K40 Whisperer is an alternative to the Laser Draw (LaserDRW) program that comes with the cheap Chinese laser cutters available on E-Bay and Amazon. K40 Whisperer reads SVG and DXF files, interprets the data and sends commands to the K40 controller to move the laser head and control the laser accordingly. K40 Whisperer does not require a USB key (dongle) to function.

• Reads SVG files and DXF files


• Splits input design based on color formatting (red, blue)


• In SVG files blue and red paths are interpreted as vectors for vector engraving and cutting. Everything else is transferred as a raster image.


• In DXF files blue paths are interpreted as vector engrave(blue). Everything else is interpreted as vector cut(red). Raster Engraving is not supported for DXF files.


• In DXF files everything on layers that have the text "engrave" in the layer name are interpreted as vector engrave.


• Performs cuts on features inside of other features before cutting the outside features. (If you cut the outside first the part might drop out of the stock material)


• Converts gray scale images to halftone images to simulate varying levels of gray (i.e. engraving pictures). The Halftone option needs to be selected under "Raster"-"Settings" to enable halftoning.

• 6C6879-LASER-M3 (M3 Nano: For M3 Nano use the default board setting (i.e. M2 Nano))
• 6C6879-LASER-M2 (M2 Nano: This is the default board setting))
• 6C6879-LASER-B1
• 6C6879-LASER-M1
• 6C6879-LASER-M
• 6C6879-LASER-B
• 6C6879-LASER-B2
• 6C6879-LASER-A
• HT Master5 (use LASER-M2 setting)
• HT Master6 (use LASER-M2 setting)
• HT-XEON5 (use LASER-M2 setting)
• HT-XEON-DRV (use LASER-M2 setting)

Changes in Version 0.62:

- Fixed problem when using M3 Nano board, new job finished code is now detected.
- Fixed problem when using M3 Nano board, laser no longer remains on while moving back to starting position after raster engraving.
- Fixed registration issue between raster and vector operations when custom rapid speed was used.
- Added Option in the Tools menu that may unfreeze the controller after a job is improperly terminated (will not always work)

Changes in Version 0.63:

- Fixed rapid moves with M3 Nano board. Rapid moves failed if the move command filled exactly one packet of data. Sending an additional packet of data without any data after the full packet resolved the issue.

Changes in Version 0.64:

- Fixed arcs being drawn in the wrong direction when the radius value was specified as a negative number in an SVG file.

Changes in Version 0.65:

- Updated to work with latest Pillow release (changed ANTIALIAS call to LANCZOS)

Changes in Version 0.66:

- Fixed error that occurred with Inkscape 1.3 and files with empty text objects

K40 Whisperer Manual

Creating Input for K40 Whisperer

Halftone (grayscale) Images with K40 Whisperer

Overview/Introduction

Making a Design in Inkscape

Engraving a Picture Using K40 Whisperer

Advanced Settings in K40 Whisperer

Using G-Code with K40 Whisperer

Design Alignment Features in K40 Whisperer