You are engraving or cutting a piece with the xTool P3, you take it out, and in the areas that were supposed to be clean—the background, the gaps—dots or small spots have appeared that were not in your design. It’s an annoying and very common problem, and it almost always has one of these three causes. Here’s how to isolate them, in the order that really saves time.
This guide adapts the xTool support documentation on unwanted dots in the P3 to Spanish, along with what we have encountered in production.
Where those dots come from
There are three possible origins, and it’s good to be clear about them before touching anything:
- The file. Background noise that you don’t see at first glance: stray pixels in an image you think has a white or transparent background.
- The material. Heat splatter. Some sensitive or coated materials release molten droplets that, when falling back onto the surface, burn it a second time and leave a spot.
- The laser source. Uncontrolled shots caused by an unstable laser power supply. This is the least frequent cause and the last one to check.
The strategy is to rule out from the cheapest to the most expensive: first the file, then the material, and only then the hardware.
Step 1: change the file to a clean one
A bitmap image may seem to have a perfectly white or transparent background and still contain invisible noise: almost imperceptible pixels that the machine detects and processes as part of the job.
What to do: create a simple vector shape—a circle or a square—directly in xTool Studio, and do a test engraving or cutting with it.
- If the dots disappear with the vector shape, the problem is the file. Clean the background noise from your image or replace it. In practice, this is solved by editing the image (truly erasing the background, not leaving it "almost white") or converting it to vector.
- If the dots still appear even with a clean vector, it’s not the file. Move on to step 2.
Step 2: change the material
During processing, certain heat-sensitive or coated materials generate molten splatter due to localized high temperature. These particles are ejected very hot and, when they land back on the surface, cause a secondary burn: the dot you see.
What to do: repeat the job on another material, preferably a neutral one that you don’t know to cause problems.
- If no dots appear with the new material, it was splatter from the previous one. What works in the workshop is reducing that projection: lowering the power a bit if the material allows it, and especially protecting the surface. A trick we use a lot is masking the piece with painter’s tape (the blue paper tape): the splatter falls on the tape instead of the material, and when you remove it, it takes the marks with it.
- If dots continue to appear on any material and with clean files, move on to step 3.
Step 3: the laser source
If the dots appear with any material and with clean vector files, the origin may be a laser power supply that fires when it shouldn’t, or signal fluctuations during the head movement.
What to do, and this is already a diagnosis to pass on to xTool:
- Run tests at different power levels and in different positions on the bed.
- Observe if the appearance of the dots correlates with a specific power or a physical area of the work area.
- Record a clear video of the process and export the work logs so the technical team can analyze them.
This third case is hardware-related, so it’s not something that can be "adjusted" in the software: it’s information to open a support ticket. But getting here after ruling out file and material saves you and support several emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
The dots only appear on photos I engrave, not on vectors. Why?
This is the most common case and points directly to step 1: your image has background noise. A photo "with a white background" is rarely pure white; it usually has scattered light pixels that the machine interprets as something to engrave. Clean the background properly or vectorize.
Is lowering the power alone useful?
Only if the origin is material splatter (step 2). If it’s file noise or the laser source, lowering the power won’t fix it; at best, it masks it. That’s why it’s best to isolate the cause before changing parameters.
What if the dots continue after the three steps?
Then it’s hardware and you need support. Have the video ready, the parameters when it happens, and the area of the bed where it occurs: that’s exactly what they will ask for. You can open a ticket from the xTool support center.
Written by Noemi and Javi, from Picasita. We have been using an xTool P3 in production since October 2025; we are xTool affiliates. This guide adapts the brand’s official documentation; the original is in their support center. More tutorials and solutions.
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