Xlaserlab X1 LITE: A Swappable Pen and Torch Laser Welder on Kickstarter

Jonathan
29 minutes ago
8 min read

X1 LITE portable laser welding system displayed in a workshop, showing the main machine and interchangeable welding attachments.

Push too much heat into thin metal and it warps, burns through, or comes out needing extra finishing work. That tradeoff is why clean results on thin material have meant careful technique or an industrial laser welder locked behind a factory cage. The Xlaserlab X1 LITE laser welder on Kickstarter is built to change who gets access to that kind of control, not what it does.

The campaign has raised $825,861 from 287 backers against a $51,007 goal, with 43 days left to fund the Xlaserlab X1 LITE Kickstarter launch. Xlaserlab has already run two prior Kickstarter campaigns that together raised more than $6.2 million from over 1,900 backers, so the X1 LITE arrives with production experience most first-time hardware launches do not have.

Quick Verdict

Our verdict: 8.5/10

Who Is It For?

Home workshop owners, small fabrication shops, and hobbyist metalworkers who want welding, cutting, and cleaning without three separate machines are the core audience. It also suits sign makers and repair shops working thin-to-medium gauge stainless, aluminum, and steel. Buyers regularly working beyond the system's published welding and cutting depth should look elsewhere.

Main Strengths

The Pen and Torch heads swap onto the same base unit, replacing three separate machines with one system for welding, cutting, and laser cleaning.
Welding and cutting is rated across stainless, carbon steel, aluminum, brass, titanium, and galvanized sheet, gasless in Pen mode and shielded in Torch mode.
Laser cleaning reaches 150mm wide in a single pass, which Xlaserlab calls up to five times wider, comparing it against the 30-100mm range of standard laser cleaners.
SmartGrip puts power, frequency, pulse width, and wire feed control directly on the torch handle, so parameters adjust mid-weld without a walk back to the main unit.
Xlaserlab has one fulfilled Kickstarter campaign behind it, X1/X1 Pro, with its second, the E3, currently marked as in production, and backs the X1 LITE with a 12-month warranty plus US and Hong Kong service support.

Main Limitations

The certification badges shown on the campaign page sit alongside a Risks section stating that regional certification and plug-compliance testing is still being finalized.
The Mini Wire Feeder is a separate external unit rather than built into the base, though it ships included with the Smart Torch, Complete, and Ultimate kits.
Welding and cutting depth on mild steel is rated at 2.5mm, so shops needing to join or cut thicker stock regularly will exceed the system's published range.

Is the X1 LITE Worth Backing?

The X1 LITE laser welder is worth backing for home workshop owners and small fabrication shops who want welding, cutting, and cleaning in one portable system without an industrial budget. It is not the right pick for shops that need to weld or cut beyond its published depth range, and it comes from a creator with two previously funded laser campaigns already behind the Xlaserlab X1 LITE Kickstarter launch. The swappable heads, household-outlet compatibility, and SmartGrip controls make a strong case for backing, which is why the X1 LITE laser welder on Kickstarter is worth a look.

View Xlaserlab X1 LITE on Kickstarter

X1 LITE Price on Kickstarter

The Complete Kit is the tier to plan around for the Xlaserlab X1 LITE Kickstarter campaign: $2,699 as a Super Early Bird against a $3,899 MSRP, a 31% discount bundling the main unit, Pen head, Torch head, and Mini Wire Feeder so both working modes are available from day one. Buyers who only need precision pen work can drop to the X1 LITE Precision Kit at $1,799 (31% off a $2,599 MSRP), while the Ultimate Kit adds a CNC-ready robotic arm at $8,899, a 44% discount off MSRP. Shipping adds $189 for the Complete Kit, with duties and taxes covered in the supported countries listed on the campaign page. All four reward tiers are listed as limited quantity.

Value comes down to whether both heads actually get used. The Complete Kit's price covers a system that welds, cuts, and cleans through the Torch head plus a dedicated Pen head for detail work, all inside one portable unit that runs on a household outlet. A shop that only welds thin sheet is paying for cutting and cleaning capability it may use rarely, but for anyone doing mixed fabrication work, the two-head format is what the Complete Kit adds. Xlaserlab also points to a sign-making business case projecting $6,650 in added monthly profit and a 3.2-month payback, though that figure is the brand's own projection rather than an audited result. The X1 LITE Complete Kit is $2,699 on Kickstarter as a Super Early Bird.

What Is the X1 LITE and What Problem Does It Solve?

X1 LITE: A 700W Fiber Laser With Swappable Pen and Torch Heads

The X1 LITE is a fiber laser system built around two interchangeable heads rather than one fixed torch. The 0.3kg Pen head handles precision spot welding and pen-style cutting on thin material, while the 0.5kg Torch head adds continuous welding, cutting, and laser cleaning. Both run off the same 14kg base unit, which plugs into a standard 100 to 250V household outlet.

Peak output reaches 700W with 500W continuous, welding and cutting mild steel at a thin-to-medium gauge depth, and the system also processes stainless steel, aluminum, brass, titanium, and galvanized sheet. Xlaserlab's first Kickstarter, for the X1 and X1 Pro, ended at 5223% funded in March 2025 and is now marked as fulfilled; its second campaign, the E3, closed at 1110% funded in December 2025 and is now marked as in production.

Why Laser Welding Stayed Locked Inside the Factory

Push too much heat into thin metal with conventional welding equipment and it warps, burns through, or needs extra finishing work, which is the range hobbyists, sign makers, and small repair shops work in. The equipment built to avoid that, fiber laser welders, has existed for years, but it lived on factory floors behind safety cages and price tags built for production lines, not workshops.

Xlaserlab's answer, first with the X1 and X1 Pro and now with the X1 LITE, is to bring that same laser platform into a wall outlet and a home shop. Gasless pen welding covers the detail work, and the torch takes on the heavier jobs, in one unit light enough for a single person to move to the job.

X1 LITE laser welder in use for precision metalwork, with an operator guiding the handheld Pen tool across sheet metal.

X1 LITE Key Features and Specs: Swappable Heads, Household Power, and Laser Cleaning

Swappable Pen and Torch Heads: One System Replacing Three Machines

The Pen and Torch heads share the same 14kg base unit and swap in place of buying three separate machines, which Xlaserlab frames as saving over 60% on cost, over 80% on the time spent switching setups, and roughly 75% of the desk space three standalone tools would need. One head for detail work, one for continuous welding, cutting, and cleaning, is the core pitch behind the Xlaserlab X1 LITE laser welder on Kickstarter.

Xlaserlab illustrates the swap with a stainless exhaust-tube repair: fitting and TIG welding a 1.2mm tube traditionally, versus aligning it in Pen mode and finishing in Torch mode. The company's own internal testing put that job at 15 minutes against 40 minutes for the traditional workflow, though it notes results depend on material, operator experience, and working conditions.

700W Peak Power and a 2.5mm Weld Depth: What the Fiber Laser Actually Does

The laser runs at 700W peak and 500W continuous output through a fiber source at 1080±10nm, built around Xlaserlab's self-developed 55W GaAs chip. It processes stainless steel, aluminum, brass, titanium, carbon steel, and galvanized sheet in one head.

Three welding modes, pulse, continuous, and spot, suit different jobs: pen-mode spot welding needs no shielding gas, while torch-mode continuous welding does, drawing on nitrogen, argon, CO2, or air depending on the material. Wire compatibility follows common market standards, so backers are not locked into a single spool type once the Mini Wire Feeder is attached.

150mm Laser Cleaning and On-Torch Control: SmartGrip in Practice

Laser cleaning covers up to 150mm in a single pass; Xlaserlab calls that up to five times wider, comparing its 150mm against the 30 to 100mm range typical of standalone laser cleaners, useful for stripping rust, paint, and oxidation before a weld. Dual-sided LEDs light the work area from above and below the torch head.

SmartGrip puts real-time control directly on the torch handle: power, frequency, pulse width, and wire feed and retraction all adjust without walking back to the main unit. Dual protective lenses on the torch are rated for roughly half the replacement frequency of a single lens, which Xlaserlab says lowers consumable costs.

Household Power and 100+ Smart Presets: Laser Welding Without a Factory Floor

The X1 LITE runs on 100 to 250V AC at 50/60Hz, working on ordinary household power in most countries. Over 100 smart presets set power, frequency, and related parameters automatically once a material and thickness are selected, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity support over-the-air firmware updates that Xlaserlab says will keep expanding material presets after launch.

An open CNC and robotic-arm interface lets power, frequency, duty cycle, and on/off control run externally, which is how the Ultimate Kit's bundled robotic arm integrates with the system. Air cooling keeps noise at a rated 75dB, and the unit carries a Class 4 laser safety rating, the category that calls for eye protection during operation; OD6+/OD7+ goggles ship in every kit, with an added laser safety shield on Torch-equipped kits.

Should You Back the X1 LITE on Kickstarter?

The X1 LITE reframes home laser welding as two heads on one base rather than a single fixed tool built for one job.

At this price, the X1 LITE bundles pen-precision welding, torch-mode welding and cutting, and wide-format laser cleaning into a single portable unit built for a home shop. A sign maker moving between fine detail work and heavier fabrication, or a home mechanic patching thin exhaust tube and cleaning rust before a weld, gets both jobs from one machine instead of running a TIG setup, a separate cutter, and a bead blaster.

The creator has one fulfilled Kickstarter campaign, X1/X1 Pro, a second campaign, the E3, currently in production, and X1 LITE mass production scheduled for October 2026. At $2,699 for the Complete Kit against a $3,899 MSRP, the X1 LITE laser welder on Kickstarter is currently funding with 43 days left to back it.

FAQ about the X1 LITE Laser Welder on Kickstarter

When will the X1 LITE ship?

Xlaserlab expects shipping to begin in November 2026 for the Xlaserlab X1 LITE laser welder on Kickstarter, with mass production starting the prior month and regular project updates in between.

How thick of metal can the X1 LITE weld?

Mild steel and stainless steel top out around 2.5mm, with a minimum weldable thickness near 0.2mm for thin sheet. Aluminum has a lower ceiling, capped at roughly 1.5mm, per Xlaserlab's published FAQ.

Is the wire feeder built into the X1 LITE?

No. The Mini Wire Feeder is a separate external accessory included with the Smart Torch, Complete, and Ultimate kits, kept compact rather than integrated into the main unit.

How does the X1 LITE compare with the Xlaserlab X1 Pro?

Both use the same fiber laser platform, but the X1 Pro is a fixed-torch unit at roughly 21kg, cutting up to 3mm on steel per its listing. The X1 LITE trades that ceiling for 2.5mm depth and swappable heads; its $1,799 and $2,699 tiers undercut X1 Pro's retail price, though the $8,899 Ultimate Kit does not.

Can the X1 LITE clean wood or other non-metal surfaces?

No. It is a continuous-wave fiber laser built for metal surface cleaning and processing. Xlaserlab points buyers who need wood cleaning or marking toward its separate Q1 laser instead.

Which countries does the X1 LITE ship to, and what comes in the box?

Duties and taxes are covered across roughly 40 supported countries, including the US, UK, most of the EU, and several Asia-Pacific markets. The base kit ships with a power cord, safety goggles, focusing lenses, and a Spot Welding Nozzle Kit; Torch-equipped kits like the Complete Kit swap in a Wobble Welding Nozzle Kit, plus a torch stand and safety shield.