xTool F2 Cleaning Routine: Fan, Lens and Cover

You've had your xTool F2 a while, you've been engraving everything, and you notice the performance starting to dip. It's not cutting as well, or it's not engraving evenly. There's a very good reason for that: the laser needs regular cleaning and maintenance.

This is my full F2 cleaning routine, step by step: the rear fan and duct, the laser lens, and the cover. At the end there's a short section for F1 Ultra owners on cleaning the extractor fan, and one on cleaning the filter in xTool's smoke purifier, from my other cleaning videos.

Jump to: What you need · Rear fan and duct · Laser lens · Cover and outside · How often · F1 Ultra fan · Smoke purifier filter

Before you start: what you need

First, unplug the power so there's nothing flowing through the machine, and take the exhaust duct off the back so the F2 is standing on its own.

You don't need exactly what I've got, but a combination of these will do the whole job:

• a bowl of water;
• an old toothbrush (a child's one is perfect for small gaps);
• a lens cleaning cloth and a lint-free cloth;
• 99.9% isopropyl alcohol (IPA);
• paper towel;
• an air duster (a luxury, not essential);
• a manual screwdriver with a PZ1 (Pozidriv) bit for the fan cover.

The three areas to clean are the cover, the rear duct and fan, and the laser lens.

1. The rear fan and exhaust duct

Start with the dirtiest part of the machine, the exhaust vent on the back.

1. Undo the four corner screws on the fan shroud, turning counterclockwise. Use a manual screwdriver, not an electric one. These screws are very fine and it's easy to strip the heads.
2. Lift the shroud off toward you, holding the screws so you don't lose them.
3. Pull the rubber gasket out of the way, then lift the fan out.
4. There's a cable plugged in behind the fan. Don't pull it hard. Gently rock the connector side to side and it will come out.

Behind the fan, the F2 has a cover protecting the electronics (the F1 didn't), which is good to see.

5. With the fan out, use the air duster to blow from the laser side outward, so loose dust goes out of the back.
6. Dampen a cloth with IPA and gently wipe around the plastic housing and the backs of the fins. Alcohol evaporates, won't harm the electronics if a little gets through, and shifts stubborn grime. For a detailed clean, use a damp toothbrush on the fins.

The shroud: dunk it in the bowl of water and scrub it with the toothbrush, getting into every crevice. Pat it dry with a cloth so it dries quicker.

The fan: this is usually the dirtiest part of all. Hold the blades still with a finger and blast it with the air duster (somewhere open, not with your machine behind it). Then gently clean the fins with a damp toothbrush. Don't get the connector wet. Wipe it dry and push a paper towel into the gaps to get as much off as you can. A dirty fan is less efficient, pulls less through, and that affects your machine's performance. Wood and anodized aluminum in particular produce a lot of particles that end up in here.

The gasket: rinse it in water and rub it clean with your fingers. Its job is to seal the fan and keep dust out of sensitive areas, so a dirty gasket can mean a broken seal. Pat it dry.

Putting it back together

1. Check the airflow arrow on the side of the fan. It must point out toward the back of the machine. If it's the wrong way round, the fan pushes air in instead of pulling it out. On mine, the xTool logo upright was the correct orientation.
2. Plug the connector back in first. It only goes one way, with two locating pins. Push it fully home without straining the cables, then sit the fan in place.
3. Refit the gasket. It's square with a notch at the bottom that lines up with the connector. Start at the top corners and work it round.
4. Put the screws through the shroud first so they hold it in place, line it up and push it in. The shroud goes either way round.
5. Tighten opposite corners in turn (top right, then bottom left, and so on). Stop when you feel resistance. Overtightening can round off the screws. Snug is important, though, because you want a good seal.

2. The laser lens

Engraving throws off particles that settle on the lens and affect performance. If you've ever engraved a business card and it came out uneven, a dirty lens is a likely cause.

1. Remove the base plate. Close the lid and gently lay the machine on its back. The lid opens and gives you access underneath.
2. Reach up, grab the lens and turn it counterclockwise. It might be tight, so give it a firm but careful twist. There's a lot of thread, so keep going.
3. Once it's out, close the lid and stand the machine back up straight away, so no dust gets into the mirrors inside.

4. Dampen (don't soak) a lens cleaning cloth with alcohol. That's how xTool recommends cleaning it.
5. Wipe the lens gently in a circular motion until the debris is gone.
6. If you have an air duster, blow off any remaining dust.
7. Hold it up to the light and check. I still had a smudge, so I went over it again. The better the job here, the better your laser performs. You can do the back the same way, very carefully.

8. Lay the machine on its back again, reach up and press the lens in, then turn it clockwise until the thread bites. Working with the machine on its back means the lens can't fall out if you let go.
9. Tighten until it stops. Don't overtighten, or you won't get it out next time.

While you're there, you can clean the camera lens and the little window for the two focus dots the same way: lint-free cloth, a little alcohol, small circles. Then put the lens cover on to keep the lens clean while you do the rest.

3. The cover and the outside

The orange cover is one of the most asked about parts because you can't normally reach all of it. A dirty cover limits how well you can see in, which is a safety issue too.

1. Plug the power back in, switch on and turn the head knob clockwise to raise it all the way to the top. Be patient, it takes a moment.
2. Switch off and unplug the power again.
3. Close the lid carefully and lay the machine on its back (or side). This gives you access through the opening at the bottom. Hold the lid closed, because it wants to spring up.

4. xTool recommends using just water and a lint-free cloth on the cover. (I've used IPA in the past without problems, but water is the official advice.) Wring the cloth out well, too much water leaves streaks, and wipe every corner of the inside.
5. Go round again with a separate dry cloth to remove any streaks.
6. Do the outside the same way, wet cloth then dry. Hold the lid down as you do it so you don't knock it out of alignment.

Keep your bowl of water away from the machine while you do this. I nearly knocked mine over.

7. Plug back in, switch on and turn the knob counterclockwise to lower the head to its normal position. Unplug again.
8. With the lens cover still on, spray a little IPA on the base area and metal parts (not into the fan) and wipe them clean. Clean the base plate too and refit it.

Before your next job: take the lens cover off (it's easy to forget), and make sure the emergency stop button hasn't been pushed in by accident.

How often should you clean it?

It depends on how much you use the machine and what you engrave:

• Stainless steel makes particles, but not many that clog the fan.
• Wood engraving and cutting puts a lot of soot through the fan and onto the cover.
• Rust removal clogs things up really fast.
• Business cards and anything anodized throw off tiny flakes that get the lens dirty.

My rule of thumb is at least once a month for normal use. If you're doing a lot of wood every day, I'd do it every one to two weeks to be safe. Look after your equipment and it will look after you.

Got an F1 Ultra? Don't skip the extractor fan

On the xTool F1 Ultra, the extractor fan on the back gets incredibly dirty, and mine was filthy. If it builds up, it affects the fan's performance, and there are other components in there you don't want grime leaking onto. Here's how I clean it (full video here):

1. Unplug all the power cables and anything else in the back of the machine (including the Bluetooth device if you have an AP2 air purifier), so you can turn it round.
2. Remove the four screws on the fan cover with a 2.5 mm hex bit. They aren't very tight.
3. Take the cover off slowly. Lift the fan out first, then unplug its cable gently. Don't yank it.
4. Vacuum the loose debris off the fan and the cover.

5. The cover has no sensitive parts, so if it's really dirty you can spray it with IPA, then soak it in a bowl of warm water and scrub it with a brush. Wipe it dry.
6. The fan does have sensitive components, so don't get it wet. Lay it on a towel, spray with IPA (keeping off the connector), brush, wipe, then blow it out with an air duster.
7. Vacuum and blow out the area behind the fan, and give the inside a light IPA spray and wipe.
8. Refit: plug the cable in first so it clicks, then push the fan back in. Mine went in with the label facing out toward the back. The cover only fits one way: line up the two notches and the gap at the bottom.
9. Do the screws diagonally so the fan sits square.

Then spray and brush the grooves on the outside and wipe them over. If you use your F1 Ultra heavily, I'd do this monthly, maybe every two weeks. Don't let yours get like mine did.

Cleaning the smoke purifier filter

If you run your laser through xTool's desktop smoke purifier, like the one I use with my F1, the filters fill up quickly, especially with wood, business cards or metal. When it starts beeping during a job, that means the filter needs cleaning or replacing. This unit has two filters: a cleanable one on top and a replaceable cartridge underneath (full video here).

Wear a dust mask for this part, because you'll be stirring up fine particles you don't want to breathe in.

1. Switch off and unplug everything, and take the hoses off with a twist and pull.
2. Vacuum and wipe the outside, especially around the hose ports, so you get a good seal later.
3. Stand directly over the unit, press in the handles on each side and pull the lid up.
4. Vacuum out the inside in place first.

5. The cartridge underneath lifts out by its two toggle handles. That's the one you buy from xTool to replace when needed. I left mine in.
6. Take out the top filter sheet and vacuum both sides.
7. Spray the lid and its frame with IPA and wipe them clean.

8. Rinse the top filter under the tap, squeezing and rolling it to force the dust out.
9. Let it dry completely before it goes back in. Never refit it wet.
10. While it dries, vacuum, spray and wipe the extraction hose, stretching it out to get between the ridges.
11. Refit the dry filter so it fills the whole space with no gaps, then clip the lid back on with the label facing the back.
12. Reconnect the hoses with a twist as you push them on, so they seal tightly.

Do it nice or do it twice

It's a saying I picked up in the Army, and it fits maintenance perfectly. A clean, well-looked-after machine just keeps working, which matters even more if you're selling what you make.

If you're getting back to engraving after a clean, my free Laser Settings Library and the xTool F2 settings page have tested settings to start from. Any questions about cleaning your machine? Ask me in the comments on the video.