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This quick article answers the main question “What does the air assist do?” and provides in-depth insight about how much the tool costs and if the air assist is worth it.
If you don’t know what the xTool M1 machine is, it is a desktop laser and blade cutting machine that you can use to cut and engrave a variety of materials including wood (cut), some opaque acrylics (cut and engrave), tumblers (engrave), and jewelry (engrave) in addition to many more materials.
You can also check out this xTool M1 review article.
I was sent the xTool M1 machine and the xTool M1 air assist by the xTool company and I can definitely say that the xTool M1 air assist tool improves the quality of my final craft projects.
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What is the air assist?
In simple terms, the air assist is a ventilation tool that blows high-pressure air into your xTool M1 to ventilate the workspace to prevent fires and smoke and clear debris from the engraving/cutting area.
What does the air assist do?
As your xTool M1 machine laser cuts or laser engraves, the heat from the laser will begin to increase the temperature of the material you use and cause smoke and create debris. With the air assist tool, high-pressure air is blown into your xTool M1 machine to clear out smoke and debris from the engraving & cutting area.
The process for using the xTool M1 air assist is very simple. There is a turn dial connected to the air pump or air compressor that you can use to turn the air assist on and off. You can also increase or decrease the air pressure that’s being put out.
Does xTool M1 have air assist?
The air assist is an additional accessory for the xTool M1 that you have to purchase separately. Read more in the “Is the air assist worth it?” section.
Advantages of using air assist
There are many advantages to using the air assist with your xTool M1 machine. The first advantage is that it will reduce the possibility of a fire. As noted before, when the laser in your xTool M1 is cutting or engraving, it increases the temperature of the object you’re cutting or engraving.
If the debris from your object is not blown away by using an air assist, the debris can catch fire and spread quickly.
Another advantage of using the air assist tool is that your projects won’t have burn marks where the laser cut, especially on wood. To prevent burn marks on your projects, the air assist blows the smoke away from your object, creating a clean cut with no burn marks or discoloration.
The air assist tool also extends the life of the laser because the smoke and debris are cleared out of the way, therefore making your laser more powerful.
Finally, with the debris and smoke cleared out of the way, the laser on your xTool M1 machine can cut and engrave deeper and more accurately.
So overall, the air assist tool helps your xTool M1 cutting and engraving space stay super clean so your laser can do its job without any smoke or debris getting in the way.
Image taken from xTool website.
Is the air assist worth it?
The final questions you may have are “Is the air assist worth it?” and “Do I need the air assist?”
Hopefully, you read the advantages of the air assist above and can see why you need the air assist, but just to answer the specific questions.
Yes, the air assist is worth it. While the price of the xTool M1 air assist may be close to $200, that’s a small price to pay to prevent your machine from catching fire and to create an overall cleaner and neater finished product.
Additionally, the xTool M1 air assist is frequently on sale and you can get it for about $135. So be sure to check their website often or join my email list so I can let you know when the xTool M1 air assist goes on sale.
So overall, my answer is yes, you do need the xTool M1 air assist machine to prevent fires and create cleaner and neater finished products with no burn marks.
How to install air assist
Click here to watch a super easy video from xTool to show you how to install the xTool M1 air assist tool.
I hope you enjoyed this article on the xTool M1 air assist. If you have any questions about using the xTool M1 machine or the air assist, reach out to me by email or on social media.
Don’t forget to save this article so you can refer to it later.
