Frage Stepcraft is an "unbaked product" and i hate it

If I find an Irish reseller, then yes

MMorao schrieb: I agree it's a damnably unbaked product and I hate it too! I bought one 600 from StoneyCNC in kit form and it was a Triumph des Willens to get it assembled and running! However, thanks mostly to the good humour and patience on Rory Stoney's part, I'm pleased to say my Clockwork Orange runs accurately and with no snags.

Look, I'm not being dismissive, I know well it IS a major frustration. There are a number of competent people in this forum and I'm definitely not one of them, so I have full authority of the worst kind

Please take a few deep breaths, pick up that irritating assembly manual and retrace every single step. Be ready to dismantling anything you are not sure of and reassemble. That helps, and please don't ask how I found out, it's too embarrassing. When in doubt, please put your queries here if possible with a photo or two, I'm sure you'll find somebody willing and able to answer and in good old English to boot (I'm not a native speaker) I'm sure those German staff will be unable to efficiently take care of you as they'll likely be busy inventing new glitches not documented here yet

I initially bought the barebones model, and I'm adding the 4th axis and will add more upgrades as the need comes, that's how confidant I've become.

Great to hear that you worked through your problems. Despite all mine (I'm currently waiting for a replacement control card as the Y axis chip burned out, presumably through back EMF generated by jogging the Y axis manually) I'm fairly confident that I can do what I want to do with mine.

Perhaps I should keep hold of my 4th axis rotary table, tailstock and control card then...?

Hi Doug,

Frankly, assembling the damned thing was a horror story. It took a lot of staying power on my side, and patience and humour on Rory's, that's what turned this comedy of expensive errors into what I am happy to say was/is a complete success.

But let me be concrete. The main difficulties IIRC were:

- one of those big brass threaded bodies running the continuous screws which was machined at a wrong angle,
- a card came with the wrong interface making me waste a lot of time mail ordering a male+male cable that proved to be unnecessary
- some software problems problems related to my having Win10

These all all took time to identify and diagnose, but in all instances Rory's reply was immediate and his diagnoses always right, and this is no figure of speech.

Also I have to say that even with the superbly illustrated assembly instructions there are still a few steps that might need clarification, but if strictly followed it's all there! This requires deep patience, attention to detail, ability to think several steps ahead (reading the manual helps here!), willpower to dismantle and repeat until it's all perfectly aligned, etc, etc, etc. Preferably have some help who won't be offended with continuous grumbling and frequent loud swearing.

But in the end when all the parts fall (or get hammered) into place you'll have a perfectly working machine, zinging into three directions all at the same time!

Mind you, I'm not a hobbyist, I bought this awful contraption for a specific professional reason and if this was a failure it would all have been a waste of money and what's worse a waste of my precious time and energy. I am starting up a cottage industry and I need an efficient and precise router. Well, right now I can say I am happy with the product as it is and I have my eye on further accessories.

Unbaked? Yes, certainly, there are problems to iron out regarding product engineering and quality control, but if you stick to it then the basic design is fine and it ends up one hell of of a good machine!

O.k., I'm pleased you got it doing what you want and got your confidence in it.

Frankly, I think that the biggest design issue with these machines is the fact that the end plates do not interlock precisely with the extrusions. It is quite ridiculous to leave the alignment to trial and error by the end user when there are multiple variables that could cause misalignment.

These pieces should all lock together and there should be some float or facility to adjust the lead screw bearing(s) at the non driving ends. This would save a lot of hassle for the customer.

I also think that ball nuts should be offered as an upgrade to the brass lead nut for people like yourself who wish to use it for medium duty/semi commercial work. I would have gladly paid an extra £300 or so for this instead of paying £400 for a fourth axis system I might not use.

Doug

MMorao, Doug, Roy - thank you for your mental help.

Thank you Doug, and I hope you'll find a use for your 4th-axis, might I suggest you use it for your string tightening mechanisms and "knobs"? Sorry for the lack of vocabulary but I'm a non-native English speaker and musical vocab is really outside my skill range

Orenhag, of course you're free to make your own decisions, but as far as I'm concerned I am quite happy with having stuck to my guns. Of course I had all the help I needed and that's what made it. So if I (we) can be of any use then that's what we're in this world for

I'm pleased to report that with a new control PCB, new Y motor and a lot of powder coat removed from bearing holes and screw holes, jog testing at full speed went well this morning so I tried a relatively straightforward two sided cut of a small oak insert for the top layer of my guitar build.

It went very well until the thing flipped out of its surrounding uncut block right at the end. Presumably there wasn't enough double sided tape securing it.

I've cued up another cut with a revised toolpath with two side supports. I'll have another try later this afternoon.

That's nearly 3 months since getting the machine but I haven't had many free days to build, tune, test and cut with it.

Doug

While trying to assemble and disassemble the machine as advised by stepcraft i broke one of the Track Roller Nuts (part 54).

Manual says "must tighten firmly". did it and nut snapped.

Anyhow, anyone ordered spare parts from Stepcraft?

Can't state how much i hate this machine.

Yes, "firmly" is not a setting on any torque wrench I've ever seen.

I get my spares from StoneyCNC, not Stepcraft so can't comment.

Just a friendly word of caution though. Probably not a great idea to keep coming on a Stepcraft forum and reiterating that you hate their product

Regards.

Doug

Hi Doug,

Good advice to Orenhag, I was very tempted to reply "BF&BI"

"Must tighten firmly!" is an invitation to flex ones muscles - note the exclamation mark too. Trouble is that when guidance is written by experts they tend to assume that everyone has their same degree of knowledge - big mistake!!

Peter

I guess u need to be an expert to turn an allen wrench these days.

Anyhow, thanks for the input Doug. I'll try to contact StoneyCNC.

Still hate this useless machine. Sorry Peter.

I'm afraid to ask, but what may a "BF&BI" be? I googled it and got a number of answers, from sexology to trigonometry, but I don't think you were meaning to pontificate on hyperbolic cotangents

I have to understand Orenhag. The Clockwork Orange is a finely designed product, but component production engineering and assembly does need serious improvement.

I had ordered a 4th axis assembly from Stoney's a while ago, but I took my time in picking that up. When I did, well, the Foo-King thing did not budge and the chuck looked like "Alas Poor Yorik"'s skull with arthritis.

Once again I had to bother Rory Stoney, and after the tests protocol he asked me to remove the motor and check the worm gear. So I did, nothing abnormal visible, a squirt of grease, bolt everything back and behold! It worked!

Also I wound the chuck back which required some strength, removed the jaws that happened to be assembled out of sequence - there are numbers 1-2-3 stamped on the jaws and on the chuck plate - cleaned everything as the grease residue (!) looked old, new grease, jaws in proper order, and there it was like new. This chuck by the way has the name PROXXON stamped on.

It all worked fine in the end, but having the customer doing this type of commissioning is unacceptable! Is it too much to ask Stepcraft to test the products they sell before shipping them?

@orenhag

Can well imagine that with 'I hate this machine', much raw violence and nem largest hammer is certainly much easier to set a precision device than with a little mind and sensitivity.
Is like to solder integrated circuits with the welding torch and wonder afterwards that the circuit does not work.

Stefan

@Deltaflyer - I'm sorry but I really dont understand what your'e writing.

Anyhow, why am i so pissed about?

1) I literally had to beg Stepcraft to buy a machine. Drove to the factory especially to pick it up. I dont live in Germany. The guys over there didnt even understand a word in English not to mention answering a few questions.

2) I'm an experienced builder. I'v soldered 100's of pcb's and deal mainly with electronics. If I'm not the "right person" to assemble this pile of junk so i guess 50% of the buyers cant do it too.

3) Moreover, while building this useless machine its quite clear that this machine will short live and is basically an outdated kickstarter scam. No ball screw nuts? common.

4) Stepcraft doesnt answer emails and is incapable of providing assistance. I sent them videos, took photos, was nice, called them, begged them, emailed them - nothing - just a sentence in broken English saying "pls dissemble and reassemble". Roy seems to be the only guy who provides input for Stepcraft. Thank you. But why should i beg for assistance?

5) Win pc-nc -- why team up with this useless and overpriced software? make some more $$ on our backs?

The competition in CNC world shows far much better products than this outdated machine.

With the Stepcraft money i could have bought a real German CNC with ball nut screws and with no need to file off paint or learning German.

All of this brings me to the conclusion that Stepcraft = Yet another Kickstater scam

I'll do my utmost spread these words and warn ppl from buying this machine.

I agree with most of what you write, O.hag, but to tell you the truth this:



...makes me wonder who you actually are, The Incredible Hulk perhaps? Godzilla? "Tighten firmly" does not mean pass a hawser to the USS Iowa and PULL

Other than that, the fact remains that this incredibly badly engineered product has been a learning and philosophical experience like I haven't had since assembling my first ZX Spectrum 35 years ago, and I swear to you that proportionally to what I earned back then that was a much higher investment, something like half a year wages for me back then

If you hate the Clockwork Orange so much, try to get a refund or sell the thing and buy some other make. As for myself I'll stick with the bloody Trabant, it satisfies my perverse trait, and after all it works. A bit like the old Soviet economy, but work it does and I'm only beginning

MMorao - I like your style.

I actually just used an allen wrench and my hands but now that you mention it I'm kinda pleased of myself.

Maybe this wretched contraption did some good.

Gonna show this to my girlfriend.

That's the spirit! You can go bragging "I Assembled a Stepcraft!" Think of it, man, Chuck Norris never assembled one. Bruce Lee neither, Steve McQueen neither but oh that Mustang! Move over Putin , you never got one to work!

In no time you'll be featuring in the sequel of this this , which is to come soon after they drop the Binford Tools sponsorship and take Stepcraft GmbH in!

More POWERRRRR!

Anyway, the sensation/impression of an "unbaked" product is strong for me too.
Honestly speaking, I would not suggest to a friend to buy it.

What I miss more is a big and detailed "Troubleshooting guide". That should be a MUST for a vendor selling a problematic product like the Stepcraft, IMO.

The "Troubleshooting guide" you wish for would be a thick volume indeed. If you read this thread from the beginning you'll be aware of my views on the subject, but now that I have mine zipping as intended I am quite happy with it after all.

Certainly not a plug and play product, more like "plug and swear at it for several months". Even now I still think that the product inside the box is incredibly bad in terms of component quality control, but a "no surrender" person like me will be rewarded in the end.

We don't need a Troubleshooting Guide, we need a Stepcraft for Dummies, a dummy being anybody who buys it and doesn't know what he's got in for!

How about a Stepcraft support group?

Owen:- "Hello, my name is Owen and I'm a Stepcraft owner."
Group:- "Hello Owen."
Owen:- "I was lured in by the pretty renderings on the website and by the fact that if it's German then the engeneering will of course be rock solid, won't it?"

O.S.