Using XCS to Create Projects for Your xTool P2 CO2 Laser cutter
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Let's dig into XCS (xTool Creative Space) to learn how to use this amazing piece of free software provided by xTool to control your P2 and other xTool engravers.
▬ Contents of this video ▬
0:00 Intro
1:00 XCS Intro and Setup
3:33 Selection and Hand Tools
5:15 Image Tool
7:48 Insert Tool
8:08 Position and Size
13:48 Shape Tool
14:05 Text Tool
18:50 Vector Tool
20:38 Layers
21:50 Combine, Arrange
24:44 Reflection
24:58 Group
25:52 Array
28:30 AutoSnap, Align, Distribute
31:00 Top Right Menu
32:35 In the Shop
48:24 Q&A Time
51:00 Final Product and Thoughts
▬ Products Shown ▬
Product Shown in this video:
xTool P2 - 55W C02 Laser Engraver: bit.ly/xTool_P2_LaserCutter (my Affiliate Link)
▬ Additional Links ▬
My Personal Material Settings: bit.ly/MWW_P2_MaterialSettings
xTool Website: bit.ly/xTool_Website (my Affiliate Link)
xTool Materials - bit.ly/xTool_Materials (my Affiliate Link)
P2 Dust Cover (Amazon Find) - amzn.to/3YOyR60
My xTool P2 Video Series: bit.ly/My_P2_Journey
▬ Monkey Woodworks ▬
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Monkey Woodworks and More is a channel about reviews and how-to's. The products and ideas here are mostly centered around Monkey Woodworks along with some gadgets and home use products as well. We are a home-based husband and wife team that specialize in yard art, stove covers, porch signs, and home decor for all occasions.
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I just successfully completed my very first project, on the P2, following the instructions from your May 16, 2023 video. This was my very first laser project. Thank you so very much.
Fantastic! Glad it was helpful! And thanks for the feedback.
Thank you, I needed that!
You're so welcome!
Thankyou so much for doing this
You are welcome!
Haven’t even finished the video yet and this is the best explanation I have found on XCS! Thank you so much as I am extraordinarily new to laser!
I am very happy to hear that! Feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer them.
This is a wonderful video! I have experience with xcs for my D1, but I still learned alot and really enjoyed watching the step by step tutorial. 👍❤
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you found it useful.
Thank you for your video!!! Awesome 🤩
My pleasure!! Glad you found it useful.
Thanks for the video ! I bought my P2 and was super stressed out and feeling overwhelmed. This helped so much
That is great to hear!
Subscribed. This is one of the Best XCS tutorials I have seen. Thank you, I learned so much.
Thank you for your support and the kind words! I am so glad you found it useful.
Best tutorial that I’ve seen on XCS. Thanks for breaking everything down and giving good examples.
You are welcome! After making it I realized that I missed a few points but this covers the majority of them.
The best tutorial on XCS I have seen yet. Also great overview of the P2. This video helped me a lot. Thanks for taking the time to do it.
You are welcome! Glad you found it useful.
Thank you for creating this video! I've just received my P2 and have it set up, but I was nervous because I'm not familiar with XCS yet! This is exactly the video I needed to get going!
Glad to hear it was useful! Make sure you check out my M1 video series as well, although the machines are different, they are surprisingly similar especially around the software.
I appreciate you so much! I learned more from this one video than from using the machine for 3 weeks. Thank you for your time and talent!!! I have the P2 and I'm ordering the R2 and wondered if I would need the risers. Thank you for answering my question if I could make my own! I'll be back to watch more videos!
Your welcome!! For the ra2 pro, I'd say you either need to make your own riser out of 2x4s or buy their base. I used a homemade riser for a while at first.
Thanks so much for such a great and detailed video Michael! Cant wait to get mine!
Thank you. Hopefully you get it soon!
Another Great video!! Thanks for all the awesome information on the P2
You are welcome!
Thank you. I had no idea how to use their vector tool. That is amazing to learn!
It is really handy!
This was a fantastic video. I was a bit stressed but your teaching and demo style was so perfect that I am starting my P2 up today with confidence. Thank you so much!
I am glad it was helpful for you!
Marvellous video! Waffle free and packed with useful information!
Glad to hear it!
Awesome information to work from, thankyou for sharing. Can't wait to get mine.
You are welcome!
Thank you so much for this video, I was having a hard time figuring out unite, subtract ect.. your explanation made it super clear!!
That is great to hear! I am glad to know this video helped you.
You have done an excellent job with this video. I have been using Vectric Aspire for years to create and carve on my Next Wave CNC, and Lightburn on my Ortur diode laser, so I have some experience using software similar to the XCS. I needed a good introduction to it and your video does a great job for that. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words! XCS already has an update that has some great added features above and beyond what I show here. I may have to do another one soon!
@11:00 If you type 1.25 and then go back and erase the 1, you can get 0.25 without resizing the item.
Thanks for the tip Mike!
Great video, I was glad that you left the sound on when you fired it up. I was wondering if that sound that it makes is normal or mine was broken all ready.
It is a bit loud. It reminds me of a low tone hair dryer haha.
Hey. I just found your video. When you were talking about position and size, I think you can add a zero then point then the number. It should recognize the size then. 0.25 for example.
Actually, that doesn't work either. However, Mike below gave a tip how. You can type 1.25, then remove the 1. It's still annoying but better than what I do!
Excellent Video. But I can't find your cheat sheet.???
View the video description. Scroll down a little and you will find a link
Thanks so much, that was very helpful!
If I may ask, if you have letters that are quite thin, how do you make them thicker maintaining the same shape?
You have a few choices:
1. Choose a different font from your PC
2. Find a font you like online, install it on your PC, close reopen XCS and use the new font.
3. Select the text, select Outline at the top, and use the outline tool to outline the text to make it fatter. Make sure you keep the check box checked if you want to retain the inner circles of the letters.
Thank you!
Great informational video...What are the sizes of the wood for your riser to be able to use the ra2
I made them with a long 2x6 at the top running the depth of the P2 and two smaller 2x4's perpendicular to the 2x6 glued/screwed to the 2x6 where the feet of the P2 are. They are both laying on their side so I only have the P2 lifted by 3" currently. However, there is nothing stopping me from stacking additional 2x4s under it to lift it more. The current 3" lift has been plenty of room to use the RA2 pro. You have a lot of laser head travel distance in the P2.
In hindsight, I should have used a 2x4 everywhere instead of the 2x6 on top. But it is what I had on hand. The size of the P2 can be found in my shared Google document if you are curious.
Awesome thanks...I was looking for the specs to see how high I would have to lift for the RA2 as the riser will be a later purchase... I will definitely checkout that document...Thank you su much😁👍
Based on my tests, the P2 prefers the top of the tumbler to be close to the same height of where the slats would be.
For the vector tool, to trace an image how do I make the cursor smaller? Please and thank you.
A little trick i do is i make the image bigger before tracing. I make a note of how big it is originally by writing down the with and height values. I then change the size of it (how big depends on the image your working with), then I am able to use the vector tool on a much larger image to trace it with better detail.
Hey. How do you choose which order the steps are in? For example, if I want to score first, engrave second, then cut.
It has a built-in algorithm however you can override it by the ignore toggle shown in the video
Good morning I have the xtool p2 can I cut metal? How thick and what kind of metal can it cut?
You will not be able to cut metal with it.
Hi Michael, I'm a newby to XTOOL I purchased a P2. the software download is version 2.0.55 which does not have a toolbar across the top. I've been using Coreldraw for the last 15 years with a Epilog laser. Is there a remedy for the toolbar on the new version? Thanks Mike Peterson
Not that I know of. The new version of XCS is a whole new world. xTool has some videos on their support site. I plan on making another video around the new version when it is out of beta.
Is it possible the antifreeze is used to keep it COOL, and not so much from actually freezing? For example, If you live in a warm climate, do you still use coolant in your car? 😂 just a thought.
Great question. I know a car is a bit different because the coolant has multiple additives to prevent freezing, lessen boiling, and to help prevent rust. Coolant made for lasers is new to me and there are many theoretical opinions on it. The chemicals inside the coolant is TOTALLY different than car antifreeze. Laser antifreeze is made specifically for a laser engraver to not corrode the internal components. I defiantly wouldn't've use car antifreeze in my laser! When it comes to deciding to use antifreeze or not in your laser, it is a personal decision. Personally, I used the recommended amount in my laser combined with distilled water just in case. We have dipped below freezing a time or two and i keep my laser in my garage.
I've been having my whole screen just go white there's nothing to push to go back or redo.. I've had to X out and start over ? I don't know why
Is this when sending the job to the engraver? If so, let it process. It is common for the screen to go white while it sends the job when you have a lot on the screen.
Also, as a common practice, save your work before sending it to the engraver JUST IN CASE.
Is there an XCS user manual available?
There is not an official manual. xTool has all their XCS instructions on their support site in various topic links.
i am having trouble with my p2 I put it in cylindrical mode and then it tells me to put the tumbler where the red dot is at the highest point. i do that and then it takes the picture. when i align my green line to the left edge of my tumbler and then position my image on the right of it it will only engrave the part of the image thats in the picture. If my engraving image is say 10 inches so that it wraps around it only engrave like 3. And it doesnt give me the frame mode to adjust the starting point when you push start. it just shows a preview and nothing else. anyone else have this problem?
Tumblers on the P2 are completely different than the M1 (if you have one). Put the dot at the highest point and auto measure. Don't touch the line. XCS moves the line to the spot it measured automatically (at least that is what it is supposed to do). The image needs to all be to the right of the line in XCS (like you mentioned I believe). The engraving should start really close to where that green line is and work it's way to the right (in XCS) along the image.
I would like to do a demo video of it but I am waiting until i get the riser base for the P2. I currently have it up on blocks of wood and I don't really want to show that off haha.
Whenever I try and do a tumbler on my p2 I put it on cylinder and when I place my picture that's 10 by 5 it only shows it will engrave like 3 inches. When it takes the image and then I center the green line. The only thing that will engrave is from that green line to the edge of the photo the p2 took. I noticed if I make texts and images from the software itself and I use the combine feature and unite the image it will engrave all the image. But it only allows me to combine svg images. Am I doing something wrong?
Make sure all of your image is to the RIGHT of the green line. Also, don't move the green line. On the P2, the software is supposed to move it automatically after you auto-measure the highest part of your tumbler. I want to make a video from start to finish of making a tumbler but waiting on the riser base before i do so that way its familiar to users with the riser base. The combine feature of the software is picky on what it can combine unfortunately. I use inkscape a lot outside of XCS for special images.
@MonkeyWoodworks thank you. I will try that. Now I just need to figure out a way to engrave under the handle. I've removed it. But I feel like if I put an image there the lazer tip hit it.
On the Stanley style tumblers, you can remove the handle and bend the metal tabs over with a pair of pliers. Just dont bend them too many times or they will eventually break.