xTool F1 Ultra Complete Setup Guide: Dual Fiber + Diode Galvo Laser

Every diode laser guide on this site, including the Ray5 20W material settings, runs into the same wall eventually: diode lasers don't touch bare metal well, and fiber lasers that do cut and mark metal have historically been galvo-only machines with a completely separate software and material ecosystem. The xTool F1 Ultra is built around solving that split in one box — a 20W fiber laser and a 20W diode laser sharing the same galvo head, the same enclosure, and the same software. It's a genuinely different machine architecture from anything else covered here, not just a higher-wattage version of an existing guide.

What's Actually Inside It

SpecDetail Fiber laser20W, infrared, pulsed — for metals and some plastics Diode laser20W, 455nm blue — for wood, organics, and transparent materials, and for keeping a glossy finish on certain metals where fiber would discolor it Beam steeringGalvo mirrors, not a gantry — this is what gives it the very high work speed and small spot sizes typical of galvo marking machines rather than a diode engraver Working area220×220mm standard; 220×500mm with the optional conveyor accessory Max speedUp to 10,000mm/s Spot size0.08×0.1mm (diode) / 0.03×0.03mm (fiber) FocusAuto-focus via built-in 16MP camera, plus manual focus; the camera also handles design placement and outline framing before a job runs Footprint273×373×492mm, 14.7kg — genuinely portable, with a 3-inch exhaust port for a shop vac or extraction system SoftwarexTool Creative Space or LightBurn, over WiFi or USB

Setup and First Job

1. Unbox and level. The enclosed, galvo-based design means there's no gantry squaring or belt tensioning like a diode engraver — the moving parts are the internal mirrors, not the whole laser head. Set it on a stable, level surface and connect exhaust before doing anything else.
2. Connect exhaust. Do not skip this even for "quick test" engraves — see the safety section below. Route the 3-inch port to a shop vac, dedicated fume extractor, or ducted exhaust the same way you would for the Ray5.
3. Install software. xTool Creative Space is the path of least resistance for material presets and the dual-laser workflow; LightBurn is the better choice if you're already running a Ray5 or other LightBurn-based machine on this site's workflow and want one piece of software for everything.
4. Register the material and pick the source. This is the step that trips up people coming from a single-source laser: every job starts with choosing fiber, diode, or both for a given layer. Software presets exist for common materials, but always run a scrap test — fiber and diode respond to speed/power completely differently even on the same nominal material.
5. Use the camera for placement. On irregular stock (an anodized tumbler, a pre-cut leather patch), the auto-focus camera's live preview is what makes single-pass placement practical instead of guesswork.

Which Laser for Which Material

MaterialUse Stainless steel, titanium, most bare metalsFiber — deep, permanent marks; can also do light color-marking with the right power/speed combination Gold, silver, other soft/reflective metalsFiber, reduced power — diode reflects too much off polished precious metals to mark reliably Wood, leather, cardboard, most organicsDiode — fiber is largely wasted on organics and won't cut them at all Acrylic (cutting)Diode — same physics as every other diode laser on this site; fiber won't cut clear acrylic either Anodized aluminum (marking without stripping the anodizing)Diode, low power — fiber tends to burn through the anodized layer rather than mark it cleanly Two-tone laminate, painted/coated metalEither, depending on the coating — test both on scrap before committing to a batch

Safety

This machine carries every hazard already covered in this site's laser safety guides, plus one that diode-only setups don't: a fiber laser's infrared beam is invisible and focuses to a much smaller spot than a diode laser, which makes stray reflections off polished metal more dangerous, not less. Keep the enclosure closed during operation — it's designed as an enclosed unit specifically because of this. Match any laser safety glasses to the actual wavelengths in use; standard diode-rated (blue-blocking) eyewear does not adequately protect against the fiber laser's infrared output, and you need optical density rated for both sources if you'll ever have the enclosure open while either is live. Fume extraction matters even more here than on a diode-only machine: fiber-marking metals and coatings can release metal oxide fume and, on coated or painted stock, the same VOC and particulate hazards covered in this site's laser ventilation guide. Route exhaust every time, not just for "smoky" materials.

At close to $4,000, the F1 Ultra isn't a casual upgrade from a Ray5 or an xTool S1 — it's a different tool for a different job, aimed at shops that need both metal marking and organic-material cutting/engraving without keeping two separate machines and two separate software workflows running. If your work is mostly wood, acrylic, and leather, a diode machine already on this site's coverage remains the better value. If metal marking keeps showing up as the thing you have to send out, this is the machine that brings it in-house without giving up everything a diode laser is good at.