Question Who wants a Stepcraft 420?...

Hello community,

I bought a Stepcraft 420 in mid-December and since then, I think it is safe to say that I'm a new unsuspecting victim of the Stepcraft self-assembly process.
To make a long story short, I assembled/ disassembled the machine three times already (first time was a blinking red light- mainboard was dead-, second time one of the stepper motors didn't move normally, third time one of them didn't move at all)...
I will probably be able to make it work one fine day, but frankly, after my short experience and the comments I read on the English forum, I don't feel like it! I prefer selling it and loose money...

For more information, please contact me by PM.

Pitch: Your experience is much the same as mine, as my US distributor assured me assembly would be "no problem". Fortunately, as you see from ThomasDbg's response, there are a LOT of folk out there willing to help. In my case, I went as far as to (stupidly) try to remove orange powder coat for a better fit, and sliced through FOUR tiny wires! After painstaking soldering, all is working well now. I would encourage you to not give up, but understand, as I was almost willing to take a loss on my ST2-600.

Hi,

Glad to hear that SFDeeJay persisted and finally had success.

IMHO anyone starting to assemble an SC machine would be well advised to do a full mechanical assembly and "tune" first, without any wiring, until all the axes are working freely and accurately over their whole range of travel.

Positioning of the fixed rollers is critical in getting the Z-axis trammed properly, and it is vital to get the gantry sides properly aligned if the Y-axis is to run freely over its full travel. Doing these adjustments with wiring in place is almost impossible, as some adjustments can't be verified until mechanical assembly is almost completed.

Lastly, don't overtighten the moving rollers - therein lies the route to jammed axes!!. JUST remove any free play between roller and guide track, too much pressure and there is a risk of damage to either or both roller and track.

Peter

Hello guys,

Incredible! I gave my stepcraft a last chance and disassemble/rebuilt it another time, and... it works
I'm in the testing process and I will tel you more about this in the next episode

Pitch wrote: Hello guys,

Incredible! I gave my stepcraft a last chance and disassemble/rebuilt it another time, and... it works

Incredible! I gave my Stepcraft five, maybe six 'last chances'.

I've had girlfriends who have had fewer last chances than this machine. Then again, they never cost me over £3,000...

Doug