WATCH THIS Before buying the Carvera Air CNC machine

[@DoRC]

I've been really happy with mine. One thing I would say is really helpful is to get a very powerful vacuum for chip extraction. I'm using a 12 gallon DeWalt stealth Sonic and it's powerful enough that I actually had to get a variac to turn it down. It's a pretty quiet vacuum but the best thing is it moves enough air that you really can't even see the chips as they're being made, there's almost no recutting of chips and it's almost certainly acting to keep the bit cool due to how much air is being moved. It's even powerful enough to suck most of the chips up through the hose using the fourth axis just by having the hose in its clip and keeping it near where the cut is happening.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Oohh I was looking at getting Stealth for my small worthshop. Thanks for the feedback on that 👍

[@DoRC]

@JamesDeanDesigns I would definitely recommend it. I got the 12 gallon one because it's supposedly a little bit quieter and got the fine dust bags as well as HEPA filter which pretty much guarantees you're not going to be blowing any fine particulate into the air. I think a variac is definitely worth adding as even though the vacuum is pretty quiet to begin with it flows plenty of air at around 70% and is very quiet at that point.

[@dansab100]

Super video, I now understand better what I received. Now I need to learn how to use it.

[@saschacontes2305]

Love mine, have it running in the office. It looks good, is not too noisy and dirt isn’t an issue as well. Precision is on par with my Voron 3d printer.

[@Spirited282]

Excited for mine but seeing that some are still waiting from KS i feel like the February date will also not be met for delivery for the Pre-orders.. Thanks for doing a rundown on the machine

[@richardsandford1607]

Great video! Thanks for the update!

[@PolyWorkshop]

Thank you for your review, I agree with your points, I love mine as well, an amazing machine! I have a question, which software are you using for the 4th axis? I have a hard time finding information about how to use Fusion with the 4th axis and unfortunately, the Makera CAM software doesn't support it as well as 3D models (for now)

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Best software I've found for 4th axis is DeskProto. If buying for personal use, the prices isn't too bad either given its capabilities

[@PolyWorkshop]

@@JamesDeanDesigns​​⁠thanks a lot, I'll look into this software! Price is adorable for noon commercial usage, that's great!

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Carvera Air - bit.ly/3CEe4vA Sanding brushes - amzn.to/4eXoUui

[@darolodhiga]

I ended up with a Fox Alien vac. Do you know of a good way to hook it up? I can’t recall if you had that setup working with the original demo unit.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@darolodhiga you'll need some sort of adaptor to reduce the size of the FoxAlien hose down to the size of vacuum port on the Carvera. If you know (or can find) someone with a 3d printer it would be quite easy to make

[@darolodhiga]

@ I have a printer…time to get printing, thanks!

[@mgminmn]

How is the software experience? Has it improved since your initial review? How does it compare with the experience on other machines?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

The control software is fine, transferring files via USB is still a bit slow on it. The CAD/CAM software has been due a big release so I was trying to hold off using that until the release came out but the video was ready. Might do a follow up when it does get released

[@hohner51]

You got pushback because Kickstarter tends to be a den of thieves. It's good to see an exception to that rule, I just wish I could afford the price of that machine...

[@DoRC]

The den of thieves thing is actually the exception to the rule. Studies have shown that somewhere between 90 and 92% of all campaigns end up delivering in the end and of the 8 to 10% that don't only a small fraction of those are people who actually intentionally defrauded people.

[@hohner51]

@@DoRC my experience has been uniformly negative, and Kickstarter was no help. I will admit that I haven't even visited their site in quite a long time. And I have no plans to go back.

[@mitchellsteindler]

Spoken like someone who never tried to design and and manufacture a product for the masses from scratch

[@davidpinnington213]

Not even 30 secs in and to paraphrase Makera delivered - sorry m8 there are MANY of us backers still waiting basically mine will be 6 months late - sorry to rain on the JDD lovefest but you do tend to paper over the cracks

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@davidpinnington213 really? I genuinely didn't know this? I thought all units had been delivered to the backers 🙈 I dont paper over the cracks but that's genuinely what I thought

[@Cornpop-xq4xf]

@@JamesDeanDesignsI still haven’t received mine, looks like I won’t get it until March. My backer number was in the low 1000’s.

[@Festivejelly]

If its capable I dont mind paying the price, but it looks like it struggles on anything other than soft wood. Its almost good. What we need is something like this but a bit more rigid like the proverXL series genmitsu cnc's.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

As someone who has used both, this is more rigid than the ProverXL range. Even the 3030 which is great, this is still more rigid...but equally more expensive. A larger/faster spindle would be nice but this machines metal easy as long as the feeds are right

[@happygiraffe9787]

Another bonus of a larger spindle would be the capability to use professional tool bits cutting deeper chips from alu or steel. Ofcourse it would result in a much faster part times. I wonder why they didnt opt for 500-1000w spindle here.

[@dudule1232]

this is a vastly overpriced machine. it looks great, no doubt about that. beginner machinists, please don't buy this machine.

[@Xenthera]

If you’re going to state such hot takes on the matter, at least back it up with a “why”.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Please do let us know why you believe this and also let us know another machine that has these capabilities (including the free software) at a lower price. Ive tested quite a few desktop machines and this is the most advanced I've used but appreciate I haven't seen or tested everything

[@CaptainKokomoGaming]

impressive machine but unfortunately out of my price range.

[@WhatsTheWordBozo]

The spindle speed compensation sounds like something that would just be nicer on harder materials. This machine doesnt do harder materials. If you want to make PCBs, you done need super accuracy. I like the idea but i feel like for what you get, this is a bit silly. 95% of the features can be done on a 400$ machine. Considering the 3D printing space's position in this kind of tech, i find CNC manufacturing to be quite lack luster. I dont hear anything about auto leveling or planarity checking of the material. All of these machines are bedslingers which makes little sense considering you want the bed to be extremely flat (i doubt they would male something as stiff as a mill vise). This thing contains 0 cameras. 0 collision detection other than spindle speed. And relies on outdated limit switches to find home.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@WhatsTheWordBozo I hear what you're saying. I would like to see some more tech upgrades on CNCs but worth me highlighting that this can do hard materials, ive shown it previously and others have, it can also do auto levelling as well.

[@jakeengland1430]

Have a look at the Millennium machines milo, were a reprap open source style project like a lot of 3d printers and we are far more capable than makeras since we focus on VMCs and not glorified routers (and were less than half the cost)

[@JohnColgan.]

0:59 auto probing feature probed wasteboard/work platform for level and auto compensate during carve for any undulations. Does this show lackluster or poor comparison to 3D printers you mentioned?

[@slipperyRat-e4q]

2000.$$ uh no thanks

[@BassDad-TV]

In the comments, I am seeing a lot of people who believe most of what this machine can do can be done with a cheaper machine. I am buying an Altmill next week and I already own a Bambu Labs 3d Printer. I have been watching this machine for a while now and I like the layout. I like the thought of how it will look next to my P1S but practically is this going to be worth the extra $2K? I have a channel too and companies send me stuff so I understand the fine line sometimes that you have to walk when you wanna review things that are sent to you for no money. I also understand that a lot of these reviews would be impossible if manufacturers didn't provide these machines. I do car audio on my channel and I am looking to be able to mill buss bars for lithium batteries, D blocks for wire, fuse blocks and maybe even amplifier heat sinks. Can I do that on the Altmill or is this Carvera going to be the better choice? Is there another machine that is a better fit? I do like the PCB board function! Can it do complicated stuff like a car amplifier PCB board, you think? Please everyone is welcome to answer my questions here. I want to hear from everyone?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@BassDad-TV check out TechyDIYs review. He is a lot more knowledgeable than me on PCB boards, but he seemed happy with this machine. I have no issues pointing out errors in machines, people need to know what they are buying. It looks bad on me if I lie 🤷‍♂️

[@BassDad-TV]

@ Good to know! I hope I didn’t come across as thinking you’d be biased just because it was a free product. What I meant is that, in our type of content, the audience often expects us to be extremely critical of a product’s flaws. For me, a good experience with a company can influence how I feel about their products overall. I can point out flaws without nitpicking or being overly harsh, even if that’s what some viewers seem to want. I prefer highlighting potential issues and letting the audience decide. It sometimes feels like people want you to be a jerk-until you actually are, lol. By the way, I liked your review. It felt straightforward. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was how this machine compares to something like a Shapeoko or an Altmill.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@BassDad-TV in my opinion you can't really compare this to an Xcarve, Longmill, AltMill etc. They are different machines for different purposes. There are very few people out there who want to machine a small part for a RC airplane and a kitchen cupboard door on the same machine. I'm speculating here as I don't have an Altmill but purely based on the size difference, I would guess this is more rigid and less deflection. I love my Longmill but for different reasons if that makes sense

[@BassDad-TV]

@ that was my thoughts too but again seeing the comments a lot of people seem to think they overlap.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@BassDad-TV you have a KZbin channel...you know everyone has an opinion. We expose ourselves putting videos out there. We can only say what we believe is true from our experience. A lot of people also believe their opinions are correct regardless of fact. That's the world we live in unfortunately. If someone has an Altmill and a Carvera Air and proves me wrong, I am very happy to say I was wrong based on facts. In fact that would be great comparison video