Carvey has a build area of 11.6” x 8” x 2.50”. Material height + depth of cut can not exceed 2.50". The tool clearance will vary based on the milling bit used, though the maximum clearance of the Z-axis without a bit is 90mm (~3.5") with a travel of 80mm (~3.1"). See the attached diagram for details.
In order to determine the maximum material thickness that you can carve through, there are additional variables we need to account for:
12 mm: the height of the smart clamp from the top of the waste board
11 mm the height of a clamp screw (we will take this into account from the top of the smart clamp, where you are having the homing problem)
2 mm: the "safety" rapid movement height we recommend as an absolute minimum. This measurement is the distance between the top of your material and the bottom of your bit while the spindle is moving around between toolpaths.
We will subtract all these numbers from 90mm, which gives us a total clearance of 65mm from the bottom of the spindle—again, without a bit—to the top of the clamp screw.
The maximum material thickness that you can carve through on Carvey is 65 mm divided by 2, or 32.5 mm. Your bit cutting length must always equal the material thickness if you are doing a through-cut. The maximum value where material thickness equals the length of the bit is 32.5 mm (half of the total 65 mm work area), or approximately 1.25". To be safe, we don't suggest carving through materials thicker than 30mm, as you will need to account for some variances for your machine components.
You can carve materials that are thicker than 32.5 mm but you can't cut all the way through those materials. It's important to remember that your bit length and your material thickness always need to equal less than 65 mm. So, you can carve in material that is 45 mm as long as your bit length (and therefore your cutting depth) is 20 mm or less.
As long as you stay within the rule of 65 mm = material thickness + bit length, you can carve successfully.