Im not sure where this topic belongs.

[Chemical-x.....ahain]

since space is at a premium I am strongly considering picking this up Carvera: The Smartest Desktop CNC Machine – Makera. what are your thoughts?

[Chuck E Ducky]

I was looking at another brand designed to take Billet to “Bullet” but it’s the same concept Mini Desk Top CNC. Let me see if I can find it.

It would definitely come in handy for makin small one off parts. It’s definitely a skill I would love to get better at. I been doing a lot of CAD at the Welding and Fabrication shop, for the Plasma Cam table, we use it to make blueprints, and cut lists for builds. Im starting to get good at it.

[flyweightnate]

That machine has nice specs. The biggest questions from there should be serviceability (CNCs break), tool availability, and programming options. Can you use software like Fusion 360, or only proprietary stuff?

The biggest thing in little machines is a lack of spindle torque/ power. Something like a Shark or Shapeoko uses a palm router which changes that dynamic, but usually at the cost of precision.

200 watts at 15krpm means you'll be limited to very light cuts, less than .020", at feeds of 60ipm or less, in aluminum or brass. Honestly not a ton more in wood, maybe 5x that.

I know this because I've been running a Nomad 3 this year (150 watts, 24krpm). It's very capable if you understand the limitations. The Nomad is less expensive, very rebuildable, has excellent support, and runs GRBL (limitations but the most common interface), so it's a low risk alternative. But tool changes eat up a lot of time if you're not sitting there waiting for them. I've done everything from prototype cuts and threadmilling valves (1/4-36 anyone?) to jewelry for my daughter.

I also have a Shark SD120 (garage sale find!) that is infinitely more useful for wood and plastics just because I can cut 10x as fast with a Dewalt 611 router on it. Good for testing fit/ form. (Pix attached)

Whichever route you get, it's tons of fun.

Edit: https://shop.carbide3d.com/products/...32912906354749
carbidetoolsource.com

I have specifically heard horrible things about the Bantam, another little machine, being impossible to servic, btw.

[Chemical-x.....ahain]

The Bantam was something that came up on my radar as well and likewise a heavy warning associated with it.

There is a tool arrangement within fusion for it, im more familiar with onshape so if I wanted to stay with OS id have to learn that setup.

Im not familiar with the CAM side of things so that would be an adventure.

[flyweightnate]

CAM isn't bad... LinkedIn Learning had some decent courses (free through work!) that shortened the learning curve.

Fusion is pretty high feature, so you're making a LOT of decisions for each tool path. Something like Vectric is easier to learn but really only good for 2.5D (router work). Most other software is between the two. MeshCAM, MasterCAM, Mach3 being the names that come to mind.

[Chemical-x.....ahain]

Nate, would you wager a machine like this even with light passes is okay to go approx. an inch or more deep?

[Chemical-x.....ahain]

FWIW, I was looking over the site and running some number and accidentally clicked on the pay link instead of the shop pay as I was looking to see what the financing options were. my heart sunk. I immediately emailed them and within minutes they were back to me. Order cancelled even though my bank had already processed it. I feel like with customer service like that that they are worth a shot. Ill probably be ordering from them in the next two weeks or so.

[flyweightnate]

Nate, would you wager a machine like this even with light passes is okay to go approx. an inch or more deep?

If you're patient, I bet you can get it done.

On my Nomad, I burned up the board a few times when I was getting used to it. I was cutting grips in Bois D'Arc, a super hard wood, and had a setting to "finish only at full depth" - meaning it did roughing passes about .080" deep with .005" stock left for cleanup, but then did the cleanup pass all 3/4" at once. With a 1/4" endmill, when it turned the corner from ripping to end grain, it bound so hard the board fried. Then I did it again. Oops.

Again, same sort of thing with a G10/ neoprene laminate. The neoprene wrapped the bit on a deep pass near an inside corner and it burned up.

With a collection of fried boards, I learned that, even on a finishing pass, keep depth of cut reasonable, and never to use a 1/4" end mill on something with a grain direction. (I still face aluminum with one - single flute, and I run it 50ipm, 70% stepover and 0.010" DOC successfully at 20k. Awesome surface finish for a desktop unit.) Single flute or two flute is nice so you can keep speed up (in the "power band" of your spindle) while taking a heavy enough chipload (even if it's only 0.001") to get a good finish and keep temp down; more flutes means you might run out of power before you get a good chip. Oh... and you'll have to rethink power for holemaking; in 6061 you'll only be able to drill 1/16" or less with a 200W Spindle. (Maybe 3/32 since the Carvera is slightly slower at that power.) So you'll have to get an endmill and helix on down in a boring operation.

For deep work, you might need to get tapered endmills or have both stubbies and long reach, so you can run a little harder with a rigid tool, then swap for a longer tool and back off the stepover (or DOC) to avoid deflecting. Carbide is plenty stiff but they still make most tools around 4 diameters of flute length and 12 diameters overall length so you don't go crazy. A 1" x 1/8" diameter is tricky to find.

CarbideToolSource.com is a recent find but awesome, and much less pricey, tools. Poke around there, and maybe Harvey Tool, to see what's available. I try to avoid cheap Chinese Amazon junk except weird stuff like single form threadmills (which are AMAZING).

The awesome thing about Carbide 3D was that they said, even on my secondhand machine, I only had to pay for the first board ($130). There was an unlimited 90 day warranty on the others, even though it was quite definitely my fault. "Don't be scared to try it" was their approach. If Makera has a similar reputation, it's a very good sign.


So yeah... TONS to learn, but after a month or two of really trying, it suddenly gets easy. Still nice to have a friend with a Haas, but walking to the garage for a (small) prototype or one-off project is just way too fun.