I ended up with an Xtool D1 also. Some little things about it that are annoying and that I’ve learned to work around, but at the price it works very well. I added an air assist and it easily cuts through 8mm wood in a single pass. It just vaporizes anything under it. And marks stainless without any coatings. Next up is a dedicated cnc. Probably something like one of the Queenbee/Workbee variants. Maybe a Millright.
-S
The marking steel without coating is a good thing 
, it has “little things” but it took me a week to get used to not having limit switches, but in actually is not needed, I always work “current position” on Lightburn, had a couple of banging the front with the module. Right now I’m using it without any issue, very happy with it.
Be good
I think if it had limit switches it would be perfect.
Like you said, I’m not sure they’re actually necessary, but after you get used to having them, they’re hard to live without.
Just a couple software issues where it doesn’t always want to respond properly when setting origin over wifi. Works fine if cable over usb.
-S
If I had to guess from this description, the NEMA 17 motor in the X axis drive was not strong enough to drive the spindle sideways at least some of the time. It’s the one axis that’s not doubled. New mechanical play there sounds like a symptom of excess strain. Absence of motion feedback means the controller has no way of detecting it, but that’s only one feedback path missing. Newer motor control electronics use back-EMF to estimate the motor speed and can provide a signal of motor stall.
One of the ways of interpreting your experience is that, while the stock 50W spindle motor may be underpowered, the motion frame can’t handle a 500W spindle. I would have guessed that, but you’ve measured it.