Makera’s first CNC mill was the Carvera. It was a big hit, but also somewhat expensive. So, they followed that up with the more affordable Carvera Air. There are a few differences between the two machines, but the most notable is the ATC (automatic tool changer). The Carvera has one and the Carvera Air does not. But if you have a Carvera Air and you’re tired of swapping tools manually, it turns out that you can add an ATC to your machine.
This Instructables tutorial was created by Warioo, but it demonstrates a modification that is already known in the Makera community. When Makera designed the Carvera Air, they omitted the tool changer and its associated hardware. But they left the connections for the ATC stepper motor and sensor. With just a handful of affordable components, you can build an ATC that works seamlessly with your Carvera Air.
The big caveat here is that this mod will take up bed space. The ATC magazine goes on the far-right side of the bed, so you’ll lose some working area in the X axis. But that will be a worthwhile sacrifice for many of you.
Many of the parts you’ll need to perform this modification can be 3D-printed or even milled on the Carvera Air itself. Aside from those, you’ll need a 50:1 geared stepper motor, a limit switch, magnets, springs, and a variety of fasteners. That should all cost less than $100 — maybe even less than $50, if you’re good at sourcing parts in low quantities.
The operation is pretty simple: the stepper motor turns the collet locking mechanism on the spindle to grip/release tools and the limit switch signals when that is in the open or closed position. Everything else is just mounting those and the tool magazine, plus flashing the new firmware that tells the Carvera Air it has an ATC now.
That’s it! For surprisingly little money and work, you’ll get the convenience of ATC on your Carvera Air and the only sacrifice is some bed space.
