I am quite excited about this new machine, the level of automation achieved using the automatic tool changer, wireless touch probe and rotary 4th axis make complex parts that would usually require multiple setups and manual operations so much quicker and easier. Even if you have no interest in buying a machine like this, I think it is fascinating to see the current state of the art hobby desktop CNC machines. If you are interested in the machine it is now available from Makera with a 2 week lead time here: www.makera.com/products/carvera?sca_ref=4180899.U68BiZuo02 (purchasing through this link will give me a small kickback to help support this channel and these projects) I hope you enjoy some of the projects I made with this machine in this video!

The necklace gift was so on point lol. The girlfriend hated the 3d printer until I started making her trinkets

That cutters not dead, you can dissolve the aluminium with caustic soda (Sodium hydroxide). Congrats on the new machine, looks awesome!

Im a CNC Machinist and working daily on Hermle Machines. You did a pretty good job and i would love to have this at home! Looks very nice

Cool machine! Would be nice to see the static spindle deflection - you can measure this by putting a endmill in the spindle at a typical stick out, then pulling with a known force and measuring the deflection. This will get you a deflection number that you can compare with other machines. For measuring accuracy, you really can’t use calipers for less than 0.05mm. A good micrometer will get you accuracy down to 0.01mm. Check your bore measurement technique on a ring gauge or some ball bearings. It’s actually quite hard to measure to 0.01mm by hand. And inside mic would also be helpful for those measurements.

If the undersize holes are a spring pass issue then the dimension at the top of the hole will be closer to target than the bottom of the hole. You can correct for this with a spring pass, or use a cutter with a stiffer aspect ratio (larger diameter and/or shorter). Also your external dimensions would be oversize by a similar amount because the same mechanism applies to internal and external features.

I have noticed that most of the guys running hobby-type milling machines always have the cutter stuck out too far, keeping the tool's length as short as possible, this will stop deflection. Another good tip is always to climb mill the part, the cutter will last longer, and when milling pockets it will stop the cutter from undercutting the corners through deflection. By the way, I'm an engineer.

That looks like a bunch of fun... and then working out what you want to do with it is the challenge.

Excellent video! I'm excited to see more carvera content in the future!

This is an amazing little machine and with all of the features, $4799 is not bad. Any small desktop with a tool changer is a GAME changer! Looking forward to more videos on this machine.

Excellent review on this machine. Precise and covering aspects of use that matter to users. Definitely a company to watch especially with the co-opted laser module. Future is bright for the manufacturer with pricing as reasonable as this. Bravo, great work.

This is amazing information, thank you very much for the effort!

Well this is so amazing I think you both inspired me to consider the possibility and to shy away from something so technical. It IS such an interesting tool as you said at the beginning and I did sit through the whole video which is surprising to me for a start.

In my opinion, the culprit is one or a combination of three things: dull cutter, or not using the correct style of cutter, not enough horse power in your machine so the cutter isn't able to be pushed where it needs to be, and the properties of the metal itself during machining operations. Aluminum is notorious for gumming up when it gets too hot, this is due to the low melting point of aluminum, the chips will begin to fuse with the cutting edge, this is especially a problem when using a HSS cutter, which is what you appear to be using. You could try switching to a VERY sharp carbide end mill which is much harder and works better at higher temperatures, so chips fusing to the cutting edge isn't as big a problem. Aluminum also undergoes a lot of thermal expansion-- virtually every soft metal you might work with loves to absorb heat, aluminum can get piping hot in a matter of seconds, so you have to manage heat via symmetrical machining, coolant, making sure your cutter is always super sharp and preferably very hard. But, if you're using HSS because it's all you got, the best recommendation or trick I can offer up is to spray a tiny little bit of WD-40 onto your part, or area that's being machined-- that, or keep it flooded with coolant. The aluminum won't gum up and it will cut like butter with WD-40 though. Give it a spin sometime. Works for drilling or sawing aluminum as well ;) Either way, awesome set up man.

Perfect video to have a coffee to. Interesting, well put together, peacefull. 👍

Great work. 👏👏

Another nicely paced, informative video thanks. Like you, I was unsure of the value of the laser/mill combination. After I saw indexing marks and numbers being laser-etched onto an anodised aluminium collar for a lathe cross-feed handle, I figured it does have merit. The machine appears to have enough 'plus' points to earn its place in the market.

Ok now that is awesome! From a person that programs and operates 3 axis lathe and 5 axis mills for GM performance and racing. This is so cool. Definitely just got my attention. A lot of cool features.

You could probably add the 4 axis parts into a magntic rotary tumbler to knock off the pass ridges and give a uniform finish. Great product and video!

Another great review. This machine is the answers to modeling very small parts at true scale. As 99% of my modeling is aluminum and brass mixers, will allow more moving details to be used.

Less tool stick-out will certainly improve performance.

For better finish try increasing spindle speed and lowering feed. Rough out half of the workpiece, finish the main surface, then rough and finish the rest. Use very sharp polished carbide EMs. Minimize tool length or stickout.

Good job!

I would love to get a machine like this. I’m going to try and convince my boss to get one haha. Can’t wait to see what you do with it.

Looks like its not bad quality for the price. 👍👍

The machinery’s handbook has very handy charts for choosing optimal feed&speed for different materials. Can’t recommend it enough, even if this little machine can’t handle a lot of what’s out there.

A nice little machine. I gave been looking for one that does brass.

Cool machine! Running your cutters as short as possible is probably one of the best things you can do to improve surface finishes. Some projects won’t permit short tooling but it can make a huge difference, especially on small diameter tool.

4k is a steal for this little machine!

You have shown a delightful machine I would love it if you could share your Mando head figure 4 axis cam code As I have a 4 axis and have no idea how to do the cam for it

Brilliant!

Awesome Review! we are very happy with our demo unit, if anyone wants to come play with it we have it at our warehouse in South Florida and will bring it to the upcoming East coast Rep Rap festival in Bel Air Maryland sept 30-oct1st.

😮 omg a second video in as many months… it wasn’t a fluke!

Thee best and unintentionally funny part of the video (for a german speaker) was 14:30 when you showed the milling of that piece of brass whilst saying "okay, that's enough messing around" It's real funny because the german word for brass is: Messing!! :D Really weird coincidence, haha. Other than that, great video. It's a really interesting little machine.

SUBSCRIBED!!! I have so many apology gifts to make 😩... Excellent work and video!! New subscriber here for sure. 👍

Brilliant video! Do you think it would be possible for you to do a tutorial on how you made the tool path for the 4th axis part? Or even just post the real time footage of you generating the tool path instead of speeding it up. You seem to have a good grasp of it and I think it would be extremely helpful for carvera owners, especially those that are CNC beginners looking to make the most out of their machine!

Great video. How noisy is the machine one working metal. Would it be compared to a vacuum cleaner kind of noise ?

Use a ball nose with a short flute and long shank. I think tools today has engraving router bits with tip radius that might work well for this machine, but I've always used double flute balls for surface finish

Haha, so i started watching because of the title, but recognized the voice and realised who it was 🤙🤙

Thanks for posting this video, none of the other reviews really do much other than the included demos. I've been trying to figure out if this can cut Al on the 4th axis; you answered that in the first seconds of the video. You then went on to discuss possibilities that I hadn't even considered. How has reliability and maintenance been?

Amazing work on the 4th axis. Is it possible to make a tutorial on the 4th axis using Fusion 360. Would love to see how to manufacture is through Fusion 360.

You should mention that you have to re insert the removed parts of the chuck in the same spot. Otherwise you can get higher runout. Normally the parts of the chuck have marks and the chuck has corresponding marks.

Nice Bell clapper!

Cool video. One slight correction. The true 4th axis troolpaths were never free in Fusion 360. They were available in preview form, but when a user enabled the toolpath in previews ,it was shown that when released it would go into the machining extension.

I hope she liked your apology gift, bruh. Well done, by the way. I liked the video, and I'm sharing it with my group, too. Maybe we will join together to buy one.

Hey TAOW, what is the name of the pencil looking tool you used to measure the hole diameter @ 13:52? Do you find it very useful? Thanks.

Would this machine be able cut stainless ond titanium great video by the way

Nice

Wow, this is a sturdy mashine for your very Desktop at home, I am glad to see that the hobby market is still going strong. But as a machinist myself, for this Price id instead go with a Samurai CNC or Build my own

Interested, just wish it had a more powerful motor so it was more capable of cutting steel without ridiculously small depth cuts

Yeah you need to add an air cooling line to that machine. Maybe even an oil mist system for aluminum.

The website doesn't say, what is the max length of the 4-axis add-on? Like how long can a piece of barstock be surfaced?

Can you make a tutorial on how to program something on the 4th axis? I can find any video anywhere on it.

Try using an aluminium alloy that has been heat treated to a T6 condition. Softer conditions often lead to tool clogging.

smooth

Taow, for cutting aluminium you need lubrication... Otherwise, as you experienced your tool get's gummed up with aluminium. You can clean them by soaking in a strong base solution like sink cleaner. Thank you for sharing, nice maxhine! Best, Job

*I am fascinated with the Carvera machine. I have been long following its development since it began on Kickstarter. However, I'm not interested at all in making pretty little trinkets on this CNC - I want to make real aluminium high tensile parts for a dream electric scooter project I've been planning for the past three years. I would like to see someone actually make some fully utilitarian device entirely on the Carvera CNC machine. I'm more interested in the "CNC" and less so in the "Carvera" of this intriguing machine's function.*

Wow, lots of nice features. Do you know if the laser may be upgraded to one of the more powerful aftermarket types like Jtech or OPT Lasers? Can the probe do a higher resolution 3D scanning function? I would like to digitize some of my hand carved pieces but I can strangely obtuse answers from every mfg that I ask the question to. This would be perfect for my custom guitar part prototypes that don't need to be made from a ferrous material.

if you want a nicer finish and better accuracy hold your endmills and basically any other tool further in the spindle so that you get less chatter

Not shure but i think your machining direction should be invers so the bit cuts when your axis is moving... Now the bit runs in the same direction as as your axis movement which results in a "chipped" surface.

Hi, I’m interested in this machine, and wanted to ask what is the true work volume for 3 and 4 axis… the site says 36cm (Y) x 24cm (x) x 14cm (z) for the 3 axis. And 9.2cm (D) and 24cm (L) for the 4th axis. Wanted to ask if this is what you experienced or is it much smaller than those numbers because for example the 36cm would mean collision with ATC?

Obviously it would have to run slower but, could this handle cutting Titanium and Steel?

check your bit size if you get repeatable errors

Clean passes are better with down milling.

Did you buy the machine or did they give it to you?

You said air is an option... is that air is built in you just do not have an air compressor? Or you have to pay for another module to add air?

Great video, thank you very much. I am considering buying it. I have a question for you, do I need to learn Fusion 360 or can I keep using Solidworks for designing my products?

Would you consider a pocket nc 2 as well? Why or why not? Thanks!

Id love to have one of those. But that is way out of my price range. I don't know when id ever had that kind of disposable income.

great video but how the fuck did they connect the z-axis to the x-axis with that cover in between?

Would you recommend this as a first CNC? Also what is the noise like, would you be able to get away with using it in an apartment?

Simultaneous 4-axis? or indexed? It looks indexed to me

I mean you could get a pm-30 and convert to cnc and have a waaaaayyy more capable mill for that price. Not sure 4th axis is really mind blowing.

I run a $500k+ CNC Plasma Table that is 5 axis and some of the programs can take upwards of 20 mins to load the file. with less than 50k lines of G-Code.

Can I be one of your friends. That's awesome

Would be nice if it was more powerful woukd like to work with harder metals

There is a new machine called KUBUS Pro, from Switzerland. Their price is very competetitive, but has not automatic toolchanger :( Theirs is made more solid and has a better part finish.

200W spindle seem very very tiny... i dont understand how thats enough to cut steel

Is there a code for solid works?

Interesting. I'm not sure why you supported the end of the stock, I really wouldn't bother doing that unless it's a really long part where the overhang would cause deflection issues.

I have no experience with this machine, nor do I intend to buy one, but the simple fact that they chose linear rails over linear rods puts it miles ahead of at least half of the other machines in this class.

Tool changer is a killer. Laser can be useful for particular PCB manufacturing process step . You can engrave solder mask with it. That could be used for solder pads revealing and PCB "silkscreening" with laser engraver. But that's useful only if you planning to put solder mask on your DIY PCB.

so what does a machine like this run you

Hang on is this a sponsored video? You didnt mention it. Did you buy this machine or was it provided to you?

Want to make some money? I need a gear cut. It's a combination of helical and spur with two diameters. Small part about an inch and a half long with diameters of 1/2" and 3/4"

Great, fabulous toy. Upload any "satisfying" you like.... Ill watch. -U-

Oooooo... Get new 3d printer, or save up for this?

"Makera" sounds like "make error". That is all. Thank you.

Calipers for measuring inner circles are just not accurate. Your .1 was 100% wrong measuring tool, not the machine. Hole gauge would be a little more accurate. I've run into this measuring problem myself before I figured out my mistake and literally did that DiCaprio pointing at the TV meme when I saw you do it too lol.

do yourself a favor and spray wd-40 on the tool also. you will love the new finish.

You got it for free? Jesus i need to start a youtube channel...

Hobby grade? Mate, it's $5k USD. You did say top of the line, but to put that into perspective, you can set yourself up with a gaming PC rig that is top of the line for that cash. If you are building it yourself, you can go pretty high end or pay for nice peripherals or add in a good monitor, desk, and chair. This would be for somebody that was pretty damn serious about wanting to use it.

Around £4,000, with only a 2.5W laser? Nah mate! Still, an interesting machine. BTW, bin those glasses, they look like cheapo Chinese ones. Go for a brand name from a good company, presumably around 455nM. A poor man's Pocket NC?

This kind of milling machine ar standard more then 15 Years ago in dental technic. Tool changer, , 4 th axis all the same. I don't understand what's new or whats a game changer. ...

I dunno if a 6000 $ (as of now) machine still can be called hobby.

deburring the edges of chucks is NOT a standard thing you have to do when buying a quality chuck. That particular chuck is a Chinese knockoff of a sherline mini lathe chuck, and they are all over ebay, amazon, and aliexpress.

The problem is always the same. Apart from the fact that for a machine built in China I expect significantly lower prices, the fundamental point remains. Since Fusion eliminates the CAM part for free, spending hundreds of dollars a year to do some hobby work makes thinks less interesting. I also understand that as a student/KZfaqr you have a lot of reasons to make these videos, but when I was studying I didn't have 5000 US$ for a toy and now that I'm an adult I don't spend 500 a year just to be able to access the fusion post processor. Without it the whole thing has absolutely no sense except for looking those nice looking G codes made by others running. In short, without patreon, various sponsors and fusion software licenses procured unofficially, the toy is beautiful but decidedly out of budget for the simple hobbyist who will have to settle for much less automation until a more efficient product arrives on the market. ' suited.

The best cnc machine is, what you did build by yourself! Is will do better job and you can learn a lot during the building process. If you can use a cnc machine then you can build it too. Don't waste your money!

Lol 5k usd

Brilliant at CNC work but you haven't a clue how to solder! 😅