Makera Carvera Air In-Depth Review: Testing with wood, aluminum, brass, steel, sound & accuracy test

00:00 Intro
02:38 Wood engraving, cutting and deep pocket(25mm)
06:59 Aluminum cutting and accuracy test
13:27 Brass engraving and cutting
15:52 Mild steel cutting and accuracy test
17:52 Acrylic engraving and cutting
13:14 Milling PCB with auto leveling, dust shoe & external vacuum testing
22:13 Laser module testing
23:20 4th axis testing with resin block
25:19 4th axis testing with oak wood cylinder
26:52 Makera CAM software testing
30:09 Pros and Cons
Affiliate link:
Carvera Air Kickstarter Page:
bit.ly/carvera-air-cnc
Campaign Ends on May 10th, 2024
MSRP: $2199
Super Early Bird: $1199 (500 units)
Early Bird: $1399 (1500 units)
Regular Kickstarter: $1599

[@dtroy15]

Aurora, can i give you some tips on toolpath programming and machining as someone who works with both professional and hobby machining equipment? I've used equipment comparable to this (Carbide Nomad) to make mechanical parts from hardened steel and titanium. You are creating toolpaths that are very old fashioned. Full width slot cutting at very slow feed rates with a very shallow depth. These toolpath choices result in making parts that are louder, less accurate, slower, and produce more wear on tooling. This old approach works best with older knee-mills that have tons of spindle torque, but not modern machines with high speed spindles. Modern machining uses "HSM" (high speed machining) techniques. These techniques take advantage of the carbide tooling we have now as well as higher spindle speeds. 1. Machine much deeper. Aim for a depth of cut equal to the diameter of the tool. This means you arent putting all of the wear on the last mm of tool, helping tools to stay sharper for longer. 2. Machine much narrower widths. Try 1/10 the tool diameter. You should never cut a full width slot. Remember that the center of the endmill doesnt really cut - it grinds. See Saunder's Machine Works' video on how to cut around a profile without full width slotting. 3. Increase your feed rate. Your aluminum feed rate should be around 1000 mm/min or more with this machine and a 1/4" endmill at the DoC and WoC I've incidcated. 4. You should only use single-flute tools with soft materials. Hobby-grade machines are not rigid enough to use single/zero flute tools with aluminum. Cheap chinese carbide from amazon tends to be poor quality, and you can get very affordable American-made carbide tooling on eBay from Kyocera or HTC. 2 Flute endmills produces the best chip size for our machines. Too many flutes produces chips that are too small, cheating abrasive dust that ruins the finish and the tooling. Too few flutes creates significant vibration and makes a tool much less rigid, reducing tool life. 5. Stick with climb milling for any finishing pass. Our less-rigid hobby machines typically have less backlash but worse rigidity than old cast-iron frame mills, and benefit from climb milling.

[@AuroraTech]

Thanks for the tips! I have learned a lot from you!

[@dtroy15]

@@AuroraTech Glad to hear it! Your channel is my favorite for these hobby CNC mills. I bought my Comgrow Robo (or what used to be a comgrow robo) and Sovol SV-06 (now klipperized) off your recommendations. Keep up the great work!

[@terraexcognita6637]

Following

[@ferdinand9802]

Thank you, also for staying objective even (or particularly) for a sponsored video! Mentioning the sponsoring in the beginning was much better!

[@TimothyScotts1]

This was such an awesome review! A very clear and concise deep dive on what we could expect from this machine while offering some very good feedback for Makera to look at. In my opinion, Makera have done a fantastic job at listening to what reviewers, and backers are asking for and I really hope they continue to push their product into being the best on offer for a long time running! I was feeling a little concerned of the machine being underpowered for any future growth I have at home, but after your video, I am more than confident that it will be competent at doing what I need :) I am really excited for the future of CNC at home for makers!

[@BREACHERCAT]

Great timing, I just backed the 1399 one! Thanks for the review.

[@user-bv7tk3lr2p]

Great review. Glad you showed steel also. Very informative.

[@choschiba]

Thank you very much for your excellent review. You are always putting so much work into every review. I would love to get into CNC milling if I would have enough budget.

[@tomsalzl6593]

thankx for the info! I did put funds up after reviewing the DB information even on the steel work.

[@meikgeik]

Would have loved to see how well it deals with dust/chips during some of the metal/wood segments as most users wont be running it without the dust shoe. I understand the need to get good footage, but running it that way is unrealistic for most people. Dust collection is very important to me, and the one thing that could get me to cancel my order. Otherwise, excellent review. I backed after your first video. Maybe you can do a youtube short showing the dust collection with aluminum and wood?

[@UnderARockProd]

There’s another video on here and the guy cut a pretty big piece of plastic and it was an absolute mess! Def Would recommend a shop vac. You can attach a vacuum to the side and lot clean as you go as well so I’d doesn’t really matter how messy it gets, as long as you’ve got a good enough vacuum it you’ll be fine..

[@saschacontes2305]

Thanks for testing

[@user-xf3gw6fo2n]

Good to see it cuts steel!

[@Scriven42]

I love to see the chunk size grow during the plunge depth tests... by the end they're practically boulders compared to the dust at the start.

[@womacko]

Very good feedback! I hope Makera does address those issues. They are exactly, what would bother me as well!

[@SuperYellowsubmarin]

Impressed by the result on steel. I think these small machines would benefit from high feed end mills for steel as these increase feed rate on shallow passed considerably, while reducing radial load (chatter). Solid carbide small diameter high feed end mills are not very common yet, they are frequently used as indexable larger diameter cutters for roughing steel molds, ...

[@rsilvers129]

Great job. By the way, the Shop Vac lies about HP. In order to be 6 HP it would have to be 4.4kW and would need a 50 amp circuit.

[@joshua43214]

^^This Always de-rate Chinese stuff by 70% to 90%. 80% de-rate is about 1.2HP which is about 5amps.

[@Milkex]

ayy i remember this channel! Your brother and you are cool kids! STEM kicks ass!

[@josuecrx]

Thanks for another amazin review. Please post a budget recommended cnc machine for beginners.

[@ericthecyclist]

That tool changing handle is interesting because it could be driven by a servo, no need for an air compressor (the usual way tool changers seem to get driven). I wonder if it's doing something mechanically magical or is actually driving a piston to provide compressed air.

[@bobedwards8896]

wow this thing is impressive!

[@oroborobub710]

I hope in the future 4140 steel is used for test🙏 Thank you Aurora!!

[@creepinonthebabes]

Aurora when you did the coin and wrench, just a tip, you could have used double sided tape so the part doesn't pop out. good job as always.

[@pgtips1199]

The whole idea of the review is to use the machine as intended........but yes I do agree, double sided all the way ;)

[@creepinonthebabes]

@@pgtips1199 just giving tips, i have been a machinist for over 30 years.

[@pgtips1199]

@@creepinonthebabes I never said you haven't mate. I'm sure she knows the double sided tip. But new folks on the CNC don't :)

[@hughessay1372]

Try cutting slots with a smaller diameter tool than the finished slot, then make a clean-up pass in the non-climb milling direction for a better surface finish.

[@theodoresalad]

are you using a ramp-in angle for the z step down for metal?

[@TimothyScotts1]

Could you please do a video on setting up and using the 4th axis for the Air while using Fusion 360 for the CAM? It's really difficult to find a decent clear tutorial 😕

[@kitmarshall4084]

do you get notified when its time to switch bits? i plan to leave the cnc in the garage and check on it once a while.

[@AuroraTech]

The machine beeps a few times to remind you to change the bit. If you use an Android phone as a remote, you can keep the app open and monitor the status, but I didn't see an option to send notifications when the app is not in use.

[@Esprits4s]

Thank you for this review! Do you think the laser module is worth buying at the kickstarter price, or is it better to just go to a higher power dedicated machine if you want to get into laser cutting/etching?

[@AuroraTech]

Their laser module is only suitable for engraving purposes. The price of $99 seems reasonable if you only require basic engraving on your workpiece. However, if you intend to use the laser for cutting, the 5W module is insufficient. For cutting tasks, you'll need a dedicated machine with significantly higher power.

[@Esprits4s]

Thank you!

[@kingyachan]

Great review, I'm glad I backed this project. Juat with the video audio, is there something strange happening with it? Just the voice over audio, soubds a bit distorted like its playing at 95% speed or something, am i imagining that?

[@womacko]

yeah heard that as well.. But it's acceptable.

[@Sa3vis]

Looks like an excellent product for an at home beginner friendly product. Really wanted this, but it just came out at a bad time for me.

[@gerthddyn]

Is this laser sufficient for engraving aluminum?

[@jpwillm5252]

Very good review as usual! Can this machine be controlled using a Linux system other than Android?

[@AuroraTech]

I haven’t tried it, but using Anbox or similar programs should allow you to run Android apps on Linux.

[@jpwillm5252]

@@AuroraTech Thank you for your reply ! Indeed an application like anbox or android-emulator should do it.

[@davepaturno4290]

I think I'd be using a much shorter milling bit (if available) for metals.

[@creepinonthebabes]

yep. especially is you're using carbide.

[@buckaroosan5571]

Does the vise come with the machine?

[@AuroraTech]

No, it's a $65 vise from Amazon: amzn.to/3U2Q7CJ

[@joshua43214]

Does it do 3D contouring? Would have been nice to see it carve something.

[@AuroraTech]

The machine does support 3D and 4th axis features if you use Fusion 360. However, their own CAM software currently only supports 2D. They mentioned that the 3D and 4th axis features will be available when the machines are delivered to backers.

[@Davidlahall]

sORRY TO HIT YOU UP HERE BUT I COULD NOT FIND ANOTHER WAY TO CHAT WITH YOU. YOU ARE MY GO TO FOR 3D PRINTERS ..DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHEN YOU WILL REVIEW THE SOVOL SV08 . THANKS AND SORRY AGAIN.

[@AuroraTech]

Yes, the SV08 is coming later this month.

[@Davidlahall]

@@AuroraTech Ok great I also am working on a project and if you are interested in giving your input I would be very much apprecated . if you think you might be interested i can explain myself much more. I will be waiting for the SV08 review. Thx

[@AuroraTech]

Due to the significant delay in our schedule and the need to prioritize catching up, I'll see you in the next video.

[@user-jp1qt8ut3s]

It looks like the spindle speed is a bit too high. The chips are tiny and your bit will wear quickly

[@tweekFPV]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@patrickmckowen2999]

👍

[@jasperjanderson]

Thank you for this. There are a few videos on this machine, but yours is the most helpful in seeing what to expect in practical use.

[@meanman6992]

.05mm step down for mild steel is a bit, pathetic…. I’m glad it can do steel, but this seems to be a case of, it technically can vs realistically can. I’d wager it needs a motor about 3x more powerful to make it practical for milling anything out of steel. Still, it’s an improvement over most of the desk top machines like this. Eventually when they grow to where they can more realistically do steel, I’ll hopefully be able to afford one.

[@kitmarshall4084]

what other desktop cnc can do mild steel?

[@meikgeik]

I don't think people buying this machine will be doing steel very often. Sometimes it's nice to have a feature that you'll use 1-2 times a year so I don't have to trudge down to the makerspace in bad weather. If I'm doing large jobs or working with heavier materials, I just go down to the makerspace for a 1-2 day ADHD sprint, but most of what I do can be done in my workshop. If it's a small job, it's a pain to get ready and drive down to the makerspace. I can't afford/don't have room for a larger machine that runs off 220v or even 3 phase, but being able to make a small steel bracket on this machine will be a godsend for many projects. Don't get me wrong, I wont be cancelling my makerspace membership when this unit arrives, but I will no longer have to drive down there any time I need to machine metal, which is amazing at this price point.

[@joshua43214]

It has more to do with rigidity than power. Even on aluminum, you can see the machine lacks rigidity and chatters like mad. You won't get steel to machine on an aluminum machine well. It takes a huge amount of tool pressure to machine steel, so all you can do on a machine like this is use tiny cutters and light passes. Still, it does a better job than any other toy machine I have seen to date.