Makera Carvera Desktop CNC: Great for (wealthy) Beginners ?

Black Friday! Get the discounted Carvera here* and use code "247" for another 100USD discount:

The Makera Carvera is the first CNC mill I ever had my hands on before.
As a 3D printing guy, I honestly had quite some doubts and anxieties about getting into CNC machining.
But, oh boy… ball screws driven by servo motors, automated levelling, automated tool changing… and there is way more to discover on that modern cnc machine. Sounds too good to be true for beginners and even advanced users, right?! Join me, a total CNC noob, doing my first steps in CNC milling and getting my first project milled out of aluminium!

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Additional Links
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Chef's Menu:
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00:00 Intro
01:29 What you get and Setup
06:39 Sponsor PCBWay
07:25 First Steps and Example Projects
13:25 My First CNC Alu Project
14:44 CAM: Getting started
18:26 First time milling an Aluminium part
22:10 Lessons leaned
24:51 Negatives on Carvera and Conclusion

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#cncmilling

[printing]

Black Friday! Get the discounted Carvera here* and use code "247" for another 100USD discount:

[Unaligned]

I've been using mine for a few months now. I think it's a pretty good machine. I own a 10 kW CNC mill so I have a little bit of experience.

You can't overstate how nice the automatic tool changer is: it means you can leave it running in another room, it just goes and fills its vacuum box slowly with chips until it's done with the whole program. The automated tool setter is awesome as is the cute little service-free Z probe.

I see one main point of potential improvement: the spindle speed could use being about 2x higher for small tools in aluminum, and the spindle speed stabilization is not great (it hunts a lot with load). Otherwise, maybe the Y axis should use something like Hiwin HGR rails instead of the LM style bearings, would make it a little stiffer? I need to do some real stiffness measurements.

That said, it's quite precise when taking light cuts, it fits on a benchtop, and it's really well integrated. I bought one because this was the first "home" CNC mill that I felt I wouldn't get infuriated by - and so far, so good.

[segment]

The reason why you get the misalignment of the upper and lower cuts is due to that you use an live edge to center your stock when flipping. To fix that, first position the stock as you did in the beginning with the xy block, clamps and screws. The the second operation is to face the peace of the bloc you are going to use. Then this is the important one. Drill the screw holes and screw the stock down (At least 2 screws and screw holes.). You can now remove the clamps as the part is fixed to the board through the screws. Continue the cutting make sure in CAM to not hit the screws in the stock if they are sticking out a bit. Do this side completely done and cut it out. Now you have one part that is faced and has the features on one side. Now the magic. Flip your half ready part and screw them back in the same hole again. With this the position of the stock becomes absolute. Finally some times those screws in the beginning can is some cases be supplemented with dobbel sided tape if the forces are lower. But then you can not flip the stock easy. Final 2. With CNC you may spend more time making stock holding systems then actually making the first batch of products. Check in the @ContraptionCollection channel here on YouTube he has some nice CNC trick's. Sorry for long message.

[etch]

It doesn't look like anyone has explained the default stock to leave values, so I'll do it. Generally you would use a roughing tool and a finishing tool or even just different feed rates to improve the surface finish on the pockets, hence the 0.5mm stock to leave, so that the next tool has something to remove.

[Convolutedtubules]

Been milling professionally for years. You're gonna love this!

[Rein-hgin]

Hi, awesome to see that cnc milling is becoming avaiable for the hobbyists. As someone who is experienced using industrial cnc machines I have a couple tips for you. For what I can see you are probing on the side of the plate on both operations. You can do it on the first operation, but I would recommend to probe a feature that has been milled on the first operation to probe for the second operation. For example a troughhole. As for the chamfers I would recommend to give it a larger chamfer tip offset, this way you aren't milling with the very tip. The 0.05 offset you used it quite small. I recommend this because the higher the offset the higher the circumferential speed is. At the very tip the theoretical circumferential speed is 0. But I think you did quite well for a first attempt! Cheers!

[NicholasSTParker]

Very nice video.

You will find you get much better results if you get shorter tools and stick them out less from the collet. In general, a stickout of 3xd or less is preferred. So a 3mm tool should stick out 9mm or less if feasible. This reduces chatter by a LOT and will significantly increase surface finish and even allow you to cut faster. If your part is only 3mm thick, then you don't need the extra stickout anyway and should choke up on the tool as far as possible, usually up to where the flutes start.

This applies to side cutting tools like endmills and chamfer tools. Drills and spot drills can stick out much farther before you start to have issues.

[AndrewBoraas]

the .5mm stock to leave is there because the most common practice is to rough out a part and then finish the part. or in other words remove most of the material leaving enough to be sure there is still material to take a delicate finish pass, leaving the final surface more accurate and looking better. if you click the 3 dots next to the stock to leave and click edit expression it will show where that value came from.

[turtel]

Hahahaha "let me express it into 3d printing language" - love it! 🎉

[djtopherau]

i would recommend printing or cutting a fan that fits over your spindle, that way it will blow the chips off when the spindle is spinning. also, when cnc'ing double sided parts, it is good practice to use dowl/location pins (similar to the ones that were supplied with the PCB making kit), the first operation usually drills a couple of holes through the stock into the baseboard, then you insert the pins, so when you flip the stock over its perfectly aligned.

[rodiculous]

I love this maker rennaissance that is going on, for the price it is out of the range of most hobbyists, but it is getting more and more attainable.

[lausi]

Interesting review! Editing is outstanding 😮

[jamesm]

You could have fixed all of those wcs issues by milling a clean 90deg edge on one side. Then starting your program off a known true milled surface. Never rely on saw cuts to give you references. You could have also shifted your wcs and probed off a bore or internal pocket. Lastly a mql or consistent air blast will help alot and reducing your tool stick out as you have a lot of vibration and chatter.

[Mainswitch]

I´m milling for 17yrs and now i´m looking for something like a mini cnc mill for my home... Currently i´m working on a 33t beast with X 4000mm, Y 1350mm and Z 1650mm... And yes it is 5 axis too with Heideinhain iTNC 530 control... Imho the carvera is the best you can get, also for the money, only if you wanna do lots of laser work, forget the carvera and get something else. This is really something lots of us were waiting for! The atc is of course a highlight of this machine. If you compare this with the Nomad3 f.e. (which is unfair of course but there simple is no real other alternative yet) i always would go for the carvera. Having the possibility of milling brass and aluminium and a 4th axis is always very neat for every rc model builder.

KR from Austria

PS: Living in Europe, is there a 220V version, can´t find it on their page, so i guess i have to deal with the 110V plug right? Wouldn´t be an issue just need to know.

EDIT:
Found it in the discription "100-120VAC / 200-240VAC @ 50/60Hz" so all good 🙂

[ndisa]

Looking forward to seeing CNC parts on a future V0. Gotta take the record back from an ender 3 now...

[cheeriomartinez]

As a cnc programmer and machinist, I want to try this machine out! It looks awesome

[pist]

I like what this company is about. Offer a fairly robust machine for a fairly decent price and create a community of users for education purposes. Looks like a great way to start your journey into CNC.

[naidta]

This machine really sounds good! Thanks for the review

[DWolfEngineering]

Thank you very much for making this review, love to finnaly have some base to decide on, for CNC machines, i cant wait for the prototyping of 3d printer parts in future videos !

The beauty is that with 3DP the mounting problem can be solved :) and i absolutely cant wait to see what you come up with !

[leesmithsworkshop]

This really is good value for the money with the tool changer and all the accessories. Much like my own CNC the user interface is too basic out of the box. I had to buy a pendant so I can move the toolhead around and then also a macro tool with some presets. learning the CAM processes is never ending because each project will have something new you want to try. Overall an excellent video showing your noob experiences in with CNC.