I have just bought a laser with no identifying markings, looking around I tihnk it it a k40. It has a FDA controller. is laser laser grbl compatible with my machine. The only program that will make the machine respond is k40 whisperer, but I don’t like it.
If K40 Whisperer works, then you have an m* nano controller. Meerk40t should also support your laser, but it won’t work directly with Lightburn. Meerk40t can act as a translator, though, to make it possible to use Lightburn, if you prefer Lightburn or want to use its features.
See Getting Started with CO2 Lasers for lots of useful introductory information that will help you use your new laser successfully and safely.
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Thanks. Where is the best place to download meerkat? I looked on git hub but couldn’t see it for the adverts?
I should mention, these lasers often claim FDA (Federal Drug Administration) approval, but basically always violate FDA regulations anyway. That’s one of the reasons I suggested reading the information in Getting Started with CO2 Lasers which can help avoid some of the worst safety problems with the units as shipped.
I ordered 3, C series lens tubes from Cloud Ray… the FDA in China, emailed me and asked what kind of laser they were…
I told them they were just empty lens tubes and they could open them up if they wanted to…
Got them in about a week, so I guess the FDA thought they were OK… Didn’t appear they even looked at them.
Sometime ago I raised a post regarding the best way to use Lightburn on my K40 as I have a M3 Nano controller and one suggestion was to use Meerk40t. In reality, I continue to successfully use K40 Whisperer for both engraving and cutting of many materials and Inkscape for design although I accept Lightburn would be easier to use in some circumstances. Going back to your original question, I used to use Lasergrbl with my previous 3018 Laser and again found this perfectly acceptable so does anyone have a view as to whether Lasergrbl can be accommodated on a K40.
Keith, there’s some open source laser firmware called GRBL which is used all over the place and it’s supported by lots and lots of software. Lasergrbl is one and it’s even in its name. But the stock K40, and now some K50s, come with a controller board which is not running GRBL firmware and only 3 applications have decoded the communications to these M2/M3 Nano board. Those are:
K40 Whisperer K40 Whisperer
Meerk40t GitHub - meerk40t/meerk40t: Hackable Laser software for the K40 Stock-LIHUIYU laser boards.
VisiCut https://visicut.org/
for details on how the M2 Nano work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesc0a7qXGA
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