Wildcard Week

Task:-

Design and produce something with a digital process (incorporating computer aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.

xTool M1 Ultra

A beginner friendly 4-in-1 digital fabrication machine for cutting, engraving, drawing and printing.

Laser Cutting Blade Cutting Pen Plotting Inkjet Printing

User Manual: M1 ultra

Safety Measurements

Proper Ventilation

Laser cutting produces smoke and fumes, so the workspace should be well ventilated.

Avoid PVC

PVC and vinyl materials should not be used because they release toxic gases.

Hot Tool Safety

Foil transfer and debossing tips become hot during operation. Allow them to cool before touching.

Sharp Blade Safety

Rotary and fine point blades are sharp and should be handled carefully while replacing.

Keep Lid Closed

Keep the enclosure closed during laser cutting to reduce laser and smoke exposure.

Fire Safety

Never leave the machine unattended because some materials may catch fire.

Source: xTool M1 Ultra Safety First

Tools & Accessories

The xTool M1 Ultra uses a modular 3-Second Easy Swap system which allows different processing modules and tools to be changed quickly depending on the material and application.

Source: swingdesign

Interchangeable Processing Modules

10W Diode Laser Module

Precision engraving and cutting for paper, cardboard and thin wood.

20W Diode Laser Module

Higher power cutting for plywood, acrylic and leather.

Ink Module

CMY inkjet printing for graphics, labels and artwork.

Multi-Function Carriage

Main holder for blade tools, foil tools and pen attachments.

Blade & Pen Tools

Fine-Point Blade

Precision blade for thin craft materials.

Vinyl
Sticker sheets
Cardstock
Paper crafts

Cutting Blade

Deeper blade designed for thicker and denser materials.

Leather
Dense paper
Cardboard
Craft sheets

Rotary Blade

Rolling wheel blade for soft flexible materials.

Fabric
Felt
Denim
Cloth patterns

Foil Transfer Tip

Applies pressure onto foil sheets to create embossed foil lines.

Foil detailing
Decorative paper
Packaging graphics
Invitation cards

Hot Foil Pen

Heated pen tool that permanently heat-bonds metallic foil onto surfaces.

Wood decoration
Leather graphics
Luxury finishes
Typography

Pen Holder

Holds xTool pens and markers for automated drawing and sketching.

Illustrations
Calligraphy
Line art
Vector drawing

Operational Accessories

Riser Base Kit

Raises machine height for thicker materials.

Honeycomb Panel

Improves airflow and reduces burn marks.

RA2 Pro Rotary Attachment

Engraves mugs, bottles and tumblers.

Smart Air Assist

Provides cleaner cuts with airflow.

Smoke Purifier

Filters smoke and laser fumes.

Fire Safety Set

Helps detect and prevent fire hazards.

Mats & Consumables

Electrostatic Mat

Holds lightweight materials using static charge.

Adhesive Cutting Mats

Sticky mats for paper, vinyl and fabric cutting.

CMY Ink Cartridges

Replacement cartridges for the ink module.

Source: xTool M1 Ultra User Manual

Testing embossing effect

For this week I wanted to try making embossed artwork on thin aluminium sheets, inspired by handcrafted metal embossing references.

I used aluminium from Sprite and Red Bull cans as it easily available and the material is thin, easy to shape using pressure. Cut and removed the top and bottom part of can, for straightening the sheet using scale press it and drag up-down.

Challenge

The xTool M1 Ultra mainly supports debossing using foil transfer tip, where the surface is pressed inward. But I wanted to create an embossed raised effect similar to metal embossing artwork.

Research

While searching for methods, I watched videos of Cricut machines doing embossing and debossing. In one workflow, they first cut a stencil shape and then place the material in which to emboss effect over it. After that, they use pressure around an offset path which slowly pushes the surface upward, creating an embossed effect.

Since the M1 Ultra does not directly have an embossing feature, I wanted to test if I could recreate a similar process.

Reference: Embossing Technique Reference How to Emboss with your Cricut!

Setting up the process

Inserting the tool

Changing and inserting tools in the xTool M1 Ultra is simple. The Fine Blade is inserted into the Basic Carriage, while tools like the Cutting Blade and Foil Transfer Tip are inserted into the Multi-Function Carriage.

The tool in which has to inserted in multi-function carriage, it will having a small arrow mark near the end part of the tool - showing the correct insertion direction. Once inserted, the magnetic attachment automatically holds the tool in place securely. After inserting the tool properly, the machine lid should be closed completely before starting the process.

For setting up the process, used the xTool Creative Space software. Inside the software, I first selected the machine I was using and then selected the process type such as blade cutting, foil transfer.

I tested the process on two different materials. One was a normal chart paper whose exact gsm value I did not know, and the other was AuraFold premium 300 gsm paper.

GSM stands for Grams per Square Meter. It is used to measure the thickness and weight of paper. Higher GSM papers are usually thicker compared to lower GSM papers.

I also tried cutting 3mm thick cardboard using the Cutting Blade tool. However, the blade was not able to cut properly because the cardboard was too thick and hard for the blade-based cutting process.

Framing

The machine shows the working area( previews where design will happen) before actually starting, so you can can visually confirm the position.

To create the embossing effect, I first cut the design shapes using the Fine Blade tool and pasted the cut pieces layer by layer to create thickness underneath the top sheet. I tested both 2 layer and 3 layer setups, where the 2 layer setup used a 1mm offset and the 3 layer setup used a 1.5mm offset around the design.

Then I placed the aluminium sheet on top of these layered structures and used the Foil Transfer Tip pressure to press along the offset paths. Since the xTool M1 Ultra supports debossing, I tested with using pressure and layered surfaces to create a raised embossing effect on the aluminium sheet.

Created the offset using offset tool, and give parameter only for the offset element. In the machine bed, stick the aluminium coil for debossing with foil transfer tip.

Observations

Pressure & Speed

If the pressure is too low or the speed is too high, the embossing effect will not press properly onto the surface.

High Pressure Issue

Too much pressure with low speed can sometimes tear or cut through the sheet because the tool stays pressing longer in one area.

Layer Thickness

For 2 layers I used a 1mm offset, and for 3 layers I increased the offset to 1.5mm.

Sheet Position

If the sheet is not taped properly and kept flat on the bed, uneven pressure can cause unwanted cuts and poor embossing.

Working Setting

Around 500 pressure and 2mm/s speed worked better for the 3 layered debossing setup.

Foil Tip Effect

The embossing effect mainly appeared only along the offset line path created using the foil transfer tip.

Cutting the Embossed Letter Using xTool F1 Ultra

Using the xTool F1 Ultra, I tried cutting an embossed letter “O”. I created two embossed “O” shapes and planned to cut them separately and paste them together, thinking the embossed surface would create depth and a hollow structure inside.

Laser Types in xTool F1 Ultra

Blue Diode Laser

Mainly used for cutting and engraving non-metal materials like wood, paper, cardboard, leather and dark acrylic.

Fiber Laser

Mainly used for engraving metals, aluminium, stainless steel, gold, silver and plastic surfaces.

However, the result was the opposite to what i wanted. After cutting, the embossed structure looks flattened instead of maintaining the raised form.

Sketching the Illustrations

I sketched it in paper, later using ardra's ipad created the digital version of illustration.

For sketching and creating the artwork digitally, I used Procreate on the iPad. It is a subscription-free digital illustration, concept sketching and animation app designed for iPad.

Using procreate, traced it digitally, sketched elements in different layers, so that later i can adjust their position freely. I used brush size about 70% for stroke, as it has to get debossed.

For stabilising and smoothing the strokes, lines: click on the brush you wanted >> brush studio >> stabilisation, adjust the values here. And downloaded them in png format.