A rocket control component that once took almost ten hours to machine now takes Yasin Akkoyun approximately one hour, including setup. The change came from redesigning the part around the manufacturing process. At Akkoyun Aerospace, his Carvera gives him the freedom to make those discoveries in his own workshop, combining CNC machining with 3D printing as he develops hardware for a reusable rocket technology demonstrator.
“Honestly, having the Carvera fundamentally changed what's possible for me.”
— Yasin Akkoyun, Founder of Akkoyun Aerospace
From Model Aircraft to an Aerospace Company
Yasin started making things around 2022, while he was still in school. With a 3D printer and an interest in flight, he began experimenting with model aircraft and rockets. Many early attempts ended in crashes, but the questions they raised kept him working.
An early experimental motor failure changed his approach. He began studying the mathematics, physics, and material limitations behind his designs more seriously, learning to connect what happened in the workshop with what engineering theory could explain.
“Interestingly, I came to theory through practice, rather than the other way around.”
After finishing school in 2025, he decided toward the end of that year to focus seriously on rocket technology. Those personal projects began evolving into Akkoyun Aerospace, an early-stage company in Germany with the long-term goal of developing orbital launch vehicles for small satellites and mission-specific payloads.
His immediate focus is a reusable, subscale vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technology demonstrator. It is a development platform for bringing individual systems together and working toward a first flight.
Learning CNC from Scratch
Before owning a CNC machine, Yasin relied on 3D printing for prototypes and external suppliers for machined components. Printing helped him explore shapes and assemblies, but some functional parts required mechanical properties and precision that called for another process.
He discovered desktop CNC through YouTube and bought a used Carvera in early March 2026. He had no previous CNC experience. At first, he recalls, he called every end mill a drill bit.
Learning meant reading the manual, watching tutorials, trying machining strategies, and breaking end mills along the way. As his experience grew, he also began designing and 3D-printing custom fixtures to hold parts for more complicated setups.
“For me, getting the Carvera wasn't just about buying another tool. It gave me the opportunity to learn an entirely new manufacturing process.”
That process now contributes to hardware intended for the vehicle itself. In his propulsion assembly, Yasin machined the thrust vector control gimbal and its structural components on Carvera. The engine shown alongside them was additively manufactured, while some visible polymer parts remain printed prototypes for fitment and initial testing.
Combining Printed and Machined Parts
One project Yasin is particularly proud of is the SRS VCTR-04, an electromechanical linear actuator designed to control the direction of the rocket engine. Now in its fourth major design iteration, it brings mechanical design, precision manufacturing, and control engineering together in a compact assembly.
The actuator combines aluminum alloys, carbon-fiber-reinforced nylon (PA12-CF), and PTFE. Its printed housing works with CNC-machined components, including the rack and pinion mechanism, sliding bushings, anti-rotation parts, and aluminum housing sections.
Yasin describes roughly two weeks of intensive development on the actuator. His workflow is practical: design a version, make it, assemble it, and test it. When something does not work as expected, he returns to CAD and makes another version. Planning the machining setups has become part of designing the component.
“Having the Carvera in my workshop makes this approach possible because I can move between designing, manufacturing, and testing without having to organize a new manufacturing order for every iteration.”
Rethinking a Part to Cut Machining Time
The actuator’s rack mechanism gave Yasin one of his clearest lessons in designing for manufacture. The original rack and connecting rod were a single aluminum component. Its long, slender geometry and small teeth made machining difficult, requiring four-axis setups and small cutting tools. Vibration and deflection limited the cuts he could take, and one part could occupy the machine for almost ten hours.
Rather than keep adjusting cutting parameters, he changed the design. He separated the toothed rack from the connecting rod, allowing the rack to be machined as a flat profile in a simpler three-axis setup. The revised process took approximately one hour, including setup. Yasin also reports a more rigid connection and less tendency to bend under load.
“What I found most interesting was that I didn't achieve this by making the machine faster. I achieved it by changing the design to make better use of the machine.”
A Workshop That Keeps Development Moving
Some days are devoted to CAD and calculations. Others are spent manufacturing, and Yasin often designs in the morning and machines in the afternoon. Testing gets its own dedicated days. Alongside vehicle hardware, he makes the custom fixtures, test equipment parts, and supporting components that keep development moving.
The Carvera is now running almost constantly, he says, and manufacturing capacity is becoming a constraint. Having direct access to it has also given him more room to explore processes that are still under development, including combining casting with CNC finishing for engine components. He is also considering additional CNC capacity and a future lathe, with the aim of bringing more manufacturing into the workshop.
The next major goal is the first flight of the VTVL demonstrator, bringing together systems he has been developing individually. That milestone is still ahead. The progress so far lies in the physical components, revised designs, and manufacturing experience that make the next stage possible.
For Yasin, access to Carvera has made it possible to carry an idea further himself: from a CAD model to a part he can assemble, evaluate, and improve. The rack redesign captures that experience in one tangible result—less time making a difficult part, and more opportunity to learn from the next version.
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