Stepcraft is an "unbaked product" and i hate it

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 :woohoo:

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. :dry:
Honestly speaking, I would not suggest to a friend to buy it. :unsure:

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.

Hahahahahahaha! Holy shit, look at Rory! The last time I ran that fast I had my pants on fire :woohoo:

A clockwork orange machine and I...... love it.

I am reading this thread and find it surprising how many problems you guys encountered building this machine.
Maybe I am one of the lucky ones to have bought one from the first batch (Oct 2014).

Oh I am not a (fine) mechanic engineer or technician, just a hobbyist with 2 right hands. So no rocket science here.

So my S420 series 1 arrived with the Proxxon and dust collector 2 days after ordering by Stepcraft in Germany.
Then the next day I started to assemble this machine (pic 1 is taken at 09:20) about 7 hours later, yes really (last pic is taken at 16:35) it was ready for its first test run.

When that checked out to be working fine I rechecked all screws, belt tension, moving parts, put some oil/grease on the designated parts and let it do its first job.
I can say that since that day I check every 10 working hours the tightness of the screws and oil/re-grease where necessary and my orange clockwork is still running until today, hopefully also tomorrow:)

So we hear a lot of what can go wrong, but there are also success stories, just for keeping up hope for fine working machine.

the only thing I dislike about the stepcraft is not having twin Y-axis motors.

I hate belts with all my heart.

Miller, you are living proof that miracles do happen! Now seriously, who did you bribe 😆
Valencia, are you nuts? With the luck I have I'd be receiving coupled motors driving in opposite directions :woohoo:

Certainly not a plug and play product, more like "plug and swear at it for several months".

That's the point.
Now I've invested so much time to make it working that would be a no-sense to sell it and buy something different. But when I bought it I was not aware of such troubles/difficulties. That's no honest from the "consumer" point-of-view.