After 3D printing, CNC milling is the most versatile fabrication technique available. To capitalize on that, a lot of companies have attempted to produce CNC mills that are just as approachable as 3D printers. Makera entered the market with their Carvera desktop CNC mill, but it was pretty expensive. Now, they’ve followed that up with the more affordable Carvera Air and I tested it to find out if it is the machine makers have been waiting for.
Rigidity and the market
I’ve owned everything from a generic $300 CNC “mill” sold on Amazon to a professional VMC the size of a minivan, and worked professionally with all kinds of high-end CNC mills. If I’ve learned one thing, it is that milling requires rigidity.
There is a reason that industrial CNC mills are very large and very heavy, even when they don’t have particularly large working areas. That is because they have robust frames to prevent even the smallest amount of flex. And that is why small desktop machines struggle with even soft metals, like aluminum and brass.
At the bottom end of the market, you have the “3018” and similar desktop machines sold on sites like Amazon and AliExpress for $200-1000. They have frames made of aluminum extrusion (or even plastic, in the worst cases) and flex like crazy. At best, they can handle wood and plastic well enough get acceptable hobbyist results. Though they aren’t pleasant to use, no matter the material.
Then you have the “real” CNC mills in compact packages, like the Tormach PCNC 440 that starts at about $9,000 and is quite a bit more for the package you’d actually buy.
Between those two levels, the market is a bit of a mess. It isn’t possible to manufacture “real” CNC mills that can cut materials like steel with decent tolerances much cheaper than that Tormach. But there is room to improve the capability and user-friendliness of “hobby-grade” desktop machines and that is where Makera fits in.
Makera and the competition
Makera’s flagship product is the Carvera, which currently costs $5,499 for the just the machine. It has an integrated tool changer, which is really nice, but that is still a hard financial pill for most hobbyists to swallow.
The flagship Makera Carvera
And so, Makera introduced the Carvera Air. It costs $2,499 and has a smaller working area, hardened rods instead of linear rails, and omits the tool changer. There are also a handful of other minor differences, such as external dust collection instead of integrated dust collection.
The more affordable Makera Carvera Air
There are two other machines at a similar price point that I see as the Carvera Air’s primary competition.
The first is Carbide 3D’s Nomad 3, which costs $2,800. I don’t have personal experience with it, but it doesn’t seem to be any more capable than the Carvera Air and it lacks many of the Carvera Air’s features.
The second is the Coast Runner CR-1, which costs $2,999. Though I haven’t used on myself, I did spend some time checking it out at CES. It doesn’t prioritize user-friendliness like the Carvera Air does, but it is much more rigid. Coast Runner advertises that it can mill hard steel and titanium, which is impressive. Based on what I saw at CES, that does seem to be true — though you have to take light cuts and the surface finish/tolerances aren’t going to be spectacular.
Makera Carvera Air features
The Makera Carvera Air has a lot of features that set it apart from the those cheap 30xx machines that litter online retail sites. During my testing, I frequently found myself thinking about how well the Makera team thought everything out.
That starts with swapping tools, which is really fast and easy thanks to the quick-change lever. Just pull the lever, take out the end mill, put the new end mill in, and push the lever back up. The tool height setter built into the table automatically takes care of adjusting the offset.
Changing tools is super quick and easy.
Complimenting that is the electronic probe. It detects the height of the material to set the Z origin, aids in setting tool offset, and has a built-in laser to show you the area you’ll cut with the current job. It even allows for software leveling, similar to a 3D printer.
The probe’s laser shows you an outline of the area you’re going to cut.
At the top of the enclosure, there is a light bar that serves several functions. It is a status light that changes color to let you know what the machine is doing. But it does more than that, too. For example, it will illuminate in sections to indicate the number of the tool you’re supposed to insert during tool changes.
The status light has multiple functions, like indicating tool number.
Then there is the enclosure, plus dust collection and air assist. The enclosure is nice and keeps chips from coating your workshop. That’s further improved by the dust collector — though that does require an external vacuum (I just used my shop vac). And there is also an air assist nozzle for blowing chips away. That requires an external air pump and I tried it for a while, but preferred the dust collector (you can’t use both at the same time).
The air assist hose, with adjustable nozzle.
I do wish there was a provision for flood coolant or mist coolant, which would dramatically improve performance when milling metal. But that isn’t an option, unfortunately.
Next up is the table and workholding. I was really impressed by how well-considered that is. How you hold material when milling is extremely important and it can get complicated, as you have to be able to reach everything without collisions. The Carvera Air’s table has a bunch of threaded holes for securing clamps and it works very well. And the controller software has an “anchor point” system that makes setting origins really easy.
The table (shown with spoil board) has a lot of options for workholding.
Then there are the add-on accessories. There is a rotary 4th axis, which is great for milling all sides of a part. And there is a 2.5W 445nm diode laser. I don’t think the laser is very useful, as it is only really good for light engraving on wood. But some people might like having it as an option.
The rotary 4th axis mounted on the bed.
CAM and controller software
Makera really wants to make their machines as easy to use as 3D printers. Frankly, I don’t think that is possible, because CNC-milling is a lot more complicated than 3D-printing. But Makera has come closer to achieving that than any other company I’ve seen.
When working with CNC, you need to use both CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing) software to create your g-code and controller software to run that on the machine. I’ll start with the latter.
To run g-code on a Carvera or Carvera Air, you use Makera Controller software. That can run on a PC (Windows, Mac, or Linux), tablet, or smartphone (Android or iOS). Once setup, the software will communicate with and control the Carvera Air over Wi-Fi.
I performed my initial testing with a Windows 11 laptop, but then switched to an Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet. The Carvera Air has a built-in arm to hold tablets and that is really convenient, so it became my preference. Just get the g-code file to the tablet’s storage, upload it to the Carvera Air, and you’re off to the races.
Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet running Makera Controller.
The Makera Controller software is pretty intuitive — much more so than every other CNC controller I’ve ever used. You have basic settings for configuring your origin and leveling, but they’re easy to understand. And there are controls for manually moving the machine. They’re tucked away in a sub-menu, but you really shouldn’t need to use them on a regular basis.
CAM is a much more complicated topic and it is why CNC-milling is far less approachable than 3D printing. To create the g-code that a CNC mill runs, you need to define toolpaths — the lines the machine follows while cutting. There are dozens of toolpath types, each with dozens of settings. There are entire books written just on the subject of those settings, which are critical to getting good results.
To try to make all of that more accessible, Makera released Makera CAM software and it is currently in Public Beta. But I think they went too far in the “simple” direction, to the point where I found Makera CAM to be almost unusable. The workflow just didn’t make sense to me and I really disliked it. Even when you can get it to do what you want, it lacks the flexibility and settings to cover all of the situations that CAM software should.
Fortunately, you don’t have to use Makera CAM. I’m not sure if even Makera recommends that you do. Instead, you can use other software like Autodesk Fusion 360. Makera has official post processors and machine configurations available for Fusion 360, which is what I suggest using.
There is a pretty steep learning curve for Fusion 360 CAM, but that is true of all serious CAM software. I think it is worth learning, because it will let you do “real” work. There isn’t any disadvantage to using Fusion 360 other than Autodesk’s annoying feature restrictions* in the free version, so I recommend biting the bullet and learning it.
Autodesk Fusion 360 CAM free version no longer allows tool changes.
*for example, tool changes aren’t allowed now, for some silly reason. If you want to use different tools, you have to create multiple g-code files. I hate that Autodesk has been adding more and more of these restrictions. But that is a rant for another time.
Testing
I spent the last month running job after job on the Makera Carvera Air to get a feel for its features, performance, and capabilities.
That started with the example projects provided by Makera, which are really cool. Often, example projects are boring and forgettable. Not the case here! The examples are actually helpful and you get to make something neat: a LED edge-lit sign/display thingy.
The parts to assemble the example LED sign project.
That requires a handful parts and you make them all on the Carvera Air: an ABS plastic base, a transparent acrylic display panel, functional PCB, and an aluminum capacitive touch button. After milling all of the parts, you solder the provided components onto the PCB, assemble the pieces, and get a nifty sign.
I had fun doing that example project and it milled all of the parts well. I think our readers would be particularly interested in the PCB-milling capability. You can mill double-sided PCBs and apply solder masks that cure under UV light. I found it to be accurate and perfectly suitable for the DIY PCBs you might want to make before ordering professional PCBs.
UV-curing the PCB solder mask.
There were also a few other example projects in the booklet that I completed.
The first was a 3D-relief carving in resin board. That turned out great and showcases the Carvera Air’s ability to work in 3D.
1 / 3 • The example 3D-relief carving.
The next was a similar 3D carving, but this was a statue made with the 4th axis to get to all the sides. That worked pretty well, though it took a very long time and some of the details were imperfect (likely due to some flex in the material).
1 / 4 • The example rotary 3D carving.
The last was a laser-engraved portrait of Audrey Hepburn. It looked really nice and the details are quite good. But engravings like this are probably the most you’d want to do with the Carvera Air’s laser, which is pretty weak.
1 / 2 • The example laser engraving of Audrey Hepburn.
More testing (wood edition)
Those example projects were enjoyable, but I really wanted to test the Carvera Air for the things I like to make: functional parts for DIY devices.
The wood radio face in Autodesk Fusion 360 CAM
To that end, I modeled this radio faceplate in Fusion 360. This isn’t actually a part I needed for a project, but rather the kind of part I might want for something like that.
The front of the radio face (two tools).
It required milling on both sides, as well as a tool change on the front side to switch to a chamfering bit. For material, I used some red oak from the fancy lumber section at Lowe’s (something I don’t recommend, because it is way more expensive than it should be).
The back of the radio face (one tool).
Red oak isn’t the best material for milling, as it has a tendency to tear. But this still worked really well. Flipping the part over to mill both sides wasn’t a problem and they lined up perfectly. And switching to the chamfering bit didn’t cause any issues, either.
Light tearing in the red oak.
I’ve purposefully left the part unfinished, just as it was straight off the Carvera Air. You can see there is some tearing (again, due to wood choice), but it is minor. With some light sanding and finishing, it would look pretty incredible on a radio.
Light tearing in the red oak.
More testing (aluminum edition)
Of course, I had to answer the question everyone has about the Makera Carvera Air: does it mill aluminum well?
The short answer is, “no, not really.”
Preparing to mill the aluminum button from the LED sign example project.
I was a pretty disappointed by that. I use another small CNC mill (a Suda SD3025V) to make aluminum parts and I was hoping that I’d be able to sell that and use the Carvera Air for everything. But the Carvera Air just doesn’t handle aluminum well enough to be viable for me, so I’ll be keeping the Suda.
I know that is going to upset a lot of people, so I’ll elaborate and try to be as clear as possible.
The Carvera Air can mill aluminum. But you have to go very slow and take ridiculously light cuts. Even then, the surface finishes and tolerances will be poor.
I tried a lot of different approaches in an attempt to get better results, including swapping out the 1/8” collet for a ¼” collet and using better end mills (the same ones I use on the Suda with nice results). But the Carvera Air’s spindle lacks the torque to use those ¼” end mills effectively, even with very slow feeds and very light passes. I couldn’t get through a job with a 3-flute ¼” end mill without stalling the spindle.
On the plus side, the Carvera Air can detect those stalls and stop the machine before damaging the part or snapping the end mill.
The best results I got were with the end mills supplied by Makera and using their default Fusion 360 settings. Those are frustratingly slow and light. The stepdown is only 0.2mm, which means it has to step down at least 64 times just to get through ½” depth. Add in finishing passes and it takes a long, long time to mill even a small part.
Another test aluminum test part.
The time could be acceptable for hobby use, but the surface finish was poor and the tolerances were downright bad. It wasn’t consistent, but I measured as much as ±0.32mm (0.0126”) deviation from nominal. Even in the loose-tolerance world of hobbyist projects, that is often going to be unacceptable.
When it comes to surface finish, the radial cuts (the walls) aren’t too bad. But the axial cuts (the floors) are very rough. Aluminum always shows tooling marks, even on precision mills, but this is well beyond that. You can see where the tool chattered constantly on the surface, even though it was a light finishing pass.
The surface finish is poor, as are the tolerances.
All of that to say that you can mill aluminum on the Carvera Air, as long as you have the patience of a saint and don’t have any standards when it comes to surface finish or tolerances. Brass is pretty similar, though it tends to shear a little better and can be more forgiving when it comes to surface finish appearance.
Conclusion
I really like the Makera Carvera Air.
I think it is a well-made, high-quality machine built by a company that put real thought into how hobbyists use their machines and what features they would appreciate.
It is priced competitively with the closest alternatives: the Carbide 3D Nomad 3 and the Coast Runner CR-1. And from what I can gather, it has more features and is more user-friendly than both of those.
You can find desktop CNC mills that are half the price and have similar capability, when it comes to specs like working area, spindle power, and frame construction. But the experience is so much better with the Carvera Air, thanks to features like the controller software, the dust collection system, the probe, and the workholding setup.
It is a bit like the difference between a base-model Toyota Corolla and a loaded Mercedes C-Class. Sure, the Corolla can drive on the same roads and has a functional radio, but the C-Class is going to be far more pleasant to ride in day after day.
However, you need to have the right expectations if you’re considering a Makera Carvera Air. It will mill wood, plastics, and PCBs very well. But aluminum and brass will be very slow, with poor results. Steel and titanium are out of the question.
With those caveats, I am happy to recommend the Makera Carvera Air. I won’t be using mine for aluminum, but I will be keeping it for those times when I want to make parts out of wood, want to mill plastic, or want a quick prototype PCB.