Hey folks.

Spending a ton of time in sims and I'm trying to figure out what I want for my first drone. I'm leaning towards the betafpv VRO4 HD goggles and the Meteor75 Pro P1. I have been using the Air75 in sims but want to switch over to the meteor because it should fare better outdoors with a little bit of wind.

The cost difference between these setups is somewhere around 100-150$, and I understand damage to the HD meteor would be more expensive to fix (if I break part of that hd system), but I really like the idea of higher quality 1080p60 view I'd be getting.

My primary concern boils down to latency, and how much of an issue I may have with the betafpv goggles as opposed to another entry option. I do want to keep my budget at 500$ or less, preferably keeping headroom for batteries and a nice charger, as well as a good batch of replacement props, frames, and motors.

Any pointers?

Intro

I've had my xTool MetalFab for about 6 months now, and I want to write a full review on it for others who are considering the expensive setup. This will focus on it being practical, cost effective, and useful for a small shop.

The xTool Metalfab is a two piece setup, with a CNC bed and a 4 in 1 laser welder unit capable of cutting, engraving, and rust removal. My review is about the 1200W version of the Laser Welder, and I am using their Select Air Compressor and dryer as well. The full setup I have is around $18,000.

For simplicity I've broken this review down into a few parts, as listed here:

• Build Quality / Safety Setup / Gas Setup and connections

• Cutting & Welding Performance

• Rust Removal & Laser Engraving (Single point, slow!)

• Where The Metalfab Excels

• Software, Constant Cloud Storage Popups

• Final Verdict

---

Build Quality & Safety Setup

To keep it simple, the Metalfab and xTool Laser welder feels really solid and well built. The CNC/Metalfab unit is heavy, fully metal, and absolutely rigid. I've dealt with flimsy engraving enclosures and lower quality 3d printers that are heavily impacted by vibrations in the past, and this thing is extremely stable in comparison.

You should always remember that a 1200W fiber laser is very dangerous, especially when welding. The Metalfab has safety covered as well though. It comes with a full enclosure that's safe to look through, protective glasses that are rated properly, proper gloves, and it's own ventilation setup. Just route the ventilation out pipe outdoors or through a filter and it's all set.

The gas and air setup is also mostly easy to set up and use. My issue was finding press fit 10mm hose adapters for my Argon tanks, but when I found one that fit on amazon it's great. I use the select air compressor (xtool sells this one) and dryer and it is perfect for cutting all of the stainless I need cut. It's also super easy to swap between compressed air and argon or other gases, which I use to switch to laser welding frequently.

---

Manual and CNC Cutting + Welding

The cutting performance is one of the biggest reasons I would recommend the MetalFab. I'm able to power it on, send over a file, and cut a part in under two or three minutes. It's awesome for making brackets and small one off parts, and I've been making batches of small local signs to sell on marketplace alongside custom signs and quick prototyping out of sheet.

It is especially nice for the signs I make as it's able to cut small details quickly, and without kerf. Not having to deburr parts is awesome, and I've had no problems with parts up to 4mm 304 stainless. Aluminum and carbon steel need oxygen for cutting without kerf, and I've primarily focused on stainless for my signs which cuts perfectly with compressed air.

The manual cutting is useful too. I've been buying 4x8 foot and 4x10 foot sheet steel from a local supplier, and just hand cutting them down to size with a rolling jig I 3d printed. In just a few seconds I can cut across 4 feet of sheet manually. This saves a ton of money as pre sheared sheet is often double the price around my area.

The welding side of things is also quite impressive. This welder has tons of presets for different materials, and a larger parameters screen with SO MANY PARAMETERS. It's super easy to turn on the welder and lay a bead down. I first watched an Alec Steele video about laser welding some time ago and had to try making a similar box, and it went just about exactly as his experience went. It took only a few minutes to figure out how to laser weld, and I was laying down clean welds on 0.020 up to 0.160 stainless. I saw almost no deformation on the thinner stainless as well, which is pretty cool. It seems laser welding doesn't put as much heat into the material.

---

Rust Removal & Laser Engraving

Laser rust removal is one of those things I've seen online for years, but have never really believed in. I finally got a MaxClean attachment and tried it on a few big pieces of steel and iron. I was easily able to remove rust and paint without removing much material at all.

The engraving feature is interesting, but it is important to set expectations. This is single-point engraving, which is quite slow compared to a dedicated engraving system. It can engrave but is a little bit less than optimal for it. It's definitely useful for engraving small logos, part numbers, etc. I wouldn't recommend this machine as a dedicated engraving machine though.

---

Where the MetalFab Excels

The MetalFab excels when used as an all around fabrication system for smaller shops. While it certainly won't replace every tool in the shop, it's super capable on it's own. You can cut a part, clean it, weld it, and potentially mark it all on one machine.

For custom signs, brackets, enclosures, prototypes, and all around fabrication it's an awesome piece of kit. I'm able to design and test prototypes of parts in just a few minutes, and paired with local steel yards (we have an amazing local yard that sells at great prices!) it can print profit. I cut tons of signs and have been making hundreds of dollars from just a single marketplace listing and a few hours of runtime on Saturdays.

The best fit for this machine is probably someone who does a mix of metalworking, sign making, small fabrication, product prototyping, or custom shop work. If you can use the cutting, welding, and cleaning features regularly, the value makes a lot more sense. If you only need one of those features occasionally, it becomes harder to justify.

---

xTool Studio Software & Constant Cloud Storage Popups

The xTool Studio software experience is a tougher spot for me. While it is easily usable, and can get the job done for basic cutting workflows, it has a few bugs and quite a few features that aren't user friendly. Studio is always trying to update and pull users into it's paid cloud file storage system, through inconvenient button placements that don't always work as expected.

My primary example of this is when you are at the main page of Studio, you see a list of recently opened files. As I work with local files only, I would expect the "View All" button next to used to just open a longer list of recently used files, regardless of where they were opened from. This is not the case. It only directs to the xTool "My Space" storage system, which is a paid cloud storage system. I wouldn't want to use this cloud service for any of the parts in my 9-5, as we work in protected aerospace components and we absolutely cannot upload them to a server. It is a little frustrating when opening and closing files frequently, but otherwise it seems to function wonderfully.

If xTool were to improve the local file/folder support and add a "Don't show again" option for the My Space popup/redirect for Recent Files, I'd be very excited.

Otherwise, the software works great for all sorts of work, importing and making changes to shapes and existing geometries, layering cuts to prevent cutting the part out before cutting it's smaller details out first (woops), and more are easily possible and don't need tutorials. I went into the software blind with it's very simple optional tutorial and was able to figure out everything I've made since with no additional help.

---

Final Verdict

After 6 months with the xTool Metalfab, I can say I love this machine. It's been a blast and a privilege to have such a machine in my shop, and it goes perfectly with my bridgeport and southbend lathe. I definitely think this is geared towards folks running small businesses or even shops doing prototyping, and it excels at these things. It only takes a few minutes to set up and start cutting parts up to 24x24", and a few minutes to cut depending on complexity. The software is intuitive and plenty capable, barring a small annoyance with the "View All" button for recently opened files.

If you're a serious maker, small shop, sign builder, metal artist, fabricator, or business that can actually use the combination of cutting, welding and cleaning, this machine is wonderful. Consumables aren't very expensive and last quite a while.

As an individual running a small business at home, I've been able to turn my 150$ 4x10 ft 304 stainless sheets into 10 23in signs and plenty of smaller parts in under an hour and a half. I've been selling signs unpainted at 80$, and painted with multiple layers of primer and paints for 150$+ depending on quantity and complexity.

So while it's not a magic replacement for every welding or cutting tool, this metalfab is more than capable enough for my shop and needs, and we have loved it for all of our projects. I still recommend it as a compact, flexible way to handle a lot of metalworking tasks for small shops.

Intro

I've had my xTool MetalFab for about 6 months now, and I want to write a full review on it for others who are considering the expensive setup. This will focus on it being practical, cost effective, and useful for a small shop.

The xTool Metalfab is a two piece setup, with a CNC bed and a 4 in 1 laser welder unit capable of cutting, engraving, and rust removal. My review is about the 1200W version of the Laser Welder, and I am using their Select Air Compressor and dryer as well. The full setup I have is around $18,000.

For simplicity I've broken this review down into a few parts, as listed here:

• Build Quality / Safety Setup / Gas Setup and connections

• Cutting & Welding Performance

• Rust Removal & Laser Engraving (Single point, slow!)

• Where The Metalfab Excels

• Software, Constant Cloud Storage Popups

• Final Verdict

---

Build Quality & Safety Setup

To keep it simple, the Metalfab and xTool Laser welder feels really solid and well built. The CNC/Metalfab unit is heavy, fully metal, and absolutely rigid. I've dealt with flimsy engraving enclosures and lower quality 3d printers that are heavily impacted by vibrations in the past, and this thing is extremely stable in comparison.

You should always remember that a 1200W fiber laser is very dangerous, especially when welding. The Metalfab has safety covered as well though. It comes with a full enclosure that's safe to look through, protective glasses that are rated properly, proper gloves, and it's own ventilation setup. Just route the ventilation out pipe outdoors or through a filter and it's all set.

The gas and air setup is also mostly easy to set up and use. My issue was finding press fit 10mm hose adapters for my Argon tanks, but when I found one that fit on amazon it's great. I use the select air compressor (xtool sells this one) and dryer and it is perfect for cutting all of the stainless I need cut. It's also super easy to swap between compressed air and argon or other gases, which I use to switch to laser welding frequently.

---

Manual and CNC Cutting + Welding

The cutting performance is one of the biggest reasons I would recommend the MetalFab. I'm able to power it on, send over a file, and cut a part in under two or three minutes. It's awesome for making brackets and small one off parts, and I've been making batches of small local signs to sell on marketplace alongside custom signs and quick prototyping out of sheet.

It is especially nice for the signs I make as it's able to cut small details quickly, and without kerf. Not having to deburr parts is awesome, and I've had no problems with parts up to 4mm 304 stainless. Aluminum and carbon steel need oxygen for cutting without kerf, and I've primarily focused on stainless for my signs which cuts perfectly with compressed air.

The manual cutting is useful too. I've been buying 4x8 foot and 4x10 foot sheet steel from a local supplier, and just hand cutting them down to size with a rolling jig I 3d printed. In just a few seconds I can cut across 4 feet of sheet manually. This saves a ton of money as pre sheared sheet is often double the price around my area.

The welding side of things is also quite impressive. This welder has tons of presets for different materials, and a larger parameters screen with SO MANY PARAMETERS. It's super easy to turn on the welder and lay a bead down. I first watched an Alec Steele video about laser welding some time ago and had to try making a similar box, and it went just about exactly as his experience went. It took only a few minutes to figure out how to laser weld, and I was laying down clean welds on 0.020 up to 0.160 stainless. I saw almost no deformation on the thinner stainless as well, which is pretty cool. It seems laser welding doesn't put as much heat into the material.

---

Rust Removal & Laser Engraving

Laser rust removal is one of those things I've seen online for years, but have never really believed in. I finally got a MaxClean attachment and tried it on a few big pieces of steel and iron. I was easily able to remove rust and paint without removing much material at all.

The engraving feature is interesting, but it is important to set expectations. This is single-point engraving, which is quite slow compared to a dedicated engraving system. It can engrave but is a little bit less than optimal for it. It's definitely useful for engraving small logos, part numbers, etc. I wouldn't recommend this machine as a dedicated engraving machine though.

---

Where the MetalFab Excels

The MetalFab excels when used as an all around fabrication system for smaller shops. While it certainly won't replace every tool in the shop, it's super capable on it's own. You can cut a part, clean it, weld it, and potentially mark it all on one machine.

For custom signs, brackets, enclosures, prototypes, and all around fabrication it's an awesome piece of kit. I'm able to design and test prototypes of parts in just a few minutes, and paired with local steel yards (we have an amazing local yard that sells at great prices!) it can print profit. I cut tons of signs and have been making hundreds of dollars from just a single marketplace listing and a few hours of runtime on Saturdays.

The best fit for this machine is probably someone who does a mix of metalworking, sign making, small fabrication, product prototyping, or custom shop work. If you can use the cutting, welding, and cleaning features regularly, the value makes a lot more sense. If you only need one of those features occasionally, it becomes harder to justify.

---

xTool Studio Software & Constant Cloud Storage Popups

The xTool Studio software experience is a tougher spot for me. While it is easily usable, and can get the job done for basic cutting workflows, it has a few bugs and quite a few features that aren't user friendly. Studio is always trying to update and pull users into it's paid cloud file storage system, through inconvenient button placements that don't always work as expected.

My primary example of this is when you are at the main page of Studio, you see a list of recently opened files. As I work with local files only, I would expect the "View All" button next to used to just open a longer list of recently used files, regardless of where they were opened from. This is not the case. It only directs to the xTool "My Space" storage system, which is a paid cloud storage system. I wouldn't want to use this cloud service for any of the parts in my 9-5, as we work in protected aerospace components and we absolutely cannot upload them to a server. It is a little frustrating when opening and closing files frequently, but otherwise it seems to function wonderfully.

If xTool were to improve the local file/folder support and add a "Don't show again" option for the My Space popup/redirect for Recent Files, I'd be very excited.

Otherwise, the software works great for all sorts of work, importing and making changes to shapes and existing geometries, layering cuts to prevent cutting the part out before cutting it's smaller details out first (woops), and more are easily possible and don't need tutorials. I went into the software blind with it's very simple optional tutorial and was able to figure out everything I've made since with no additional help.

---

Final Verdict

After 6 months with the xTool Metalfab, I can say I love this machine. It's been a blast and a privilege to have such a machine in my shop, and it goes perfectly with my bridgeport and southbend lathe. I definitely think this is geared towards folks running small businesses or even shops doing prototyping, and it excels at these things. It only takes a few minutes to set up and start cutting parts up to 24x24", and a few minutes to cut depending on complexity. The software is intuitive and plenty capable, barring a small annoyance with the "View All" button for recently opened files.

If you're a serious maker, small shop, sign builder, metal artist, fabricator, or business that can actually use the combination of cutting, welding and cleaning, this machine is wonderful. Consumables aren't very expensive and last quite a while.

As an individual running a small business at home, I've been able to turn my 150$ 4x10 ft 304 stainless sheets into 10 23in signs and plenty of smaller parts in under an hour and a half. I've been selling signs unpainted at 80$, and painted with multiple layers of primer and paints for 150$+ depending on quantity and complexity.

So while it's not a magic replacement for every welding or cutting tool, this metalfab is more than capable enough for my shop and needs, and we have loved it for all of our projects. I still recommend it as a compact, flexible way to handle a lot of metalworking tasks for small shops.

Hey folks! I've been getting into basic python more and more.

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