Why not upgrading to a newer (stable?) version?
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Mine sounds exactly the same since first power on out of the box
On their github, trapezoidal power was merged 29 November, 2023.
Make sure to use M4 to enable the power ramping, M3 is constant power.
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I did a run with M4, but I still have effects due to uneven laser intensity. My next (and probably last) try will be M4 I - perhaps trapezoid only works in combination with inline power? Whatever, I am close to the point where I scrap the idea of PCB etching wit the 2W⊠@Dowser Did you have any success with the 40W? I suppose if laser power control is also not good with that one, youâd run into the same problem, i.e. partly burnt parts in the circuit where the laser does sharp turnsâŠ
Sadly, I wonder if the XTool IR would be better for PCB. Iâd test it, but I donât have any PCB material (Iâve never used it so I donât have it to test, imagine that). The XTool IR has a much tighter focused beam and dumps a lot more power into the material.
This is very evident when I do 30mm stainless steel coins. The snapmaker I have to run slower and it marks it, but you canât feel anything. The XTool I blitz through it and you can feel the engrave and catch a fingernail on it.
However pros and cons on both, with the tighter focus, comes a much shorter depth of field. The xtool only has about 1mm of usable focus, so you have to be quite spot on.
The snapmaker has a much longer DoF of around 5-6mm, giving lots of leeway.
EDIT:
With their implementation, it doesnât require I for inline, itâs set up to do inline GRBL style, just S power changes without calling I
Wow - thatâs impressive! I already consider the 2W beam of the Snapmaker very narrow! For me, the effective beam size when focused is 0.02 mm, established by above experiments. For PCB etching, smaller might be even worse, as I would need more parallel passes to achieve the target isolation width.
Darn⊠that would mean that the implementation is not good enough for me 
But since hope dies last, I still will do a try with it - also, because I made a test change with the last job, which turned out not to be a good ideaâŠ
OK everyone, simply forget PCB isolation routing with the 40W!
I got my 40W brute today, and after cutting a bit of wood for the fun of it (what a BEAST!!!), I tried PCB isolation routing like with the 2W. As expected, the focal point is much larger, so less passes due to that - good. It immediately cut the copper, sparks flying! But⊠after all, it does not cut the copper! What really happens is: It heats up the PCB, something under the copper evaporates (either some glue or parts of the carrier board itself), and if enough pressure has built up, the copper âexplodesâ/pops. You do not get good cuts. It tried different speeds, powers etc., and by happenstance hit the âsweet spotâ where the evaporation happens, but the copper holds. Result: a copper bubble 
See it here - red frames show different experiments (variation in speed, power and # of passes). The green arrow points at the copper bubble. Upper PCB: phenolic paper. Lower: Epoxy.
Huh - Iâm just wondering if the 40W has any worth to me now⊠The use cases I have for such a beast are close to nil⊠Perhaps I sell it again⊠But the air assist pump may come in handy⊠Always these decisions sigh 
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