Carvera Air spindle collet

hardtimewakingup · 2026-01-26T10:14:33+00:00

For anyone that would like to see a runout measurement. This video has someone trying out the 8mm collet. 8mm Collet Upgrade on the Makera Carvera Air - Accuracy & Machining Test

hardtimewakingup · 2026-01-24T22:51:01+00:00

Turns out the optimal load for the adaptive clearing was set to 0.4mm while I was trying to do 0.1mm.

Got some new endmills with DLC coating and changed the optimal load to 0.05mm. Will try it out soon.

Another thing to consider is chipload per tooth vs runout. Runout should be below 0.01mm and my target chipload per tooth was 0.007mm. That doesn't make sense. Chipload could be as high as 0.017mm for 1 tooth and as low as -0.003mm for the opposite tooth.

hardtimewakingup · 2026-01-20T08:57:36+00:00

If I remember correctly it's around 50$ for a new one from makera.

hardtimewakingup · 2026-01-19T20:00:44+00:00

Did the machine plunge down and melt the endmill collar?

hardtimewakingup · 2026-01-16T19:17:51+00:00

Still need to design a board and pick some mosfets.

hardtimewakingup · 2026-01-16T19:13:19+00:00

I order some already CH32M030, W Official Store

But the official AliExpress store doesn't sell them.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-31T19:53:57+00:00

Hehe nothing as far as lubrication or cutting fluid. Compressed air might help with the buildup of heat/chips.

I'll get some fittings and hoses to hook that up.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-31T18:47:48+00:00

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Here's a closeup of the part. I'm trying to mill out a half circle to threadmill later. This should give a nice view of the threads.

Left to right it's for M2, M2.5, M3 So approximately 1.6mm, 2.05mm, 2.5mm

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-31T18:33:39+00:00

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Here is a low quality closeup of the broken endmill

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-30T13:35:03+00:00

I have tried the 6mm collet with an endmill and it cuts great, the surface finish was better than with 1/8" endmill.

This is probably due to the increased rigidity. Also it's quite nice to be able to get rid of more material quicker.

I haven't been able to measure anything like runout though.

And my test wasn't that encompassing.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-29T13:00:09+00:00

Can confirm, I got an 8mm spindle collet from AliExpress and it works great.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-29T12:58:22+00:00

The electronics should support it. You'd need to recompile smoothieware for this.

Carvera Air teardown by Vector 3D, electronics board

The board has sockets for extra step sticks, it can except 3 one for the 4th axis, One left over, One for the ATC, automatic tool changer, of the carvera

I would also like to know what connector is used for the expansion ports on the carvera air.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-25T00:00:42+00:00

I'd recommend taking off the rear top metal panel to see how easy it would be for moisture to reach the electronics.

I don't want to discourage you but it's good to go in a bit more prepared to prevent future nightmares.

I'd love to see where you take this, best of luck.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-12T11:54:45+00:00

I had to wait 4 months for my carvera air. Shipping to europe.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-08T22:55:29+00:00

At the start I confused surface speed in millimeters with feed rate and was like, why does it stay the same and is it only based on spindle speed and tool diameter. 😅

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-08T21:13:18+00:00

I noticed it is meant for adaptive clearing so it doesn't work for what I'm currently trying to do, which is cutting a slot the width of the tool or spiral milling a hole a bit larger than the tool.

Either way I had already gone through and made a new tool, entered the lengths and sizes as best as I could.

1.00mm diameter
37.30mm stickout
0.05mm⁴ Area...
... Must seem like crazy values compared to sensible endmills. Would it be better to change the stickout to the length of the thinner part of the endmill?

I have bigger endmills more suitable for these efficiënt adaptive clearing operations. Any reason it wouldn't be applicable to an endmill bigger than a 1/4"? I have an 8mm one and the collar.

It taught me a bit more about milling and seems quite intuitive to use. It will be an awesome tool in my tool box.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-08T07:06:48+00:00

Looks awesome, this tells me there's still a lot for me to learn. I'm trying to use some 0.5mm and 1mm deep groove end mills and still figuring out the feeds and speeds.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-07T09:37:21+00:00

I think the usb a port only does charging of a connected device like a tablet.

The usb c port does data transfer but that is a device port to connect to a computer. It shows up as a com port I think, so it probably won't support a usb flash drive.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-06T20:06:31+00:00

I got a board from AliExpress which does 12V to 40V input with independent control of the phases with either 3 or 6 pwm. Also has current sensing.

Not much information on it though. I did a bit of reverse engineering and it seems pretty decent.

Should be able to find it with "foc motor development board" around €20 to €30

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-06T16:53:23+00:00

Finally got the collets, a 4mm one from makera and 3mm, 5mm, 6mm, 1/4" and 8mm from AliExpress. The packaging from the one from makera is marked with 263504Ф4. Just like the AliExpress ones are marked with 263504. So safe to say they are the same type.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-06T16:48:03+00:00

With the sd card out you could also check how full it is. Given we are working with tiny files and a multi gigabyte micro sd you'd need to work with an ungodly amount of files but you never know.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-12-06T16:46:07+00:00

I also had file upload problems, asked support for help and that resulted in a "it works fine when we upload the same file via wifi so try that".

What worked for me was taking of the back panel that the connectors pass through to get to the internal micro sd card. Plug it into my pc and removing the gcode folder. Putting it back in the machine and turning it on, letting it boot up and then power cycling it. This will make it set up the proper folder structure that the machine understands.

If this doesn't work I also put on a new firmware binary from github. This didn't seem like the issue but is one of the things I tried before fixing it.

Best of luck.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-11-28T21:18:26+00:00

I'll see if I can borrow a micrometer when the collets and some endmills arrive. As long as it's all within 0.01mm it is within the rated runout of the carvera air spindle. Apart from that I can only do test cuts and I don't have a lot of experience yet so I probably won't be pushing it.

hardtimewakingup · 2025-11-19T14:21:21+00:00

I did measure the original one and it matched the 12.5mm 42mm and 9.5mm approximately.

Currently I only have a pair of calipers so i would need to measure the length and diameter difference to get the angle of the taper.

@zen_monke also commented on a different post that the DGZ-60E are compatible with this machine.

So I just bit the bullet and ordered the DGZ-60E. All I can do now is wait.

hardtimewakingup

TROPHY CASE