Makera Carvera

Machine setup → Machine picks the controller the programs are written for. Generic GRBL / FluidNC is the classic output described above. The Makera Carvera profiles (Carvera, Carvera with the community firmware, Carvera Air, Z1) write what that machine's Smoothieware-based firmware expects — and it differs in two ways that matter:

• No M0. Carvera's firmware does not implement M0, so a GRBL-style program would run straight through a tool change with the old bit still in the spindle. In Carvera files every change is T<n> M6: the tool changer picks slot n from the rack and probes the bit's length on the tool setter (an Air or Z1 parks, asks for the bit and probes it).
• One file per machine session instead of one per layer. A stage is everything that runs between two moments you must touch the board: 1F front isolation · paint and cure the mask · 2F front mask etch, drilling, hole milling, cutout · flip · 1B back isolation · paint and cure · 2B back mask etch. Stages with nothing in them are not written; a single-sided board gets 1F and 2F. Silkscreen and drawn layers join their side's second stage.

The rack. Every distinct bit of the project gets a slot: T1, T2… in the order the stages use them, the same number in every file. The list is shown under Machine setup → Machine (pick another number to fix a bit's slot; Number the rack automatically forgets the fixes), written as comments at the top of every stage file, and in the Log. The stock Carvera has six slots; the sidebar warns when a job needs more — combine drill sizes with the bits on hand, or pick the community-firmware profile, where T7 and above prompt for a manual change. T0 is never used: it is the wireless probe. Tool Changer… (Machine setup → Machine, also in the Tool Library) is the machine's side of it: which library bit sits in each slot right now. A bit loaded there keeps its slot in every job (the rest are numbered around it; a project's hand-fixed slot still wins), the rack list marks loaded bits with a green check and missing ones in orange, the Tool menus list every loaded slot first under Tool changer, Bits on hand gets an In the changer link, and Load This Job's Rack copies a job's numbering into the slots after you have loaded the changer for it.

Files. <project>-1F-front-isolation.cnc, <project>-2F-front-mask-drill-cut.cnc and so on, in the Generate destination. Each starts with the rack, the stage's estimated time and what to do before it, then G90 G94 G17 G21 / G54; tool changes are M5 / T<n> M6 / S<rpm> M3 with the spindle dwells you set; feeds above the machine's rapid speed and spindle speeds above its maximum are clamped; the file ends M5 / G28 (clearance position) / M2. Compressed air (M7) is on while cutting unless you switch it off in the Generate dialog, which can also keep the per-layer .ngc programs next to the stage files. Export program… writes a single program the same way.

On the machine. Clamp the board against Anchor 1, set the work origin in the Carvera controller (X/Y offsets from the anchor, Z on the copper) and run stage 1 with Auto Leveling ticked. Leave the board clamped while you paint and cure the mask, then run stage 2 with Auto Leveling unticked, so the grid probed in stage 1 is reused on the painted board. Flip the board against the same corner for 1B and 2B, the way Machine setup → Board flips says. The preview, side view and time estimates still show the per-layer programs. The Machine panel connects to a Carvera too (Controller → Makera Carvera; see Machine panel → Connecting): a layer sent from there goes out in this same flavour, with the rack's slot numbers, and the tool changer does its work mid-program; Send Stage to Machine… (sidebar) or Send Layers… (Program tab) sends a whole stage, or any set of layers, as one program — or upload the stage files with the Carvera controller and run them from the machine.