Carvera Air Desktop CNC Machine, Compact Sealed Mini CNC Mill 3-Axis, Makera CAM, Quick Tool Changer, Closed Loop Stepper Motor Milling Engraving Machine, Engraving Art Craft DIY Design

Delivery was great. Then I opened my machine and found markings made with a permanent paint marker on the side of the Z‑axis, along with greasy fingerprints along the gantry. I had posted an initial review based on my first impression - I thought I had received a returned machine. Soon after, Makera contacted me. They were friendly and eager to help. They offered a sincere apology and explained that the letters on the Z assembly were mistakenly left on a few machines that unfortunately made it past their assembly line and into shipping. They reassured me that the machine was new, free of defects, and not a returned unit. They have since corrected the situation, though there may still be a few machines in the wild with the same QC marks. PS: the machine ships with the Z axis parked to the left side, so unless you turn the machine one and home it, you would never see the marks. I can see how this mistake happened. The good news is that after their explanation, they shared that the marking can be safely removed with isopropyl alcohol. I can confirm this is true — I was able to remove the marker and initialize the machine without issue. I have updated my star rating to 5/5, as that truly reflects my experience with their support team and the machine’s quality and build. I look forward to being a Makera maker and customer, and to making chips inside my office space more often. Thank you, Makera.

A saga - read to the end. Well I was excited when it showed up. I opened the box and the bottom corner of the front panel was cracked - I didn't notice it for a day or so, the plastic held together and it wasn't until I opened and closed it about 10-12 times that I saw it - OK cosmetic blemishes no worries. I need function over form Using flatcam I generated gcode for a large time-sensitive 2-layer pcb project. The very first function: drill guide pin holes for alignment when flipping the PCB. The -Y axis travel sounds like a groan - likely a limit switch or something got knocked out and a stepper is firing like mad. I was able to run an auto level cycle (a nice touch) but when the dreaded "S2000 M03" came into the picture, the X,Y and Z axis were moving... but no spindle. Now we get online - dozens of mentions of running tests in the diagnostics panels - it's all over the place - everywhere but on the Makera Wiki - a search for the letters DIA bombs out - no mention of diags in the documentation. Now it's time for a beer - let's see what their support is like - honestly, I'm not hopeful. Returning this ain't gonna be fun - packing a myriad of items back into a box... not happy. Glad I didn't buy the big one that I originally wanted. EDIT: Makera was as immediately responsive as possible given the time zones. In the meantime, I discovered the spindle issue was a post error - once I hand edited the right format and removed blank lines, the spindle powered up. Also, although there is no mention anywhere in the docs or carvera controller, the "diags screen" is what you get when you click the arrow on the right side of the carvera controller screen. Tech support received video/audio of the shuddering issue and advised me to grease the ball screws - I did this to no avail - still waiting to hear back on this one. The cracked front shield appears to be a manufacturing line defect - the corner in question has a shcs that looks like it was overtightened. The setting ring on the torque-screwdriver used on the assembly line must have been getting sloppy. I forwarded pics and feedback and there was a fedex truck here the next business day (seriously - impressed.) I purchased the machine to run proto circuit boards - I am seeing z axis drop out at the end of the +X travel - this could be my doing as the machine has auto-probed leveling - the board I am running is 2" x 10.5" - the dropout started at around 1.5x9.0 and continued to the X limit, with the bit not cutting into any copperclad by the limit. Close to datum I had some ADC traces that held 6mil which impressed me. I have the intentions to attempt a 4-layer "glue-up" and see if I can develop a reasonable process to that end. If it works out, I'll post it on youtube.

For the price point, fantastic. Quality and functionality! Love the closeable hood, air options, noise level fine. Added the Makera vac and having that controlled by the controller, makes everything about this system perfect. Sure, would I like an auto tool changer? Of course. But for half the price of the regular Makera, this hits all the right spots. Thanks for making such a great product!

Great machine, the quick tool change is huge time saver. Very stable and built like a tank. My first projects were some name badges in 2-layer acrylic. Both used a 1mm flat end clearing bit and details with a 0.2mm 30 degree engraving bit. The ease of using these two for this operation (pocket) is very cool - you just add the two bits to the toolpath and it knows what to do. The gold badge was contour cut with the same engraving bit. The blue badge has a chamfered edge made with a 0.1mm 90 degree chamfer bit.