¶ Gweike M-Series owner FAQ — the answers I actually wanted
I use an M3 Ultra in my own workshop. This page is the stuff that keeps coming up after the brochure: which machine, what compressor, why the gas pressure falls over, whether LightBurn works, what settings actually cut, and what tends to go wrong.
If there is a proper commissioning, CNC, handheld, rotary or troubleshooting page linked below, use that for the step-by-step. This FAQ is the quick answer plus the owner thread it came from.
Buying one? The live deal cards on this page are the current regional carts. YIELD is the machine code. YIELD2 is the machine + 3 kW compressor bundle. If you buy through one of those links, The Yield Point may earn a commission; it does not add anything to your price.
¶ Buying and which machine
Long-form wiki: /faq/model-compatibility.
¶ What is the difference between Gweike M3 Ultra, M3 Pro, and Mcore?
Mcore is not a small M3 Ultra. It is a different power class.
- M3 Pro: 620 × 620 mm bed, 1,200 W fiber, 80 W CO₂.
- M3 Ultra: 1,380 × 920 mm bed, 1,200 W fiber, 130 W CO₂.
- Mcore: 711 × 411 mm bed, 400 W fiber, 80 W CO₂.
The Pro and Ultra have the same 1.2 kW fiber power. The Ultra buys you a much bigger table and the stronger CO₂ tube. A bundled handheld welder does not magically turn the 400 W Mcore table into a 1.2 kW cutter.
Pick the machine around the parts you actually make. Bed size, alloy, thickness and how long you expect it to cut continuously matter more than the number of functions in the product title.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: John Daniels (facebook)
¶ Is the Gweike M3 actually worth it versus plasma, xTool MetalFab, or a shop laser?
If your work fits the bed, yes, I think the M3 is a very interesting workshop machine. For prototypes, one-offs and small batches you get real fiber-laser cutting without jumping straight to a full industrial table.
Against plasma, the big win is small features, kerf and much less cleanup on thin sheet. Against outsourcing, the win is being able to change a drawing and cut the new part immediately.
What it is not is a 5 × 10 industrial laser replacement. If you want to run full sheets or thick plate all day, buy the machine built for that job. Also budget for gas, extraction, power, consumables and time learning MLaser. The machine price is only part of the cost.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Carlo Ian Espino (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Dan Cha (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Glen Dederick (facebook)
¶ Should I buy the Gweike compressor with the machine?
If you already own a compressor that can supply clean, dry air at the pressure and flow the cut actually uses, you do not need another one just because Gweike sells a bundle.
If your current compressor is a normal 8–10 bar shop unit and you want to do high-pressure air cutting, that is a different story. Tank pressure and horsepower tell you almost nothing about whether it can hold pressure through a real cut.
The Gweike bundle is convenient if you do not want to engineer the air system from scratch, but it is not magic either. Owners have still reported pressure dropping during longer cuts. If you want the bundled machine + 3 kW compressor from the deal cards, that is what YIELD2 is for.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Dave Haehn (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Nhi Nguyen (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Petey Miller (facebook)
¶ How bad is Gweike support, really?
Gweike support is a lottery. I have seen fast replies and I have seen owners wait on parts or get answers that do not match what is physically in front of them.
Make yourself easy to help. Keep the original USB/software, back up the working parameters, photograph the nameplates and serial number, and film the problem. When something fails, send the exact alarm, software version, material/settings and what changed immediately before it failed.
Most importantly: do not throw away a working installer because a newer download exists. One owner crashed the Z after changing software and recovered by going back to the supplied version.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Allen Louie (facebook)
- Owner discussion: John Potter (facebook)
¶ Is a Gweike G2 the same as an M3 table?
No. Completely different machine.
G2/G3 are galvo marking/engraving machines. The M3 is a gantry cutting table running MLaser. Different controller, different work envelope, different software and different troubleshooting.
If you are searching for an error, always put M3 or M-Series in the search. A G2 LightBurn answer can be completely useless on an M3.
¶ I just unboxed an M3. What should I do in week one?
Before you change anything, copy the supplied USB/software and back up the working configuration.
Then commission power, cooling, gas, extraction and the safety systems properly. Once the machine is healthy, prove one easy material on a small coupon before loading an expensive sheet or a customer job.
Also check that the machine, source, head, chiller and accessories you received are actually what you ordered. Photograph the nameplates now. You will be very happy you did that six months later when you are trying to identify a replacement part.
Start here: /start-here.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Allen Louie (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Chase Mays (facebook)
¶ How long does a Gweike M3 actually take to show up?
There is no useful single answer. Some machines are already in regional stock; others turn into a multiweek wait, and accessories can ship separately.
Before paying, ask one very specific question: are the table, source, compressor and the accessories on my quotation physically in stock, and will they ship together?
Also sort out unloading before the truck arrives. A crate at the curb is not the same thing as a 600+ kg machine sitting where you want it in the workshop.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Chase Mays (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Spencer Kennedy (facebook)
¶ If I buy in Europe, do I get a European invoice? Who do I pay, and are duties included?
There are two options for EU orders.
- Private buyers get an invoice from Gweike's Hong Kong company. The cart price is the final price, with duties and freight to your door included.
- Businesses can get a German VAT invoice from Gweike Europe GmbH (Leinfelden-Echterdingen, VAT ID DE303935605). The cart price then counts as the net price, and 19% VAT is added on the invoice, which a VAT-registered business can normally reclaim as input tax.
Ask Gweike for the German VAT invoice before you order. Businesses outside Germany should check with Gweike how they invoice cross-border, and with their accountant.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: John Pelfrey (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Michal Lepiarz (facebook)
¶ Power, air, and shop setup
Long-form wiki: /start-here/utilities-and-first-power.
¶ How much 240V power does an M3 Ultra need? Three circuits?
There is no universal "three 240 V circuits" answer. Read the nameplates on the exact machine, source, chiller and compressor you received.
North American owners often end up with separate machine/laser and compressor circuits. That does not mean you should copy their breaker sizes into a European installation.
Give the actual nameplates and manuals to the electrician. The compressor startup load is the part people most often forget.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Dan Cha (facebook)
- Owner discussion: CW Wells (facebook)
¶ Do I need the Gweike voltage regulator?
Maybe. It depends on your supply and on what Gweike supplied for your exact bundle.
If the workshop voltage is stable and inside the machine limits under load, a giant box in the corner is not automatically improving anything. If the lights dip, the compressor drags the supply down or the machine resets, measure the problem instead of guessing.
A regulator also does not fix an undersized circuit, bad earth or bad wiring.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: CW Wells (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Dan Cha (facebook)
¶ How dry does the air need to be?
Dry enough that you are not feeding water, oil or dirt into an expensive optical head.
Use a proper dryer and filtration sized for the flow at your real operating pressure. A clean-looking airline and a tank gauge at 12 bar do not tell you anything about dew point, oil carryover or what happens after ten minutes of continuous flow.
If your compressor spits water from the drain regularly, do not connect it straight to the laser and hope the little filter fixes everything.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Jake Maier (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Glen Dederick (facebook)
¶ Why do the slats / tooth bars keep falling out?
Because on some machines the bars simply do not have enough engagement once the frame spreads a little.
Owners have fixed it with washers/spacers and with a threaded brace pulling the sides back in. Before copying somebody else's dimensions, measure your own bed and make sure nothing is bent or assembled wrong.
Do not keep cutting with bars dropping out under the sheet. Fix the support first.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Dan Kubisch (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Andrew Marshall (facebook)
¶ Can I cut stock longer than the bed?
You can physically feed longer stock through a machine that has the correct opening and support, but the cutting envelope does not become longer.
If the part itself is longer than the bed, you are indexing the material and accepting another alignment error every time you move it. For one-off brackets that can be fine. For a precision two-metre part, it gets annoying very quickly.
Support the stock properly and do not defeat covers or laser containment just to get a long strip through.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Laser Ranch (facebook)
- Owner discussion: John Daniels (facebook)
¶ What air compressor do I actually need for an M3?
Buy the compressor on sustained free-air delivery at the pressure you cut at, not on horsepower and not on tank size.
Gweike publishes up to 1.6 MPa / 16 bar for compressed air. That is an inlet limit, not a statement that every cut needs 16 bar.
The useful owner numbers are:
- One owner reported the Gweike compressor falling below 10 bar after roughly 5–10 minutes of cutting/etching.
- Another owner with a 7.5 kW compressor and roughly 400 L/min free-air delivery could build pressure while cutting with a 1.5S nozzle.
- The same owner estimated a 2.0S nozzle would need around 800 L/min. Treat that as a community estimate, not a Gweike specification.
That is why "my compressor does 12 bar" is not enough information. Nozzle size can double the problem.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Stewart Rowles (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Nhi Nguyen (facebook)
¶ How do I run shop air to the CO2 laser side?
If your machine matches the owner configuration documented here, the clean way is the oxygen-labelled low-pressure inlet when its roughly 9 bar ceiling is enough. That keeps the machine's low-pressure protection in the loop.
Do not simply put the CO₂ head on the high-pressure/unregulated nitrogen path. That is exactly how you turn an air-assist experiment into an optics/head problem.
Owners also run a separate externally regulated clean-air line to the CO₂ head. If you do that, keep the pressure within the CO₂ hardware limit and make the plumbing obvious enough that nobody can accidentally feed the high-pressure fiber setting into it later.
The built-in little air pump is fine for light work. For heavier plywood/acrylic cutting, proper dry shop air is a worthwhile upgrade.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: John Fogarty (facebook)
¶ Air, nitrogen, and oxygen
Long-form wiki: /faq/gas-guide.
¶ When do I use shop air vs nitrogen vs oxygen on an M3?
My simple version:
- Air: cheap and works surprisingly well for a lot of everyday cutting. Expect some oxidation/discoloration.
- Nitrogen: use it when you care about a clean, non-oxidised edge, especially on stainless/aluminium. The downside is flow. It can empty cylinders very quickly.
- Oxygen: the normal choice when you are pushing thicker mild/carbon steel because the oxygen participates in the cut.
Do not swap only the gas and leave the rest of the process row untouched. Nozzle, focus, pressure and speed belong together.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Stewart Rowles (facebook)
- Owner discussion: The_YieldPoint_yt (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Dave Haehn (facebook)
¶ Can I use the oxygen inlet for nitrogen or air? What is the other port?
The rear ports are not just two interchangeable holes.
On the M3 setup covered by these owner reports, the oxygen-labelled path is the lower-pressure route, roughly 0.8–0.9 MPa / 8–9 bar, with the machine's low-pressure protection. The nitrogen path is the high-pressure route and relies on the external gas regulation.
That means:
- If you want to run air at 6–8 bar, the oxygen-labelled route is the sensible one on this configuration.
- If you need 10+ bar air for fiber cutting, that belongs on the high-pressure path with the correct external regulator and hardware.
- Do not use the high-pressure path for the CO₂ gun just because the hose fits.
The Gweike connection guide also shows the bottle regulators/gauges outside the machine. You should not need to open the rear panel to "find the nitrogen regulator."
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Alastair Pearn (facebook)
- Owner discussion: John Potter (facebook)
- Owner discussion: John Potter (facebook)
¶ How much nitrogen flow do I need, what purity, and do I need a high-flow regulator?
There is no honest single M3-wide L/min number I can give you yet.
Nitrogen demand changes massively with nozzle diameter and pressure. What I can say is that a normal welding flowmeter is not the right way to think about a high-pressure cutting supply. You need a regulator and plumbing that can maintain the required pressure while flowing a lot of gas.
If you are buying cylinders, expect nitrogen consumption to be painful on long cuts. One M3 owner reported going through two cylinders in two days.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Alastair Pearn (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Dave Haehn (facebook)
¶ Can my compressor keep up with aluminium cutting?
Aluminium is where a marginal compressor gets exposed very quickly.
My 4 mm aluminium example used 10 bar air, F−4 focus, an S1.5 nozzle, 100% power and 1 m/min. The small nozzle is important because it keeps the gas demand down.
An owner with roughly 400 L/min free-air delivery reported that a 1.5S nozzle was manageable but estimated a 2.0S nozzle around 800 L/min. Again: owner estimate, not a factory spec.
If the cut is good for the first few minutes and then suddenly stops penetrating, watch the pressure at the machine while it is cutting. The tank gauge sitting at a nice number between jobs tells you nothing.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Stewart Rowles (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Alexandru Pirvulescu (facebook)
¶ MLaser, LightBurn, files
Long-form wiki: /faq/lightburn-compatibility.
¶ Does LightBurn work on the Gweike M3 / M-Series yet?
Not yet as a released, supported M-Series connection. But there is finally something more interesting happening than "maybe someday."
Publicly, LightBurn staff said again on 14 September 2026 that they have an M-Series machine for development/testing, but still have no integration timeline:
LightBurn forum update.
I also have a direct update from Gweike. On 3 September 2026, Gweike told me that its software engineers and technicians planned to visit Jason, LightBurn's CEO, in September or October to try to accelerate M-Series/fiber compatibility.
That is real progress. It is not a release date and it does not mean the machine works in LightBurn today.
So for now: use MLaser for machine control, keep your working installer/configuration backed up, and do your CAD/vector work wherever you prefer. The day I can actually run the M3 from LightBurn, this page will change very quickly.
¶ Why does MLaser show hexagons, double lines, or overspeed on my DXF/SVG?
First suspect the geometry, scale or units before blaming the laser.
Try one known-good circle/rectangle. If that imports correctly, inspect the bad file for duplicate lines, tiny segments, open contours and inch/mm mistakes. Curves exported through multiple programs can also arrive as a horrible pile of short straight segments.
I would rather simplify the export once in CAD than spend half an hour trying to tune MLaser around broken geometry.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Alastair Pearn (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Spencer Kennedy (facebook)
¶ Nozzles, lenses, windows
Long-form wiki: /troubleshooting/replace-consumables.
¶ What consumables should I order with an M3?
At minimum: protective windows, the nozzle sizes you actually use, and a spare ceramic.
The protective window is cheap compared with the lens/head behind it. The ceramic is the part you suddenly need after a crash. And nozzles are consumables; once the hole is oval, damaged or full of spatter, stop trying to fix the cut with software.
Check the head revision and dimensions before ordering. "Fits Gweike M3" is not enough if the supplier is guessing.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: David Knowles (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Dino Clarke (facebook)
¶ Cut settings and quality
Long-form wiki: /cnc-cutting/cut-quality-troubleshooting.
¶ What settings do people actually use to cut stainless on an M3?
One useful owner data point for 2 mm stainless was the stock stainless profile, a 2.0S nozzle and 8 bar compressed air. The owner remembered focus around F−5, but was not certain.
That is exactly why I do not publish random screenshots as "the setting." Speed, piercing and source configuration were not fully captured, so treat it as a starting clue, not a recipe.
A second M3 Pro owner also increased the follow gap from 0.3 to 0.8 mm on small features to reduce collisions with tipped scraps.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Stewart Rowles (facebook)
- Owner discussion: François (facebook)
¶ How do I cut carbon steel or mild steel without a slag mess?
There is no single thick-steel setting. The important thing is not mixing an air/nitrogen thin-sheet row with an oxygen thick-steel row.
On my M3 Ultra, an 8 mm carbon-steel test used 0.5 bar oxygen and 100% power. The original post says speed "0.9" without a unit, so I am deliberately not inventing one now. The bigger breakthrough on that job was adding cooling points to stop the small geometry from blowing out.
Another owner got 6 mm mild steel through using the stock 6 mm profile, air around 5–8 bar and speed reduced to 5 mm/s. That is slow, but it cut.
Use those as evidence of what has worked, then make a coupon for your own material.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: The_YieldPoint_yt (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Alexandru Pirvulescu (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Alen Mrgan (facebook)
¶ Can the M3 cut aluminum, and what do people run?
Yes. I have cut 4 mm aluminium at 1 m/min, 100% power, F−4 focus, S1.5 nozzle and 10 bar air on the 1.2 kW M3 Ultra.
That is my tested job, not a universal profile. Aluminium is very sensitive to gas flow, nozzle condition and focus, so copy the whole setup or do not pretend you copied the setting.
Also pay attention to which gas inlet you are using. Ten bar obviously does not belong on a path limited to roughly nine.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: The Yieldpoint (facebook)
- Owner discussion: David Taylor (facebook)
¶ Will it cut copper or brass?
It can cut copper. There is a clean photographed owner result in the linked thread.
What I do not have from that post is the thickness and full settings, so I am not going to turn one photo into "the M3 cuts X mm copper."
Copper and brass are also reflective materials. Use a process that is approved for the source/head and stop if the machine throws a back-reflection/source alarm.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Arnold Gregorio (facebook)
¶ Why is there dross, stuck slugs, or spatter on top of the sheet?
Do not start by adding power.
First check the boring stuff: nozzle condition/centering, protective window, gas pressure while cutting, focus, follow height and whether you actually loaded the right material row.
Then look at where the defect happens:
- only at the pierce = pierce/lead problem;
- only on one side of shapes = alignment/nozzle/gas-flow clue;
- gets worse ten minutes into the job = gas/compressor/heat/window problem;
- everywhere = go back to the baseline.
Change one thing on a small coupon. Otherwise you will eventually get a good cut and have no idea why.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Glen Dederick (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Dino Clarke (facebook)
- Owner discussion: François (facebook)
¶ How is the CO2 side for plywood, acrylic, and engraving?
Useful. It is not just a decorative extra.
The Pro has an 80 W CO₂ tube and the Ultra has 130 W. I have cut a 9 mm plywood shipping crate on the Ultra, and owners are using the CO₂ side for acrylic and engraving as well.
Treat it like a normal CO₂ process: focus, cooling, extraction and proper air assist matter. The red dot showing up on the material tells you almost nothing about whether the beam path is actually right.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: The Yieldpoint (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Richard Young (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Andrew Marshall (facebook)
¶ How do I center the beam, and does it actually matter?
Yes. It matters a lot.
Put one layer of clear tape over the nozzle, fire a single low-power pulse and compare the burn pinhole with the circle the nozzle pressed into the tape. The pinhole should be in the middle.
If it is off-centre, one side of the nozzle heats up and one side of your cut usually gets worse. Adjust the head alignment screws in small steps, re-tape and pulse again.
A few things that save time:
- clear packing tape works; coloured tape makes the burn harder to read;
- the red positioning dot is not the fiber-beam alignment reference;
- a big/ragged mark usually means the beam is clipping a damaged/dirty nozzle;
- if alignment is centred but the nozzle still gets hot, inspect the window, ceramic and nozzle before touching alignment again.
Do this after a nozzle/ceramic change, a crash, or when the dross suddenly becomes directional.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Kilian Steuer (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Glen Dederick (facebook)
¶ What should my laser settings be?
Start from the Gweike row for your exact source power + material + thickness + gas, then make a small coupon.
When somebody gives you "my setting," make sure you also know:
- source power;
- nozzle type/diameter;
- gas and pressure under flow;
- focus convention/value;
- follow height;
- speed and the units;
- pierce settings.
If half of that is missing, you do not have a setting. You have a screenshot.
The cut catalog keeps Yield Point tests and owner reports separate for exactly this reason.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Stewart Rowles (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Joe Hackman (facebook)
¶ Alarms, crashes, no-fire
Long-form wiki: /troubleshooting.
¶ The Z axis crashed into the plate after a software update. Now what?
Stop and inspect the head before doing anything else. Nozzle, ceramic and height sensing can all be damaged by a crash.
Then restore the known-working software/configuration, not whatever random version happens to be newest on the website. One owner had exactly this problem after an update and recovered after going back to the USB version supplied with the machine.
This is why I keep saying: archive the installer and configuration before you touch updates.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Allen Louie (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Richard Young (facebook)
¶ Fiber source is on (green blink) but there is no laser output / Err-S001?
Do not immediately assume the source is dead.
On one M3 Pro 6-in-1 owner report, the problem involved the wire-feeder/external connection for that configuration. That does not mean every Err-S001 is the feeder.
Photograph the full alarm, check which mode/head is selected, make sure the required external connections/interlocks for that mode are present, and then follow the no-fire troubleshooting page. Do not bridge a connector just to see if it fires.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Vincent Amiel (facebook)
¶ What is a PD lock alarm or an overspeed error?
They are two different problems.
A PD lock report in the owner group involved loss of output and abnormal heat around the fiber/head connection. If you have abnormal heat there, stop resetting it and get Gweike involved.
An overspeed error can be something completely different, including horrible imported geometry made from tiny segments.
Same word "error," completely different diagnostic path. Save the full code and what the machine was doing when it appeared.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Taylor Childers (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Spencer Kennedy (facebook)
¶ Handheld weld / clean
Long-form wiki: /handheld/handheld-welding.
¶ Can the handheld M1200 weld aluminum?
Yes. Owners are welding aluminium with the M1200.
The part people underestimate is wire feeding. Soft aluminium wire wants the correct rollers/liner and a clean path. The discussions below mention 4043/5356 wire, PTFE or other soft-wire-compatible liners, and argon.
Which filler is correct depends on the actual base alloy and what you need from the joint, so do not pick 4043 versus 5356 because somebody on Facebook happened to have that spool.
Get the wire feeding cleanly first. There is no point tuning laser power while the feeder is bird-nesting.
Original discussions:
- Owner discussion: Carl Hammond (facebook)
- Owner discussion: Steve Farley (facebook)