u/CueAnon420

I had a coupon so I picked up one of these 6 digit Chinese Nixie Clock boards with WiFi... Overall it seems pretty nice, ESP32 controller with plenty of options and it seems to sync to an internet time server so it stays accurate right to the second. Comes with a remote and some hacky looking apps for pc and Android. But in true Aliexpress style, documentation is a bit confusing and translation issues don't help.

There are a lot of options and I'm not sure that I understand them all. I actually don't care for most of them but am trying to figure out how to disable the cathode poisoning routines, which are a bit distracting at every 30 seconds. I'm sure I'll figure it out, but it's worth asking lol.

I have built my previous clock with the non-WiFi version and that's a good board other than I do like the time syncing. That said, the on board R8025 clock chip is surprisingly accurate so that's not a big deal. I do see an occasional quick single 'flicker' every once in a while on this board that the old one doesn't display - that might be related to one of these functions or the time syncing - it's hardly noticeable, but I see it lol.

Anyhoo - if anyone here is using this and can explain some of the settings that would be great.

TIA

EDIT - goes without saying that I've got this on a segregated guest network... You never know lol.

Just started playing around with using Fusion to generate my programs. It's pretty neat how it shows you the entire machine and the model on the table ;-)

Using the Carvera Community Fusion profiles and post processor. I have 2 tool operations - I don't think the simulation bothers going through the tool change motions and instead just goes from one tool to the next. I'm lucky to have access to a licensed version of Fusion through my employer, but all this should also work in the free version.

I think this is going to work well once I get the hang of it ;-) Fusion provides a lot more granular control over tool paths, including the ability to cut slots by selecting simple lines (MakeraCAM does not allow toolpaths on 'unclosed' geometry) and lead-in / lead-out options.

EDIT - I am also going to start checking out the open-source EasyShape5000 posted here. That would be a great option to have as no license fees with open source ;-)

EDIT 2- My model and tooling was slapped on quick just for testing - the table highlights in red to warn that I have a collision error. That's very handy!

The Carvera Community Firmware and Controller has some neat CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) features that allow you to use a 3D probe to take a variety of measurements of parts, either for creating CAD models or centering stock on the table (ie a vice). You can take multiple measurements of corners, bore holes, face angles etc and save those points as a DXF file to import into a CAD program, SVG for a vector application or just a CSV data file.

Basically, you jog the head around near the location you want to measure and then select the appropriate measurement type - the machine will automatically measure multiple points if needed, such as locating the center of an opening. You can visualize the points on the screen and create basic line paths etc, though I haven't nailed that down yet. I have a WHB04 wireless remote pendant that makes jogging the head around much easier than using a touchscreen or even a keyboard.

One thing to note is that the current beta has a bug because the Makera communication protocol doesn't like a lot of information passed quickly - but they are working on that and for now you can switch to the Smoothie protocol and everything works correctly.

>workaround for now please switch the machine to using the Smoothie protocol either temporarily using M485.1 or via persistent config config-set sd protocol smoothie

Anyway, this is a very cool feature set and adds to the machine's abilities. Hopefully the official Makera code will implement something similar.

EDIT - the version I am using is beta, so please only use if you are comfortable with that. The current stable release may not be compatible with the official Makera software such as Studio and the CMM feature set does not include the ability to save or export the measurements. That said, I have been running the Community Firmware since the day I unpacked my Air and have had no issues whatsoever (other than the wifi bug in the CMM Workbench mentioned earlier). It goes without saying that I cannot assume responsibility

EDIT 2 - The Community Firmware / Controller may be particularly interesting to those who plan to migrate to non-Makera CAM apps, such as going 100% Fusion or similar.

EDIT 3 - Carvera Community Website and Github for more information.

LAST EDIT - the Community Firmware only supports the original Carvera and the Air. Z1 support is in progress, but not yet available for testing.

Like most people, I use multiple bits when running a program. The controllers do not like the same tool numbers assigned to different tools, so the default tool library numbering scheme can be a PITA. Since I have the Air model without the automatic tool changer, the special 1-6 bits don't mean much to me. And apparently there is no limit to the number you can assign to the tools. So I have grouped my bits together by hundreds - Single Flute (Metal) are the 100's, Single Flute (Non Metal) are the 200's, Metal Engraving bits are the 400's, etc. Within each group, I assigned the number that aligned to the bit diameter (or angle, or other distinguishing parameter), so my 0.02mm drill bit is 802 and the 1.2mm drill bit is 812. But what is most important is that each tool has a unique number and similar tools are numbered similarly.

Then I got a fine tip paint pen marker and wrote the tool number on the bit collar, so if the bit was accidentally placed in storage somewhere I would know what it is by the number rather than trying to identify it by eye. I'll need to finish marking the bits after the caffeine has left my system as my old hands aren't as steady as they used to be marking small numbers lol.

Anyway, seems like a good first attempt at organizing and definitely eliminates the issue of the CAM software warning me about duplicate numbers ;-)

EDIT - I do have a few tools that are duplicates of another but possibly TiN coated or some other variation. In this case, I do use the same number but the likelihood of using both within the same program seems slim right now. An example would be I have two 2mm corn bits - but one is TiN coated and the other is not. Both are numbered 320 - but on the collar I identify the coated one with 320T. The nc program contains the tool description in the header comments, and I frequently open the nc file in a text editor to remind myself of the tool numbers and descriptions required.

I grew up playing the classics and had a special affinity for Tempest. Recently I got the bug to play it again, so I built this control panel. My main games are Tempest, Defender, Pac Man etc.

The box is a Hammond angled steel project box with solid wood sides.

Main Components:

Ultimarc I-PAC 2 Controller with USB Cable
Sanwa JLX-TP-8YT Joystick
SpinTrak Spinner
Ultimarc Goldleaf Concave Buttons

EDIT - the majority of joystick games I play are 4 way, so I 3D printed a 4 way restrictor plate for the Sanwa joystick... The one that came with it supposedly provides both 4 & 8 way control based on rotating the center gate, but it seemed way too sloppy to me so I made a tighter spec one myself.

I notice that the Z1 appears to come with a new V2 version of the wired probe (Makera Wired Probe V2.0 （Spare Part)). It looks similar to the original that came wtih my Carvera Air (Carvera Air Wired Probe (spare part) – Makera). Does anyone know if there is any difference between these in terms of accuracy or reliability?

While I am inclined to think that Makera simply found a more cost effective solution, it's also possible that they are improving things as they learn and move forward... Just as they seemed to have done with the bit collar tool (Makera Bit Collar Installer V2.0).

Considering the importance of this part, I am inclined to perhaps purchase a backup in case I crash mine somehow... Though so far the machine seems to be fairly idiot proof lol.

EDIT - The new V2 version says it is compatible with both the Air and the Z1. But it appears shorter in the photos. I wonder if the probe length is something stored in firmware, or maybe it doesn't matter?

So recently I milled my first pcb board on my Carvera Air (Milled My First PCB on my Air ;-) : r/Makera). That board came out great and I actually built a nice clock with it. But I was still curious how to best remove the unused copper... I'm sure there are many ways to do this - in fact, I have access to a pcb g-code program named CopperCAM that is pretty good, but it can be picky about some things and as far as I can tell only allows you to define a single bit to machine the unused copper - and for larger boards that means you need to compromise between detail with a small diameter bit and speed using a larger one.

What I did here was use KiCAD to generate the Gerber and Drill files and imported them into MakeraCAM just like last time. Then I exported an SVG file of the copper layer from KiCAD and selected the 'Reverse' option to generate a negative black & white image from KiCAD. I then used Canva to convert the SVG into a PNG file because MakeraCAM sees SVG files as vector formats and does properly resolve the outlines. But a PNG image works fine - then I used the Trace feature in MakeraCAM to create a negative path for the 2D Pocket operation around the traces - you can assign multiple sized diameter bits in MakeraCAM and it will work from the largest diameter down to the smallest to most efficiently remove the material. I used 2mm and 0.8mm flat end mill bits at 0.1mm depth to remove the copper on this board.

In the end, it took about 1 hour to mill this board vs about 30 minutes for just the trace isolation milled version. But 1 hour is certainly quicker than 3 days waiting for a board to come in the mail ;-) Sure - the factory boards look nicer. But for me, if it works it works and it's probably inside a project case anyway.

My Carvera Air has been a great investment for me so far ;-)

EDIT - I used the original 30' V-bit on this board to cut the isolation lines around the traces just like last time on this board. I am half wondering if I can get away with that, but I think using the v-bit helps insure that the end mills do not tear any 'good' copper up while milling away the rest. It only took about 5 minutes to run the v-bit anyway - no point on risking ruining the board after all that work.

EDIT 2- I continue to be impressed with the accuracy of this cnc... between the v-bit and the 2 flat end mills, a total of 3 bits cleared the surface of this board and you can barely make out the differences in the light - they definitely cannot be felt. The surface mapping and tool length probes definitely work very well and make projects like this easy.

So recently I milled my first pcb board on my Carvera Air (Milled My First PCB on my Air ;-) : r/Makera). That board came out great and I actually built a nice clock with it. But I was still curious how to best remove the unused copper... I'm sure there are many ways to do this - in fact, I have access to a pcb g-code program named CopperCAM that is pretty good, but it can be picky about some things and as far as I can tell only allows you to define a single bit to machine the unused copper - and for larger boards that means you need to compromise between detail with a small diameter bit and speed using a larger one.

What I did here was use KiCAD to generate the Gerber and Drill files and imported them into MakeraCAM just like last time. Then I exported an SVG file of the copper layer from KiCAD and selected the 'Reverse' option to generate a negative black & white image from KiCAD. I then used Canva to convert the SVG into a PNG file because MakeraCAM sees SVG files as vector formats and does not properly resolve the outlines. But a PNG image works fine - then I used the Trace feature in MakeraCAM to create a negative path for the 2D Pocket operation around the traces - you can assign multiple sized diameter bits in MakeraCAM and it will work from the largest diameter down to the smallest to most efficiently remove the material. I used 2mm and 0.8mm flat end mill bits at 0.1mm depth to remove the copper on this board.

In the end, it took about 1 hour to mill this board vs about 30 minutes for just the trace isolation milled version. But 1 hour is certainly quicker than 3 days waiting for a board to come in the mail ;-) Sure - the factory boards look nicer. But for me, if it works it works and it's probably inside a project case anyway.

My Carvera Air has been a great investment for me so far ;-)

EDIT - I used the original 30' V-bit on this board to cut the isolation lines around the traces just like last time. I am half wondering if I can get away without that, but I think using the v-bit helps insure that the end mills do not tear any 'good' copper up while milling away the rest. It only took about 5 minutes to run the v-bit anyway - no point on risking ruining the board after all that work.

EDIT 2- I continue to be impressed with the accuracy of this cnc... between the v-bit and the 2 flat end mills, a total of 3 bits cleared the surface of this board and you can barely make out the differences in the light - they definitely cannot be felt. The surface mapping and tool length probes definitely work very well and make projects like this easy.

So - experimenting more using Fusion for CAM generation and saw the Carvera Community plugin for Fusion that resolves a few limitations with the free version of Fusion... Seems simple enough, but I cannot seem to get the plugin to run or display on the Fusion toolbar. I have successfully imported the Carvera machine definition and Community post processor into Fusion - but the plugin eludes me.

The instructions show basically just copying the plugin directory to your pc and pointing to the folder in Fusion. Fusion seems to find the files correctly and the Add-in manager shows it installed and running, but no icon appears on the Manufacturing toolbar as demonstrated in the instructions...

What could I be missing here?

EDIT - solved. The folder MUST be named "Makera Community" or the plugin will not show on the toolbar.

I was tracking down a different issue and noticed that Makera Studio is apparently running in the background, consuming 5% cpu and 568MB ram - and I haven't even been able to run it yet ???

I downloaded and installed it the other day out of curiosity, but apparently it hasn't been officially released yet - I have not been able to authorize the license with my email - the app just closes after saying my email was not found So I was very surprised to discover it was running in the background - even after a reboot and not having opened the app. Makera Studio is not listed in my auto-start list, so I don't understand how it is even running.

Very odd. Has anyone else noticed this ?

EDIT - this was version 0.0.3. I just uninstalled it thinking the release version would be newer anyway. But I can't understand how it was running or what it was doing.

EDIT 2 - I also just noticed that the version 0.0.3 I had installed was at least a version behind the current beta download, so it's possible that this was some kind of bug that has been resolved. I am looking forward to checking out the release version when it drops ;-)

I think painting tubes is a somewhat divisive topic just like backlight leds lol...  But to each their own ;-)  Personally, I prefer some color filtering to block the blue haze induced by the mercury in the tube.  I think most display tube devices used a polarized plastic color filter to increase contrast and readability for similar reasons.  To me, the digits seem much sharper without the blue haze around them.  

I have tried Vitrail glass paint in the past and it works well, but it can sometimes be difficult to avoid uneven thickness or drip marks.  Glass paint is also difficult to remove once cured.

Being somewhat lazy, I tried using a Sharpie permanent marker and was amazed how well it works - and despite the 'permanent' label, the ink is easily removed with alcohol and a clean cloth, so the tubes can be restored to original condition if desired.  Once dry, the coloring has lasted years on other projects I have built.  The markers build up on the glass to a nice shiny layer just like enamel - no lines or other indications that it was done by hand with basically an ink crayon ;-)

Anyhoo - here is another shot of my new clock with the B5991's colored with an orange Sharpie and the small IN-17 tubes done in red.  The lighting has not been favorable and my phone doesn't seem to like the brightness, so the photo doesn't do it justice - in person the digits are clear and sharp.  I like how the seconds differentiate themselves with the red filtering applied (I'll try another photo later to better demonstrate the different coloring).

Long time lurker and Nixie enthusiast lol. Here is my most recent clock using a cheap $15 Chinese controller and a tube board that I milled on my Carvera Air (Milled My First PCB on my Air ;-) : r/Makera)... Not the best photo - but I was happy that everything worked after stuffing it into the case that I took a birthday shot lol. Displays are actually very sharp in real life. I can't take full credit for the case - I found the model online originally design for 6 x IN12 tubes and modified it for my 4 X B5991 and 2 x IN-17 tubes. Printed on my Bambu 3D printer.

I've had great success milling brass sheet stock, acrylic and some aluminum on my Air... Today I successfully milled my first pcb ;-)

This was a learning process - I've been building electronics for years, but usually use perfboard because I'm too lazy to go through the chemical etching process and most things are one-off's or spur of the moment so I don't feel like paying to outsource it (and certainly don't have the patience to wait for the mail lol). While I have experience creating schematics, I've never really done much pcb layout - so I had to learn KiCAD. That wasn't too bad, but KiCAD doesn't include the tube components or pcb footprints for some of the Nixie tubes I need (it's another clock lol)... So I had to learn how to create my own parts in KiCAD as well.

Then came the milling... It took some playing around to get the Gerber files correct for MakeraCAM and I just took a guess at the tooling based on some Googling... I used the 0.2mm 30' engraving bit that came with my Air to cut the pcb trace isolation paths and ordered a pcb drill kit from Amazon to get some 0.8mm. 1.0mm and 1.2mm drill bits needed for the tube sockets. I used the default 2mm corn bit to mill some mounting holes and cut the pcb edge out.

Before I did the final cutout, I checked the traces with a multimeter to confirm that all the traces were solid and no shorts - a 0.1mm depth with the 30' v-bit worked perfectly. Traces average 1mm wide. I struggled a bit trying to figure out how to mill away the unused copper between components - still working on that. In the end I figured it doesn't really matter for now and I'm just leaving it as it is. I will probably tin the pcb using MG Chemicals tinning solution to prevent corrosion and aid soldering - glad I got some while I was watching Mr. Carlson's Lab because it seems they have discontinued that for some reason...

The layout in my project requires that all connections need to be on the copper side and there is no room in the case for wires on the front as the pcb will be flush mounted to a 3D printed case structure, so I created an edge-connector like footprint in KiCAD and will just solder to the edge fingers.

All in all very pleased with how this came out. Now when I get some ideas and want something more permanent than breadboards, I'll just mill a pcb ;-)