10 Things You Should Know About the Yora Draw

There is an old saying, “Great things come in small packages”. Well, that could have been written especially for the Yora Draw Professional Writing & Drawing Robot.

These days, it seems that all the CNC machines are just getting bigger and bigger (and fabulous as they are), the Yora Draw quietly sneaked itself onto the market as a small, compact, neat little machine with capabilities well beyond its size.

This article will go through 10 things you need to know about using the Yora Draw.

1. Building the Yora Draw is very simple

This is probably the easiest CNC machine you will ever put together. It is as simple as, attaching the machine arm, slotting it over the bolts on the carriage on the machine base, hand-fasten the nuts, plugging in the wires and you’re good to go!

By the way, the YoraHome Mandrill CNC Router 3036 is very easy to build too:

But, it’s another big machine.

2. It comes with its software

The software that comes with the machine is pre-loaded on a USB stick and following the instructions, it loads up quickly and easily and tells you exactly when to turn on the machine.

To adjust the size and background, click on the icon shown.

You can choose the background you want, lines as above.

Simple.

Or even a grid.

Go to the blog What Can You Do with The Yora Draw? for basic guidance on using the software.

3. The working area is about the size of a copier paper

The work surface of the machine is 297 mm x 210 mm. This is A4 or just about Letter size for the American market, copier paper size describes it perfectly. It also has a ruler along the right-hand side to make aligning materials easy.

4. You can write and draw with the Yora Draw

Clicking on the icon shown below will open the image library.

There are many images pre-loaded in the software to try out before you start loading your own images. 

Besides being able to re-produce a pre-loaded image or one of your own images, the Yora Draw is capable of “writing”, you can even replicate your own “hand-writing” via an App on your phone. You can upload typed words and convert them to your choice of fonts.

Click on the T icon shown to open the writing options.

The New Writing button opens the following page where you can type in the text that you want to appear hand-written and you can choose between a number of options via the drop-down menu.

This next screen shows how they actually appear.

Clicking on the New Text button, allows you to choose the computer font you will use in exactly the same way, as an outline or solid.

Using different drawing/writing tools you can produce what looks like hand drawn pictures – using a pencil will give you a beautiful sketch effect.

5. Magnets are provided to hold materials and Loading the writing tool is very simple

Setting up your material on the machine bed is a simple process, with clips already installed, along with provided magnets, it is easy to hold paper or card in place.

Getting creative with tape and clips will mean you can use all sorts of different materials on the Yora Draw.

When you want to load the drawing tool itself, you need to set the tip approximately 2-3 mm from the work surface. The provided magnets just happen to be perfect as a guide for this distance.

6. There are Preview and In Progress Functions

Prior to starting a job, you can preview where the image or writing is going to happen without marking the material.

As the job progresses, you can watch the lines change from red to black on the software.

7. You can use lots of different materials

Well...Basically, if you can draw on it and fit it under the drawing tool, you can use it.

Acrylic

Wood

Paper/Card

Real Leather

Faux Leather

I couldn't resist trying out some Scratch Card, I got a bit inventive with the tools at this point.

Taping the wood scraping tool to a pencil wasn't ideal.

So, I acquired some proper scratch art tools.

And of course, I tried the metal background scratch card.

Please believe me, the highland cattle looks amazing in reality, so shiny.

And so on with different materials….

8. It's possible to add a Laser

As if the previously discussed functions weren’t enough, it is possible to add a laser to the set-up, the laser mount can only accept the Yora Laser Module 3.5W and 5.5W adjustable focus lasers which are perfect for photographs, and more.

You can use the inbuilt laser function of the Yora Draw software or use LaserGRBL or Lightburn, whichever you are most comfortable with.

Look at the detail it produces on cork.

And just look at a picture done on a mirror.

9. It sits inside the Yora 6550

OK, so getting down to brass tacks here, the Yora Draw is a neat little machine with product specifications as follows: –

Frame Size: 397 x 310 mm (15-3/4 x 12-1/4 inches)

Working Area: 297 × 210 mm (8-1/4 × 11-3/4 inches)

Compare that to the YoraHome 6550:

Frame Size: 720 x 630 mm (28 x 25 inches)

Working Area: 650 x 500 mm (26 x 20 inches)

Or to show it visually, this is a Yora Draw sat inside a 6550, now you get the picture!

10. Perfect for small to medium projects

Do you need a machine that will take up a large amount of space? Or are you more likely to spend most of your time doing items that would easily fit on the bed of a Yora Draw, such as coasters, placemats, small signs, wooden spoons, pictures, cards, etc.

Conclusion

Will the Yora Draw, this neat little machine that has an A4 size workspace (almost the same as letter size in USA) work for you?

For an addition to your machines or as your first, you cannot go wrong with the Yora Draw.