulky so to have everything combined into this really nice workflow seems like a game changer to me just the fact that you can keep everything so controlled and aligned from within the software to to the laser cutter all the way to the screen printer itself I think that's pretty amazing and brilliant also beyond the screen printing side of things the S1 laser cutter here is clearly a very capable machine that can handle all kinds of different materials with ease and it's done really well with everything I've thrown at it so far with how powerful and versatile this machine is I would definitely consider it over a CO2 laser as a hobbyist or small business owner it's easier to maintain it's half the price and it's just so easy to use with that said I've just gotten started there's still features I need to try out and I want to put more hours on this machine to see how it really handles in the long run but so far I'm impressed and I'm having fun as always I'd love to hear from you as well so let me know your thoughts on this machine in the comments especially if you have experience with screen printing does this seem like a game changer to you as well what other materials and projects should I throw at this S1 laser I can't wait to keep trying it out and making cool stuff to share with you but that's it for today's video so I'll see you in the next one and until then as always stay inspired!

Channel: Make Anything

Views: 18,343

Keywords: 3D printed, 3d printing, 3D print, 3d printer, make anything, Devin Montes, xtool, makeblock, s1, p2, laser cutter, lasercutter, laser, 40 watt, 40-watt, 40, watts, watt, 50, 55, 45, glowforge, diode, co2, comparison, screen printer, screen printing, laser screen printer, laser screen printing, review, unboxing, test, impressions, materials

Id: YPzgpFG_fJs

Length: 27min 6sec (1626 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 23 2024