With the popularisation of 3D printers, the “maker” community has exploded virtually overnight, and the interest in creating usable objects at home via computer has become far more widespread than it was even five years ago. Naturally, this has spilled over into a greater and greater demand for CNC milling machines that can be used easily within the home—a desire the team at Carbide 3D LLC clearly had in mind when they decided to develop their new Nomad 883 CNC mill.
Funded via a massively successful Kickstarter campaign, the Nomad 883 is designed to be a “ready-to-run CNC Mill that’s at home in any environment”, making the creation of parts in the home simpler and requiring of less space. The Nomad is optimised to work around the common issues that the Cabide team felt made CNC machines unsuitable for home use, namely that they are “complicated, loud, messy, slow, and intimidating.” The unit—which is small enough to easily fit on just about any desk and light enough to be carried by a single person—boasts a fully enclosed design that will control both mess and noise. The customer will have the choice between either a Bamboo enclosure (ideal for use in the home or studio), or a sturdy HDPE enclosure more suited to use in the shop or garage.
The Nomad will include everything the user needs to get started, and promises that even novices will be able to create parts starting right from the first day they receive the machine. The Nomad will ship with software (for Mac and PC), a range of cutters, cables, and even a sample package of material that users can get started with. The Carbide team also promises that many of the trickier aspects of CNC milling, such as calculating feed rates, speeds, depths of cut, and other precise calibrations, will largely be automated and handled by the intuitive software provided.
Like all small at-home 3D printers and CNC machines, the Nomad will not be without its limits, however. For one, the unit will still be prohibitively expensive for many—likely around 1500 pounds—and likewise, the small size that makes it so appealing to home users will also heavily restrict the practicality of parts that can be made with it. One will not be able to make parts suited for automotive use, for example, or replacement parts for use with large machines. For such heavy-duty parts, one will still need to turn to the industrial-grade machines of professional CNC mills.
For household use, however, the Nomad is sure to rival the dominance of 3D printers for all-round versatility of parts creation and ease of use, while likely offering greater precision. Crafters and jewelry makers are sure to delight in the ability to design, create, and engrave metal objects, and hobbyists of all stripes will enjoy the machine’s precise wood (and acrylic) cutting abilities.
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