I have purchased a K40 Vevor laser machine and it comes with the M3 nano board. Everything is working fine but there is no power controller board (with the digital display and the buttons) so I can’t control the power. When I cut, it’s currently fixed at 5mA.
My understanding is that this M3 board has a PWM controller for power and it can be controlled via software (correct if I’m wrong here).
Is there a way to add support for power level in K40 Whisperer for M3 board? At least to change power level in settings.
PS: This K40 Vevor machine comes with 3 software, CorelLaser, laserDRW and mLaserArt. I see a power setting at least in LaserDRW ; this is what gives me the feeling that power can be controlled via software.
Hi and welcome to the forum. Can you provide a picture of the front of your machine? Looks like the K40 Vevor should have a digital control panel for setting power.
To the best of my knowledge only M3 boards with firmware dated 2024.01.18g and later support laser power commands.
see CorelLaser 2024.06
(EDIT: I need to revisit this. The PDF only specifically says that one type of command is only supported in newer boards. The other commands to control laser power may be supported. That it not the way I previously interpreted the PDF doc.)
From the picture it can be seen that your firmware is dated 2022.03.18.
K40 Whisperer does not support the power commands yet. I have yet to get access to a board with the new firmware.
None of this helps your current situation. I just wanted to answer your question about K40 Whisperer and power control.
If your machine came with software it would be worth checking if that software had any power control options.
Thank you for helping and thank you for making this cool K40 Whisperer software.
Just to make clear, I bought this sub-$400 K40 machine from the US vevor.com website.
It came with a USB key including multiple Windows executable (CorelLASER 2024.10.exe, LaserDRW 2024.10.exe mLaserArt 2024.10.exe) WHICH ALL INCLUDE THREATS after a check at virustotal.com. Even more disturbing, the key-chain contains a binary .inf file at its root which is also a virus.
IF YOU PURCHASE A K40 MACHINE, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DON’T PLUG THE USB KEY CHAIN IN WINDOWS.
I’m not going to run those infected craps. How is it possible that you drop $400 and you get MULTIPLE viruses on the install USB key-chain???
I have contacted the Vevor support and requested a power control board. I’m waiting for their answer. This board doesn’t seem to be expensive, I could get one if needed.
I still have the feeling that the new M3 board can setup the power level. The provided INFECTED software including CorelLaser are dated 2024.10 (which is after 2024.06).
First question: how could I check the firmware version of my M3 nano board?
Screenshot of the Word user manual provided on the INFECTED USB key-chain:
On the malware note, my USB key-chain has some other executable and an autorun.inf which is reported as malware 71/72 by virustotal.com. So it’s not a false detection of a “pirated/hacked” version of CorelDraw or LaserDRW.
Thanks, I have not looked on the w3cad web page for updates on a long time.
I have verified that M3 nano boards older than the 2024.01.18g date are able to control the PWM. I tested it succesfully with an M3 board that has the same firmware date as yours.
I will now be able to add the power settings to K40 Whisperer. I am not sure how long it will be before I can release an update. Hopefully less than 2 weeks from now.
Thank you again for all the time you put into this open-source free software. People are using and they don’t always show appreciation.
Please keep us updated (please keep me updated if possible!). I’m definitely willing to test. On the machine, I have a power ampere meter, so I could really know if a software setting works or not.
It would be great to have this in the settings window and have effect during the laser pulse test (triggered by the button).
My conclusion was correct:
China is always greedy to save a few cents, hence the removal of a power control as it would be controlled from the PC. The analog meter would be less expensive than a digital one!
And:
the manufacturer probably gets some dollars to put some malware on the USB key-chain
It would be interesting to know where the green wire on P2 goes.
A pot is typically used to control 0-5V on the IN pin, and the PWM is asserted on the L pin.
IN this case, it may be a PWM signal on the IN pin, and L is left open.
I think you could move what is on the IN pin to the L pin and put a pot on the IN pin.
To be sure would need to know where the green wire goes and how it is driven.
The green wire on P2 (IN) goes to PWM of the M3 nano board.
To conclude:
Once Scorch will have release a new version, I can test with my machine (which I think is going to be the configuration they are going to ship now)
I’m finding a way to get a green controller board and I will wire accordingly.
To have power control in software will be a plus in case you want to apply different power in a single job, meaning that Scorch might want to add power input (in case of M3 only (*)) in the bottom left corner of the main window, side-by-side the speed.
(*): With a warning that users need to have the right wiring to the M3 nano board.
I put out a new version (v0.69) of K40 Whisperer with power control settings. The board type needs to be changed to ‘Laser-M3’ in the general settings for the options to be displayed.
There is a setting for “max power %” in the general settings. That controls the maximum power that will be sent to your machine. That setting is equivalent to the power setting on machines with a digital display.
On the main screen the “Power Fraction” setting is a multiplier of the max power setting. So entering .25 for power fraction would result in .25 times the max power. Entering 1.0 would result in the full value of max power.
More info on values for the max power setting (% power on digital controller) can be found here:
My 32bit installer needs to be fixed so only the 64 bit Windows version is currently available.
Higher PWM value (higher RMS voltage) on the IN pin results in more laser power.
Lower PWM value (lower RMS voltage) on the L pin would results in more power.
Putting the PWM output from the controller on the L pin will give max power with 0.0 power specified and zero power with full power specified.
I set up K40 Whisperer to operate the way the machines are being shipped. I considered adding an option to reverse the settings but I fear that is a good way for someone to burn out a tube just by accidentally changing a setting. (On a stock machine like @gregoiregentil has there would not be a pot to limit the power if full power was accidentally specified)
Edit:
The controller also automatically jumps to a state of a low PWM setting (around 10%) after the end of a laser job. That would be problematic if the PWM was attached to the “L” input.
I tried to run the PWM signal in series with the pot but it dropped the voltage (measured at the M3 board) significantly.
The PWM signal is high (~5v) at 100% PWM, and low (0V) at 0% PWM. So yes, I would consider that a normal PWM signal. I would say it is “not low true” and “not inverted”
That is consistant with the voltage from the pot going to IN. The voltage from the pot is higher for more power.
Thanks! This is a lifesaver and just in time. I recently purchased a VEVOR 40W laser with a Lihuiyu M3 for a work project and the included SW is full of viruses so it’s unusable. This version of K40 Whisperer works perfectly with my machine. In addition to taking care of my work needs, I made a fun part that I can share here. All the default settings (including leaving the M3 power limit at 30%), except I set my laser area to 300mmx200mm as that’s what my machine has. I engraved a piece of 1/4" pine at 100mm/s and 0.35 Power, and cut right through it at 10mm/s and 0.7 power.
