Hello,
New to this forum. My new 5 pro is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Really looking forward to getting it.
Any advice or set up tips that I should know to help with assembly, setup and getting it started up running?
Thanks in advance for the reply.
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Do you have a suitably sturdy table to assemble it on?
I like putting my machines on a sheet of foam — it seems to dampen noise/resonance — just 3 squares from:
https://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-anti-fatigue-foam-mat-set-94635.html
filled in under my 4x2 quite nicely — I suspect you’d want 6 pieces, so 2 packs for a 4x4.
Take the assembly slowly and use the updated instructions:
(if the wiring seems impossible, just take a break and come back to it after clearing your head — it should “just work” if you don’t overthink it since all the connectors should be set up so that it’s only possible at any given corner/area to plug things in correctly)
Having a second person you can call on to help with large/heavy/awkward pieces will make assembly much easier — it can be done single-handedly, but it’s a lot safer for you and the machine to have the assist at need.
If anything comes up which isn’t covered at:
let us know at support@carbide3d.com
What sort of work do you wish to do? Using what materials? What CAD/CAM software? How do you want to approach things?
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Foam, like a fatigue floor mat to place under the machine. Takes up any small discrepancies in the table surface as well as sound dampening.
Enjoy the ride
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Make sure you square up your table. When I was done putting my machine together, I didn’t think about this at first because I thought it would square up as I put things together. Then I measured after completely tightened everything and found my table was out of square by 1/2". I then had to go back and loosen the 96 screws in the MDF boards and the 48 screws to the aluminum railing of my hybrid table. A hard lesson learned.
The machine does go together nicely when you pay attention to the instructions. Wiring is the biggest challenge. Preplan where your power unit and spindle power unit, (if purchasing a spindle instead of a router), and then plan your wiring to that. I under ran my wiring thru my table and hung it all under a long the framing of my table. The holes that I drilled and ran the wiring thru to go under my table, I cut round fill plugs from the packing foam that came with my machine, and pushed it in around my wiring flush with the table. Do not dispose of the packing from your machine just yet. It can be used for liners inside drawers for cutouts for tool holding. Why waste more money on things that already come with your machine?
Regardless of how much time people say it takes to put together your machine, don’t rush it. Take your time. It took me 3 days to finalize all of the ways I wanted my machine to be built on my table. I haven’t finished all of my drawers yet, but as I work on each drawer, I think about what is going on that drawer and then work the foam to hold these tools in place.
Good luck and if you have any questions, you can come here to ask them.
Oh, one other thing, have a foam block from the shipping packing to put under the resting area where the machine goes to shut down. If you have the spindle, the until will be just heavy enough to possibly drop your Z axis down to the table slowly. This will make any tool in the spindle come into contact with your table. I have the foam under the spindle in the top right corner so the spindle has something soft to rest on.
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Robert, my suggestion is to be careful with the wiring. Make sure you do not pinch any putting it together and secure them well.
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I want to thank Everyone for their replies.
I have been a wood worker since starting at the age of 12 helping my grandfather and let’s just say I am now mid 50’ish. I have to admit that I very limited knowledge of working with CNC’s so I will probably be asking alot of questions.
As of right now I will be using Carbide Create and Carbide Motion with my 5 pro. I will mostly be working with wood and I am interested in making signs, trays, cutting boards, etc. I also want to incorporate the 5 pro into my guitar projects. Up until now I have done all my guitar neck shaping by hand.
I have worked all weekend on my table and now have a sturdy table made with a perfectly flat top. My Dad, who lives close by, happened to be going to HF today so he picked up some of the anti-fatigue mat for me today. Just got lucky that he happened to be going there today.
I have been planning this out and will Definitely will take my time putting the 5 pro together, making sure it is square and all the wiring is correct.
Again, thanks to everyone for the replies and it is much appreciated.
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Hello ,
I got my machine,
Very well packed. There was only one thing I found that wasn’t correct. When I unpacked the machine, I noticed one of the locating pins for the spindle mount was missing but after I got everything else unpacked, I found it loose in the box. Everything was complete and all parts were in the boxes and assembly went as it should. All the electronics hooked right up with my computer and the machine functions great from what little time I’ve had to work with it. It seems like a VERY well built machine.
I took my time assembling the machine and heeded every one’s advice.
I must say I am very happy with it so far, I am looking forward to getting to be able to work with it.
As I work with it I am sure I’ll have alot of questions for everyone. Thanks again for the suggestions and your help.
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Congrats on your new machine. Glad everything went well with your assembly. Now the next step is to find a good program that you can create in. Some of the free versions of the CAD programs out there are ok, but to really open up your potential, you might think about purchasing a Pro version. The best purchase of a CAD program is to buy the perpetual license. It will always be your program to use verses paying a monthly bill.
Also, think about a program that is downloadable instead of server controlled. A server controlled CAD program puts you at their mercy of their server. Do your research into each CAD program before purchasing any of them. Some are directed in a bit different in their creative design concepts. Also think about cost and what you may or may not be able to afford.
Carbide Create is good for learners and even purchasing the Pro version isn’t that bad, but Pro does have its limitations as well. One noticable limitation is the fact that Carbide Create Pro can not design 3D models. It can only import them and then prepare for CAM coding. You are also not limited to CAD programs to link with Carbide Motion. Your best bet is to save your money up for one of the really good design programs for more complex designs, but if you want to get a decent CAD program to start you off, the Pro version isn’t that expensive for the perpetual license.
If you are in the market for designing and creating 3D models or carvings, Pro will not let you edit files much with any 3D attributes. Just don’t go wasting your money on a bunch of CAD programs when a good single one will do. Plus, work on completely understanding your chosen CAD program. Good luck and again, congrats and welcome to the family/community of avid carvers.
Which CAD/CAM software one uses depends on what sort of work one wants to do and how one wishes to approach it.
Carbide Create is good for interactive and decorative stuff, esp. w/ the Pro license, but with a bit of patience, one can do pretty much anything:
and there is also the possibility of using 3rd party software:
For folks who want a more traditional approach we sell Alibre Atom Workshop:
(which is bundled w/ the Nomad 3)
which I am still learning:
Yes, very well explained. I have Carbide Create Pro and find it to be of some great use in many aspects of my design work, but I do want the 3D options for creating as well, and CCP doesn’t offer that. I’m not downing CCP, it is a good program. I was told about Inkscape, but know nothing about it as a user. I have it downloaded, but not been in the program to learn much about it.
I think my biggest issue is cost of the perpetual license for some of these programs out there. I don’t work a traditional job, this, I don’t have a regular income to put money back to save for a program. This is part of the reason as to why I bought my machine. It gives me an extra set of hands in my shop, sorta speaking. The machine can be running on things that I would take a long time to create by my own hand, and create it in much less time.
One day maybe I will find the proper connections to spring my business forward into production for continued income. Every business started somewhere out of hardly nothing and have worked themselves to something today. Not every business has made it and that is the risk we take running our own businesses when we take the raines of life.
For now I am running CC and CM. I’m finding it easy to work with and learning it pretty well. The C3D videos on YouTube help tremendously. I designed a turkey call and cut it out with the 5 pro last night and it worked perfect. So far I am really happy this machine. I plan on working with it quite a bit this weekend.
I will probably subscribe to CC pro this weekend, but eventually, would also like something with a little more capability.
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One notable way to get more capability with Carbide Create (and Carbide Create Pro) is to use a 3rd party BĂ©zier curve drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Serif Affinity Designer, or Inkscape.
Inkscape is free/opensource, while Affinity Design is quite affordable.
This will then allow for more features to create designs which may then be imported into Carbide Create to assign toolpaths.
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Just my 2C. Now that you have your baby home & nesting comfortably, that was the easy part.
CNC is fantastic! But is does come with a very steep learning curve when your starting out.
You are going to get very frustrated, pi$$ed off, invent new swear words, break things, destroy almost completed projects in the 11th hour.
Then something is going to click and you finally get that project complete! That’s the moment when it feels really gets fun.
When you stop & think about it, and I’ve posted this before, you are attempting to learn 3-6 very different foreign languages ALL AT the same time! All of which are worthy of at least a year long, structured, college (at least CC level) program.
Stay with it, asks as many questions as you need, official support & the forum I are always available, your local community college probably has CNC programs available.
What kept me going was looking at all the projects that our group has shown. I’m not even worthy enough too look at some of these projects at this time, but I will get there and so can anyone how tries.
So start slow, learn & apply your mistakes to the next project, repeat and ….
Welcome to the most frustrating fun ever.
Well Put 
@JustMe
However, I would say that CNC as a whole has a bit of a learning curve.
Same with 3D printing and 2D work such as Laser, Engraving, Drag Knife, Line Art … these all typically use x,y and some time z plotting
People buy machines believing you can push a button and it prints or carves something. Maybe not quite like that but you get the point
You need computer knowledge.
You need to learn the machine. And it’s support systems
How does G-code works
What is GRBL or similar
G code sender, CM, G-sender, UGS …
What is Cam, slicer, toolpaths,
What is Cad, 2D vs 2.5D vs 3D
And normally a couple of other 3D applications. ( Fusion360, FreeCAD, OpenScad …)
File formats STL, SVG, DXF, …
What is a Mesh, Vector, Bitmap graphics How to convert and import… Blender, InkScape, CorelDraw …
This is just some of the areas you will or might have to learn or know
The fact is, it is not simple and it covers several disciplines. There is a learning curve. It takes a bit to wrap your head around all of it but once you do … It opens a whole new world for you, It can be as simple as you want or as complex as you want. Start with something simple, learn and grow Make a sign, Coaster, Catch all.
And most of all you need a good community group to help you out
C3D does a pretty good job of providing an end to end solution with a good workflow, That was not so for me when I learned how to 3D print 
Other manufactures simply sell you a machine and you figure out the rest
Fun Fun Fun
Excellent point
There is a glossary at:
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I have 13 years of CNC machining experience and thought that coming into this area of play was going to be a little more then a cake walk. That was far from the truth. I may learn fast, but the challenge of learning a new program, designing something in a different scale type, and planning out work processing, proved to be more challenging then I thought.
And the craziest thing about learning on these programs and machine is that I learned that I knew nothing of the sorts about what I was doing. Carving a line is simple, but learning to carve a line differently and knowing the different possibilities of carving that line is simple in its right, but profound in it’s scope.
Some days this forum speaks to me and gives me much insight to what I am doing. Other times I come on and find myself feeling like i am in a conversation where the other people are speaking a foreign language and I am along just for the ride.
Then something clicks and you get it. The designing, the programming, making it to an end project that far exceeds your expectations. I too, have a ton to learn and feel that I still haven’t scratched the surface enough to try my hand in many of the more complex projects, but I am willing to try, fail, learn, and try again.
I can’t thank this community enough for all the help I have received. Even the tolerance of the simplest of questions knowing that many that have answered my questions probably realize these questions were elementary questions. But we all have to start somewhere and ask many questions to learn. That is how we build ourselves and the community around us.
I still can’t thank you all enough. With that being said, happy machining and lets get down to designing. LOL.
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I want to thank everyone for their reply’s , information and encouragement. So far I am really enjoying my 5 pro. I haven’t had a chance to get work with it as much as I would like to. Learning everyday that I get to work with it and plan to soon start taking advantage of the 4 one on one training sessions.
I have a couple of cabinet jobs to finish up of an evening then I am going to work with my 5 pro a little everyday. I am truly looking forward to it.
Thanks again for the information and keep it coming. Any and all help is appreciated.
Damn! I forgot about the 4 training sessions and now wonder what they would be for now? I know you wouldn’t know this answer, but maybe I will see someone come on and explain them. Wonder if they are question and answer sessions, or just basic training of programming, or machine function? Does anybody know?
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