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Congrats on getting (almost all) the machine! Yeah, I would be disappointed in that circumstance, too. I wonder if those parts got pulled to ship to someone else, although it sounds like it's characteristic of this builder to be overly optimistic. Hopefully all will be made right soon and the bumps will be in the past.

It does sound very useful to go over the machine with the builder in person.

I think you'll have a great machine! And looking forward to more updates.

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David Malicky

Yay....got the Z plate today, and spindle should be here tomorrow. I'm just waiting on an order of bolts from Bolt Depot now and I should be up and running pretty soon, I hope. I should have the controller box built by tomorrow too.

Update: Still not up and running.

Sad.....

I'm going to go ahead and install the new ball screw/nut that I have and run with it for now, but he's going to have to get me another replacement. At least I'll be up and running next week, with any luck.

You know what's really sad is that the machine itself is superb...it's far better built than many on the market, and a whole lot cheaper too. Anyhow, no biggie. At least I have something that looks like it will run, now. Unfortunately, ball screws/nuts are not really stock items. They're cut to order and sometimes it takes time, so there's often delays. I'm just annoyed that I have to be the QA department.

Update - I'm still waiting.

Update - My machine has been shipped!!!! Only took 18 months! Has been 3 months since I complained. Now I need to wait for the slow boat across the pond.

Well, the new screw/ball was a no go. I didn't even bother to install it...there was something wrong. George checked all of his at the shop...they were ALL wrong. Best guess: counterfeit TBI ball nuts. The wipers would randomly hit the screw, causing it to bind. He sent me another screw with a good nut, and it appears that all is finally well. I hope to have motors turning again sometime today, and wiring maybe done tomorrow. We'll see.

It's just as well...gave me a chance to reorganize the shop. Hey, I'm officially a tablesaw free shop as of tomorrow. I made that decision long before I'd brought in the CNC. My tablesaw has been dormant for almost 3 months. It's amazing what you can do with a decent bandsaw and a good blade. The only thing I miss is breaking down rough stock by cross cutting it, but nothing needs to be precise and it only takes a minute to crosscut it by hand. If I get really desperate, I can always just use a circular saw.

Well, I'm happy to say that I appear to a machine that works. I've yet to mount the spindle, and I have some miscellaneous wiring to do....limit switches, inverter control....stuff like that. I DID run my first program tonight, however, and quite happily air cut my first guitar Now that I'm over the hump of that stupid ball screw, everything is quickly coming together. By the end of the week, I hope to have cut my first piece of wood.

Like Andy, I'm getting about 400ipm rapids, and I haven't really fiddled all that much with it yet. I haven't even lubed it, yet. One small gripe I have is that lubing all of the screws, except for the long axis, is pretty much impossible with taking apart 90% of the gantry, so pretty much the gantry axis are going to have to live with whatever I can give them via spray cans because I'm not rebuilding this thing every few months.

Overal, I'm pretty happy with the machine. I don't think there's anything else like it at this price. What's interesting is that he has some turn key machines coming too.

Congrats!


What size is your capability?
Tell me about the turnkey machines. I am in the market.

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Ken

I'm not quite sure what the real working size is yet. I'm probably a realistic 25X40 or thereabouts on a 32X48 machine (32X48 is the full size of the machine, not the extents). Z will give me about 4" or so.

I don't know anything about the turnkey machines other than we've chatted a bit about them. I'm not sure he's making anything like the Raptor anymore for the time being. I think he's concentrating on his cheaper machines and his larger machines, but you'll have to contact him and ask.