If you want a jet black mark on stainless steel with the xTool F2, these are the exact settings and steps I use to get consistent results. It works really well on dog tags, jewelry, business cards and pretty much any stainless blank you're likely to engrave.
This is annealing, not engraving, and once you've dialed it in the results look seriously clean. I showed it briefly in a comparison video and loads of you asked for the settings, so here's the whole process step by step.
Jump to: What you need · Positioning · Camera lights · Defocus · Adding your design · Framing · Settings · The finishing trick
What you need
- A stainless steel item. There are lots of different types out there. For this one I used a stainless bar necklace.
- Isopropyl alcohol (or a similar cleaner) to get fingerprints off before you start, and for the trick at the end.
1. Clean, focus and offset
- Clean your item so there are no fingerprints on it.
- Place it in the middle of the bed and focus the laser so the two dots join together.
- Then move it slightly towards the back.
The reason for the offset: stainless is very reflective. When the laser comes straight down onto the center, it can bounce straight back up, and you don't want it bouncing back into the laser. xTool Studio will show you a warning about this later on, too.
2. Turn the camera lights down
Click New project and Studio loads up and takes a picture of the bed. You'll notice my background is very dark. That's deliberate with stainless steel, because you need to see the framing light clearly, and too much light makes that hard.
To change it, click Device settings and adjust the Front light and Back light under fill light brightness to whatever suits you.
3. Defocus by 3.5 mm
Part of the annealing process is defocusing, which means moving the laser head 3.5 mm further away from the item.
- Look at the focus distance box on the right. Mine said 3.2 mm after I focused by hand. If yours is empty, twist the focus knob very slightly and back the same amount, and it updates to your current focus.
- Add 3.5 mm to that number. For me, 3.2 + 3.5 = 6.7 mm.
- Type it into the box. The head moves. Double check it has moved up, away from the item.
4. Adding your design
This necklace was a birthday present for my niece, so I kept it simple and put her name on it.
- Click the Text button on the left and type your text.
- Set it to Engrave. I made it red so it's easy to see.
- To change the font, click the font name in the top toolbar and pick from the (huge) list. I used Monotype Corsiva.
- Position it using the camera view. To fill the bar, I opened the spacing dropdown in the toolbar and set the letter spacing to 0.5 to spread the letters out a little. I like filling a blank as much as I can.
5. Frame it by hand
The camera is really accurate, but it isn't perfect, and it's even less so here, because we've lifted the head 3.5 mm and the camera view is slightly skewed. So always frame before you apply your material settings.
- Click the three dots in the bottom right to open the framing modes, and pick Rect. That shows a box around your text, which is useful for checking it's straight and parallel to the edge of your item.
- Click Framing.
This is why the lights are turned down: you can see the frame clearly. Mine was slightly out, so I made tiny adjustments to the necklace with my fingers until it lined up. Stop the framing when you're done, then update the camera image. It may still look a little off on screen, but that's just the camera being higher than normal. You've framed it by hand, so you can be confident.
6. The settings
Open the material library from where it says Unknown material. I haven't found a black annealing setting in xTool Studio's own library, so I use my own custom material. When you apply a reflective material, Studio shows the warning above, which is exactly why we moved the item towards the back. Studio's default infrared settings for stainless are too fast for this, and you won't get a dark mark with them.
These settings came from Beth, who runs the Abby's Attic Creations YouTube channel. She kindly let me share them, so go and check her channel out.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Laser | Infrared |
| Power | 92% |
| Speed | 20 mm/s |
| Passes | 2 |
| Lines per cm | 300 |
| Engraving mode | Bi-directional |
| Engraving angle | 45°, Incremental (under Advanced settings) |
| Focus | Defocused by +3.5 mm |
These are for stainless steel on the xTool F2. You'll find them, and other stainless settings, in my free Laser Settings Library and on my xTool F2 settings page. You might need to tweak them slightly for your blank, but they should get you very close straight away.
Click Process. Mine estimated 5 minutes 16 seconds for a small name. It's slow, but the results are worth the wait.
7. The finishing trick
Straight off the laser it already looks great. Now for the trick. Give it a spray of isopropyl alcohol (LA's Totally Awesome works well too) and wipe it.
It makes the mark so much crisper. It's jet black and you can see it from all angles.
Where this works well
Once you've got the speed and power dialed in, this is really consistent across different stainless blanks. If you're doing batches, my dog tag jig and metal business card jig fit the F2 and hold the blanks in the same spot every time.
If you try these settings, let me know how they work on your blanks in the comments on the video.
