Introduction

v0.1 - Oct 2024

The intent of this guide is to help new users of the Carvera CNC learn enough about both the big picture and the underlying technical details, to feel at ease with the machine, the workflow, and CNC lingo in general.

As fun as it is to go ahead and cut a first project following a tutorial (and you should), having a good understanding of how the machine works and what underlying CNC concepts are involved goes a long way to avoid frustration later, when things do not work out the way you expected (and sooner or later they will).

There are many ways to get started. Most people want to be up and running and making things as quickly as possible, without the burden of learning all the nitty-gritties, and that's fine. At the other end of the spectrum, some users enjoy CNC and modifying the Carvera as a hobby, and end up spending more time experimenting with the machine than actually cutting useful projects, and that's fine too. Hopefully there is a little something for everyone in this guide.

This is a personal initiative (call it a fan project), not affiliated with the Makera company in any way, yet positively biased (it's such a great machine, what can I do...)

Safety considerations

This is not (only) a legal disclaimer, this is plain old common sense but needs to be said: using a CNC as a hobbyist comes with a small number of specific risks for your safety, that are easily adressed.

Mechanical hazard

• keep your hands away from the moving parts during operation, cleaning up the mess inside the machine can probably wait until the end of the job.

• have the emergency stop within arm's reach.

• turn off the machine before diving in to check/adjust/fix something. Sure, the machine is "not supposed" to move by itself, but user errors happen (ever clicked anywhere by mistake?) and software has bugs. Changing an endmill in the tool holders while the machine is powered is probably the only sensible exception (and having the emergency stop toggled while doing so is a best practice).

• wear protection goggles anytime the laser is operating, no exceptions. While not particularly powerful, a stray dazzle directly in the eyes can cause permenant blindness.

Respiratory hazard

• cutting some materials (e.g. MDF, exotic wood, carbon fiber, or fiberglass PCB boards) produces dust that can be very toxic, and dust is just bad for your health in general.

• a good post job chip and dust collection and filtering system will take care of this risk. You'll find out soon enough if you don't use one that a thin layer of dust ends up covering everything inside and under the machine, so imagine what it does to your lungs. If you need a good scare, go read about wood dust related health issues, I bet you will invest in dust collection and filtering promptly afterwards.

Fire hazard

• while this risk is very remote, it does exist.

• don't leave your machine (completely) unattended while it is cutting. The stock material may become loose, and rubbing a piece of metal spinning at thousands of RPM against wood is a potential way to start a fire. Google "CNC" + "fire" if you need proof.

Overview

There are many ways to learn and use the Carvera, but the typical experience for a new user can go something like this:

• order the machine (after reading a lot of good things about it)

• while waiting for delivery, get familiar with CNC concepts:

  • this is the intent of the first sections (CNC workflow, Anatomy of a Carvera, CAD, CAM, and G-code, Cutters & collets, Feeds & speeds, Toolpaths, Workholding). They go in way more detail than is strictly necessary to get started, so if it feels overwhelming just skip the details and get cutting.
  • the Cutters & collets section includes a few indications as to what starter set of endmills and collets could be suitable for you to purchase, depending on the projects you have in mind.
• receive and unpack the machine, and run the included example projects. Oh the joy of these first few hours!

• run your first cuts in wood or MDF (this is covered in the Running a job section).
• realize that:

  • CNC is messy, and that now is a good time to look into post job chip and dust collection. This is covered in the Carvera setup section.
  • The geometry of cut pieces or finish quality is not quite right, and that it may be necessary to look into Squaring, surfacing, tramming the machine, and possibly Dimensional accuracy.
• get confused about required feeds and speeds for that particular case you want to use but for which no recommendation exists: hopefully re-reading the Feeds & speeds section should help.
• try cutting plastics or metal (see Usecases: cutting plastics , Usecases: cutting metal)
• at some point, witness the machine misbehave, blame the hardware or the software, start investigating, and (often) end up concluding that you messed up somewhere in the workflow. The Troubleshooting & maintenance section has a few pointers, after that the user community and Makera's support team are your best bet.
• somewhere along this path, outgrow Makera CAM and consider moving to more advanced CAD, CAM, G-code tools.
• after a while, begin to feel an itch for Enhancements to the machine.

Feedback & credits

Thank you to Julien Heyman for your excellently written Shapeoko CNC A to Z. This is mearly a fork with Carvera content replaced for Carvera specific content.

Comments/corrections/contributions are most welcome, you can contact me on the Carvera Community Discord where I post as @PewPewPewLasers.

Shoutout to the whole community, the collective knowledge and experience accumulated over there is incredible. I tried to bring out some of that know-how in this e-book, but it is also tainted by my own limited experience and habits, so any potential incorrect information/guidance is my bad.

Special thanks to :

• Fae Corrigan for her non-stop contributions to the community. Fae is near single handedly improving every aspect of the machine. Much of the Enhancements section of this book is a Fae contribution.
• Joe Nava for pushing the limits of the machine, breaking it, and show us how to put it back together. Joe's also contibuted the overwhelming majority of the speeds-n-feeds on the community spreadsheet.

This e-book is released under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA license (in plain English: do whatever you want with it except using it for commercial purposes, and if you modify & redistribute, give credit and keep the same license).

Legal disclaimer

By accessing this eBook, you accept this disclaimer in full.

The information provided within this eBook is for general informational purposes only. Even though I have attempted to present accurate information, there are no representations or warranties, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability of the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this eBook for any purpose. The information is provided “as is,” to be used at your own risk. The methods described in this eBook represent the author’s personal experiences. They are not intended to be a definitive set of instructions. You may discover there are other methods and materials to accomplish the same end result. Your results may differ.

This eBook includes information regarding products and services by third parties. I do not assume responsibility for any third party materials or opinions. Use of recommended third party materials does not guarantee that your results will mirror third party results or my own. Publication of such third party material is just a recommendation and expression of the authors’ personal opinions. Any reliance on the third party material is at your own risk.

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