Need help for K40

Hello everyone!
About a year ago I bought a CO2 laser, 50W with Ruida controller. Below I will leave a link to the site I bought it from, because I might miss something important in the description.
The problem is the following: the software has the option to run different stages one after the other - for example to engrave first, then cut. BUT the laser has a physical controller which is a master and whatever I set from the program - it reads from the controller. Accordingly, there is no way to set different power for different stages. I’m self-taught and it’s probably not the machine that’s the problem, it’s me, but I can’t get a handle on this issue. Is it possible to somehow ignore the controller and have the control only through the computer software?
I’m considering cardinally changing the controller too because this one doesn’t support LigthBurn, I’m working with CorelLaser. Corel is a wonderful design program, but for the laser it’s just a plugin and generally the LightBurn functions are more specialized.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me!
Be healthy and smile :slight_smile:
link to the seller of the specific laser I bought

Hi,
With CorelLaser the machine just runs at the power set on the machine as you have noted. There maybe a possible to use software like MeerK40t to get control of the power during a run. It will depend on exactly what kind of controller you have. Can you provide more info on the controller and possibly a picture of the controller?
Ned

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LightBurn does support Ruida controllers but you have to purchase the version which is for Ruida controllers. If you purchased the G-Code version of LightBurn you can email support@lightburnsoftware.com and ask for an upgrade pricing.

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Hello again and thanks for your inclusion. I’ve been out of town for a few days, so I’ve been slow with the photos.
I’m attaching what I managed to photograph, hope it’s the right one (as I said - I don’t quite understand)

I see the laser power supply(LPS) and the front panel but no pictures of the controller board. This would be the one where the USB cable connects into and it’s the one which connects to the stepper motors, end stop switches, and a couple of wires to the LPS.

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Ooh, right! I’ll take a picture in the morning, it’s on the other side of the machine. I need to check how it’s accessed because there’s no opening panel on that side. Thanks so much for the guidance!

I hope this one to be right one :smile:

That’s not a Ruida controller, so if the seller listed it as a Ruida, they scammed you. Lightburn does not support that controller at all.

You can use MeerK40t or K40 Whisperer with that controller. For other options, you can read the K40 Intro linked at the top of the page.

Additionally, if you use MeerK40t, it can translate between Lightburn and your laser. You can use grblcontrol for the lower-priced Lightburn license, or ruidacontrol for the more expensive Lightburn licenes.

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Oh, the seller is a scammer, that’s clear to me now. Unfortunately this machine cost over 3k dollars (that’s over 6 salaries in Bulgaria) and I already spent that money. Just a few weeks after the purchase I had a problem, it totally stopped working, the seller lied to me for 2 months, then another 2 months it was on repair β€œsomewhere in Europe”… Apparently I’m going to have to fix it myself if I want my fledgling home souvenir business to have any chance. I’ll look over the guidelines now and probably have more questions. Thanks a lot!

Strongly suggest at least trying Meerk40t by itself. It has dithering that may be important to you. Then you can decide whether you also want to use Lightburn, with Meerk40t as a bridge.

Good luck!

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