It is a UV laser, not a UV printer
The name causes confusion, so first: the xTool F2 Ultra UV is a UV laser engraver. xTool’s user guide lists a 5 W UV laser at 355 ± 5 nm, an internal working area of 200 mm × 200 mm, and a maximum processing speed of 15,000 mm/s. It is a galvo machine: mirrors steer the beam across a fixed field instead of moving a gantry. It marks, engraves and (in some materials) cuts. It does not put down ink.
If you want color on a blank, that is a UV inkjet printer, such as xTool’s O1 Omni (330 × 420 mm standard baseplate) or the machines in the UV printer jig guide. Jigs work on both, but the constraints differ: on a UV laser the jig controls focus height and position inside a 200 mm field.
| Spec (from xTool support pages) | Value |
|---|---|
| Laser | 5 W UV, 355 ± 5 nm |
| Surface working area | 200 × 200 mm |
| Inner engraving volume (glass) | 70 × 70 × 150 mm |
| Max height for flat objects | 150 mm |
| Max processing speed | 15,000 mm/s |
| Focus | Auto (camera plus laser rangefinder) or manual red and blue dot overlap |
What it marks
xTool’s FAQ lists glass, plastics (ABS, PVC, PC, silicone), acrylic, wood, leather, metal, ceramics, stone, paper and fabric, with the note that support depends on the operation, and that metal cannot be used for embossing. For a batch business that covers the common personalized blanks: aluminum business cards and dog tags, acrylic keychains, slate and ceramic coasters, leather patches, and glass.
Thin or transparent material needs care. The user guide says to use the slatted panel for thin or transparent materials to avoid damaging the baseplate. A jig made of 3 mm MDF or cardboard does the same job for small blanks: the beam that passes through clear acrylic hits the jig floor, not the baseplate.
How many blanks fit in a 200 mm field
The arithmetic is the same for any grid layout. For each axis:
- Pocket size = blank size + 2 × clearance per side.
- Pitch = pocket size + web (the solid strip between pockets).
- Pockets per axis = floor((field + web) ÷ pitch).
The extra web in the numerator is there because n pockets need only n − 1 webs between them. Assumptions below: 0.2 mm clearance per side, 3 mm webs, pockets allowed anywhere inside the 200 × 200 mm field.
| Blank | Blank size | Pitch | Per axis | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dog tag | 50.8 × 28.6 mm (2 × 1⅛ in) | 51.2 × 29.0 mm | 54.2 × 32.0 mm | 203 ÷ 54.2 = 3.7 → 3; 203 ÷ 32.0 = 6.3 → 6 | 18 |
| Business card | 88.9 × 50.8 mm (3.5 × 2 in) | 89.3 × 51.2 mm | 92.3 × 54.2 mm | 203 ÷ 92.3 = 2.2 → 2; 203 ÷ 54.2 = 3.7 → 3 | 6 |
| Round keychain, square grid | 50.8 mm (2 in) diameter | 51.2 mm | 54.2 mm | 3; 3 | 9 |
| Round keychain, staggered | 50.8 mm (2 in) diameter | 51.2 mm | 54.2 mm across, 46.9 mm row to row | 3 per row; 4 rows | 12 |
Notes on the numbers:
- Dog tags. Turning the tags 90° gives 6 × 3, still 18. A 3-wide grid uses 3 × 51.2 + 2 × 3 = 159.6 mm, leaving a 40 mm strip. Three more tags would fit in that strip turned 90°, for 21, but only with a mixed-rotation layout you arrange yourself.
- Business cards. Two cards across take 2 × 89.3 + 3 = 181.6 mm, leaving 18 mm, which is not enough for anything. Six is the ceiling at this card size.
- Staggered rounds. Offsetting alternate rows by half a pitch lets the circles nest. Row-to-row distance becomes 54.2 × sin 60° = 46.9 mm, so four rows need 51.2 + 3 × 46.9 = 192.0 mm. That fits 200 mm with 8 mm to spare, giving 12. With a 5 mm keep-out margin on every edge (190 mm usable), the fourth row no longer fits and the count drops to 9, the same as a square grid.
xTool’s conveyor guides warn that material placed close to the edges may not process, so a small margin is sensible. You can check any of these layouts, with your own clearance and margin, in the jig generator; the dog tag combo and business card combo are ready-made starting points. Measure your actual blanks first; tag and card sizes vary by supplier, and the blank sizes page lists common nominal sizes.
Why a jig matters for focus
A galvo laser has a focal point at one height. On the F2 Ultra UV, xTool recommends auto-focus for surface engraving, which uses a camera and laser rangefinder to detect material height; manual focus means raising or lowering the module until the red and blue indicator spots overlap.
Either way, focus is set for one surface height. If eighteen dog tags lie loose on the baseplate, they are all the same height only if the tags are identical. Put them in a jig and two things improve:
- Every tag sits on the same floor, so one focus covers the whole field.
- The tags cannot shift when the exhaust airflow pulls at them. xTool’s flat-surface guide recommends securing very small or light pieces with tape for exactly this reason; a jig does it without tape.
Make the pocket shallower than the blank so the blank top, not the jig, is what the rangefinder sees. For thin aluminum tags, a two-layer jig (pocket layer on a backing sheet) gives a defined floor.
Framing the batch
Framing in xTool Studio moves the laser dots along the object boundaries in Rect, Outline or Polygon mode, and you can select specific objects to frame only those. For a jig, frame in Outline mode with all designs selected: each name should trace inside its pocket. If every outline is shifted by the same amount, the jig moved; if the error grows toward the corners, recheck focus.
Making the jig on the F2 Ultra UV itself
xTool’s flat-surface guide includes cutting with the slatted panel and gives an example of focusing 3 mm below the surface for 6 mm basswood, so the machine can cut a cardboard or thin-wood jig in place. Cutting the jig where it will be used is the most accurate option, because the pockets and the engraving then share the same field coordinates. The method is covered step by step in the laser engraving jig guide.
Cut a tolerance-ladder coupon first (the generator exports one alongside the jig SVG). Kerf on this machine depends on material and settings, so measure, then pick clearance from the coupon as described in the jig clearance guide.
Jig or conveyor?
xTool sells an Auto Streamline conveyor for the F2 Ultra UV and documents two batch modes in xTool Studio:
- Same design, batch processing. The camera photographs the work area; the first material placed is the sample, you frame a bounding box over it, and xTool Studio fills the design onto the other pieces.
- Different designs, batch processing. Each row in a table holds a variation (replaced text, image or vector); a variable can only be set for one object, so multiple objects must be combined.
Limits xTool lists for both: the conveyor does not support laser cutting; batch modes handle one object at a time; materials must not touch or overlap and should not be placed near the edges; the enclosure should be lowered to no more than 5 mm above the material, and because it cannot fully close, 355 ± 5 nm goggles are recommended. Processing stops after no material is detected five times in a row. Thin light-permeable materials such as paper and cloth should not go on the belt.
| Jig on the baseplate | Conveyor batch mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Fixed pockets, repeatable | Camera finds each piece |
| Cutting | Yes | No, engraving only |
| Batch size | One field per run (6–18 pieces above) | Continuous feed |
| Mixed designs | Any, placed per pocket | One object per variation row |
| Setup | Cut once, reuse | Per-batch sample framing |
A jig suits fixed-size orders where you engrave, swap and repeat. The conveyor suits long runs of a single design on loose items. Neither replaces a good order list; see the batch personalization workflow for keeping names and pockets matched.