Thread: Question about 40w CO2 laser, software, usb dongle. HELP PLEASE!!

Hello everyone. I need to some help please. I recently ordered a personal 40w CO2 laser cutter. Yes, it is one of those ebay Chinese units. I finally received the unit and it was in bad shape when I got it. I won't go into all the details, but I had to fix a ton of stuff and I finally got the laser up and running and the unit aligned enough to test fire the laser. Now that was the easy part. I have been communicating with the seller via ebay, but as we all know this is about useless. My problem is now I am missing some software to get it up and running on the PC to actually use it and test it fully. I received the USB dongle but the DVD they sent had nothing on the DVD. I tried it in numerous drives. It was basically a DVD-R that was blank. The unit I received was NOT the unit I had ordered, again, another story for another time. It was suppose to have laserdrw and winsealxp according to the listing. There was a book for the MoshiDraw that came with it. I downloaded a moshidraw left 9 something and the moshidraw 2014. I plugged in the usb dongle and then tried loading both of the moshidraw software versions but only got a error message about "insert USB softkey: www.moshisoft.com" After trying this numerous times, I started looking at the text that was on the usb key and did a search on google. I am not sure if this is a USB key for moshidraw or something else. I looked at the info on the controller board also. I think I may have gotten something else. When I plug the unit up via USB it shows the unit as a moshiline and seems to load all the drivers it needs. I think the USB key is for different software. So I will post below the text on the USB key and the Controller board. If you guys can help me figure it all out and tell me what software I need and where to download it, or even send it to me I would be grateful. Otherwise, this is a $700 door stop for me. Thank you for any help.

USB key info: Orange colored aluminum with Lihuiyu Studio Labs 2014.9.15
Controller board info: Lihuiyu Studio 2014.7.15 6C6879-Laser M2:4

If you have any other info needed from me, please just ask.

Mac

Hi Mate

I had this very same problem 12 months ago and heaps of guys on here helped me out..

But basically you are not going to like what im about to say..but it is exactly what i did and my K20 laser is now a well oiled machine

you need to totally forget about the software..electrics...anything other than the Machine itself. The k20 machine has brilliant design and mechanically functionable..but that is where the good news ends im afraid..

What you need to do is invest another approx $300-$400 and buy a DSP AWC-608 controller...2 stepping motors...a new power supply...I think you can get these in the USA from LIGHTSCRIBE of a name like that. However they are rediculously priced...Do your research and then simply search the DSP controller via the chinese suppliers...well thats where the american company gets them from anyhow..so cut out the middleman

I purchased everything i needed online via alibabaexpress.com and never had a issue...all arived in great condition.

Dont be a little hesitant at attacking the machine,....The electronics are very very simple to re-connect as a DSP controller...You basically need to GUT THE RIGHT HAND SIDE of the machine...everything OUT...The DSP Controller kit comes complete with everything you will need except electrical wire...you can buy that anywhere...

Get some of the guys on here to maybe send you a drawing of how to connect up and install the new DSP ...They are a great bunch of guys here and without doubt one of them will step up to help you...

A guy from england helped me..He was great...and so to not make you feel any worse but i need to admit i am a 28 year old blonde girl from australia...so if i can do it ...anyone can do it...took me all of 1 day and my machine has never missed a beat....it runs with lasercad software which is easy to get..

sorry im not more optomistic for you...but if you dont go this way then you are either going to drive yourself insane dealing with the supplier or your going to have a nice $700 paperwieght..

Once converted you have a brilliant machine

The USB key is a dongle that has to be plugged into the PC. Picture it like a cd key needed to install software only in physical form. It has to be plugged into the PC anytime you use your engraver. I, too, have the cheap Chinese laser engraver and it has been an adventure trying to get it to work with a reasonable amount of ease. As for the DVD, you're not missing out on much. It was terribly uninformative. The only program that I've had any luck with was Moshidraw 2014. I've been able to do some basic stuff but not much more. Try plugging the dongle into the PC and run Moshidraw 2014. Hopefully you'll be able to start engraving soon. Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll do my best with my limited knowledge :banana:

Different machines use different dongles. Even when dealing with the K40 machines. I did the conversion about 2 years ago and am very happy with it. The name of the web site to get the package of parts is Lightobject.com. What main circuit board is in the machine you have? Can you post some photos of the inside of the electronics bay for us? I have the dongle from my K40 machine left over after I did the conversion that I am willing to give up as it is just a 'piece of junk at this time'. I just want to make sure it can go to someone who can use it. Mine is orange plastic that says 'safenet microdog'. It may or may not be the one you need. Please give me the main circuit board number.

Milt

Just as some extra info: If you decide to do the conversion, there are several things that need to be considered. First, you must make sure that you have a power supply capable of PWM. The pictures you post should be able to answer that question. Also, you will need to purchase not just the DSP controller, but two stepper drivers, a different power supply for the DSP, and a few other small parts. It is not a daunting task, but it does require focus to make sure everything is installed correctly. Things can go downhill very quickly when the electronics are incorrectly installed.

MIlt

First thank for the info so far. I finally got the software emailed to me from the vendor last night. I am off tomorrow so I will give it a go tomorrow and also take pictures of the board and machine. I checked out the Lightobject website and the DSP upgrade kit. I will have to hold off on that for now due to already spending my money on the actual unit. What exactly does the DSP kit do for improvements? I also feel a little better now that I got the software and I also learned about the three switches. The one I was shipped only has two switches. Turns out they are just power, light, and the third one was just a switch for the laser sight if installed. So nothing more than individual power on/off for three things. I think I will order the air assisted nozzle and honeycomb bed for the unit. They were like $36 dollars for both. What other things would you guys suggest, other than the DSP kit later on. The Z axis bed looked nice, but I assume you will need an entirely new case setup for that.

Would there be a way to get the DSP kit, order some kind of new rail system and then use the remaining parts from the k40 to build a larger unit for bigger cutting sizes?

Also, on the control panel with the AMP meter, what is the maximum number I can use for cutting? Can I select 100 and does that mean 100% power of the 40w laser?

Also, when cutting stuff, can you guys give me some example of the thickest sizes you can cut for wood, plastic, acrylic etc.

Again, thanks. Look forward to learning with you guys.

Mac

I am soon going to be doing the movement to a larger machine, home built. That means buying the rail kit from Lightobject, getting some 2020 extrusion from Misumi, and utilizing the all of the guts from the K40 that I have upgraded. I have been able to cut 1/4" plywood, 1/4" plexi in one pass. On the plywood I use about 12ma @ 6mm/s and on the plexi I use 14ma @ about 3mm/s.

Milt

Is this same machine. This is little bit modified.. Original Ketai Gold card. https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B...hoRkk5NzA/edit

Originally Posted by macisp2000

First thank for the info so far. I finally got the software emailed to me from the vendor last night. I am off tomorrow so I will give it a go tomorrow and also take pictures of the board and machine. I checked out the Lightobject website and the DSP upgrade kit. I will have to hold off on that for now due to already spending my money on the actual unit. What exactly does the DSP kit do for improvements? I also feel a little better now that I got the software and I also learned about the three switches. The one I was shipped only has two switches. Turns out they are just power, light, and the third one was just a switch for the laser sight if installed. So nothing more than individual power on/off for three things. I think I will order the air assisted nozzle and honeycomb bed for the unit. They were like $36 dollars for both. What other things would you guys suggest, other than the DSP kit later on. The Z axis bed looked nice, but I assume you will need an entirely new case setup for that.

Would there be a way to get the DSP kit, order some kind of new rail system and then use the remaining parts from the k40 to build a larger unit for bigger cutting sizes?

Also, on the control panel with the AMP meter, what is the maximum number I can use for cutting? Can I select 100 and does that mean 100% power of the 40w laser?

Also, when cutting stuff, can you guys give me some example of the thickest sizes you can cut for wood, plastic, acrylic etc.

Again, thanks. Look forward to learning with you guys.

Mac

Do you have Ketai Gold board an you use Laserdrw and Corellaser.

So here are the pics you guys ask me for. I finally got the software up and running and did some basic engraving on paper. So it is working and seemed to work better than I expected. The first thing I am having trouble understanding/learning is the power settings. So again, do I always control the laser power by turning up the amps on the front panel of the unit, and is there a min and max I should stay in. So if I crank the front panel up to 100.0, does that mean I am using the full power of the laser?? Or when I need to cut something like wood, do I select something in the software for power?? It came with LaserDRW and WinSealXP. They were not as bad as what I have heard, but I am just a beginner wanting to learn and play around. I attached four pictures, so let me know what you guys think. Thanks.

Mac

Also, this is the link to the ebay seller I bought it from. They have change the picture to the actual one they are sending now instead of the other model they had listed and showing.

40W High Precise Speed USB CO2 Laser ENGRAVER Engraving Cutting Machine DMP | eBay

I have Ketai Gold 2 board and almost same Power display. I cut 3.2mm plywood with 23% Power and 10mm/s. I dont use Laserdrw. I use IT over Corel draw with plugin. I have now lens with 38.1 mm focus. Total different machine now. Also air nozzle, laser pointer and camera. Cutting bed changed many times, latest pin table is Best. Everything works. I use my machine everyday. Also exhaust fan changed. I open IT and installed 2 computer fan. https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B...hoRkk5NzA/edit

Hello !
I have almost same board and same digital power control panel. Here is company website http://www.3wcad.com/. There is also software download links.

I use my machine everyday with Corel draw over Corel laser plugin.

I cut 3.2mm plywood and acrylic 23% power and speed 10mm/s.
Engraving power about 5-10% and speed 400mm/s
Installed Air Nozzle, DIY water cooling system. water flow sensor, reddot, lens with 38.1mm focus, honeycomp table and newest and best diy pintable.

My power support PWM but board not.

https://drive.google.com/?tab=mo&aut...HBrdHhoRkk5NzA

So when you say 23% power, do you mean you adjust the control panel until it reads 23? Or is there some place in the software that you type in 23?

Mac

I must use control panel. If I draw vector picture to plywood I put speed about 20mm/s and Power 5%(control panel). When I want cut it out I choose lower speed and more Power (10mm/s, 25%)

Can you please extend your support to help me in a very similar problem.

I just received my new machine three days ago -it is very similar to the one related to this topic it has "ketai gold 2" as the controller board , and I have been trying to get it to work with no luck.
There is always this "invalid device-id" error no matter what value I supply to the configuration parameters.
I'm trying both laserDRW and coreLaser still same problem.
I attached a picture of the board. I tried to register the device with either of the shown numbers: 94B084E64D82BFD9 , 7665D73368061160 , I used B1,B2 , M1,M2 as main model still the same error.
I do not know what i'm doing wrong....

When I plug the usb it shows under a new "interface" section in the device manager and it seems to work fine...
I tried it on windows 7 32 , windows 7 64 and on windows 8 64 all with the same problem. Is it hardware?
Please help....
Attachment 252536

Your Device id is 7665D73368061160.
Right motherboard is B1.
Do you have USB Dongle A,B OR C, what colour?

/Mika

Originally Posted by Mohamed Thabet

Can you please extend your support to help me in a very similar problem.

I just received my new machine three days ago -it is very similar to the one related to this topic it has "ketai gold 2" as the controller board , and I have been trying to get it to work with no luck.
There is always this "invalid device-id" error no matter what value I supply to the configuration parameters.
I'm trying both laserDRW and coreLaser still same problem.
I attached a picture of the board. I tried to register the device with either of the shown numbers: 94B084E64D82BFD9 , 7665D73368061160 , I used B1,B2 , M1,M2 as main model still the same error.
I do not know what i'm doing wrong....

When I plug the usb it shows under a new "interface" section in the device manager and it seems to work fine...
I tried it on windows 7 32 , windows 7 64 and on windows 8 64 all with the same problem. Is it hardware?
Please help....
Attachment 252536

Thanks a lot for your support.
I have a yellow / gold dongle. I used B1 + the device id in white label in the above image.
The good news is that it worked. The problem was rather strange, the y axis is not aligned properly with the rails which prevented the m/c from hitting the y end stops.
When I oiled the rail and moved the axis around by hand (when power is off) , and then powering on it simply worked. It was very much miss leading message.
Thanks again for your support.

Originally Posted by macisp2000

First thank for the info so far. I finally got the software emailed to me from the vendor last night. I am off tomorrow so I will give it a go tomorrow and also take pictures of the board and machine. I checked out the Lightobject website and the DSP upgrade kit. I will have to hold off on that for now due to already spending my money on the actual unit. What exactly does the DSP kit do for improvements? I also feel a little better now that I got the software and I also learned about the three switches. The one I was shipped only has two switches. Turns out they are just power, light, and the third one was just a switch for the laser sight if installed. So nothing more than individual power on/off for three things. I think I will order the air assisted nozzle and honeycomb bed for the unit. They were like $36 dollars for both. What other things would you guys suggest, other than the DSP kit later on. The Z axis bed looked nice, but I assume you will need an entirely new case setup for that.

Would there be a way to get the DSP kit, order some kind of new rail system and then use the remaining parts from the k40 to build a larger unit for bigger cutting sizes?

Also, on the control panel with the AMP meter, what is the maximum number I can use for cutting? Can I select 100 and does that mean 100% power of the 40w laser?

Also, when cutting stuff, can you guys give me some example of the thickest sizes you can cut for wood, plastic, acrylic etc.

Again, thanks. Look forward to learning with you guys.

Mac

PLEASE HELP! Which software did he finally send you? Because I have the EXACT same motherboard and laser, but the guy I bought it from didn't send the correct software with the dongle... I want to try to get it somehow because I have a couple jobs I need to get done within the next couple days.
Thank you so much in advance! Could you tell me what the software was called that he sent to you that worked, and if you know where I might be able to get it, then that would be much appreciated as well! In another reply I saw you wrote LaserDRW and WinSealXP which one of those is the software that worked???
Thanks

Hi,
After hours of searching I finally found CorelLaser that I could get on my computer...Now I'm trying to run a job but I'm not sure how to. In the bottom task bar, there's an icon for my laser and it says it is disconnected, but I'm unsure as to how to connect it to run jobs off of corelDraw??

You need drivers, LaserDrw software, usb dongle. Then you must put board serial number to software settings. Do you have dongle?