Hi from a prospective owner

Hi David

I run a Stepcraft 600 from a laptop using UC100 controller (USB connection) and UCCNC software instead of Mach3.

I'd advise you to take a look at stoneycnc.co.uk where you will get lots of info and demo videos. Rory Stoney is a really helpful bloke with all the info you could need, and buying from him (Stepcraft partner in UK/Ireland) means you have excellent English language support.

If the SC machines are "too small" how big do you need? Often you can get around size issues by re-thinking your build.

Take a look in the user creations section of this forum - if it's big enough to build a chair, surely it can cope with your models? If you want a production line churning out thousands of models I would agree that they are not suitable - maintenance cycle requires clean & re-grease/oil every 10 hours of use, and cutting can be slow if you are cutting deep. Typically you are looking at a cut depth of half diameter of cutting bit for each pass, so if you were making intricate cuts that required a 1mm bit, and you were cutting (for example) wood 5mm thick you would need to make 10 passes to cut through.

Try downloading the demo of VCarve Pro from vectric.com, and set up a sample of your work in that (lots of online video tutorials) - it has a job estimate that would let you see how quick it would go. I typically run at a feed rate of 900mm/min (SC rated at 1800mm/min).

Hope this helps.

(BTW I am not connected to Rory Stoney in any way except as a grateful and satisfied customer)

Many thanks,
I had tried the German pages in the mean time.
I have also done a lot of online research and do think the 600 is big enough for my use.
I wanted to use Mach3 as my pal has it and my thinking is: if I have problems, he can help me.
I have also mailed Stoney regarding the UC100. If they are the same price as the Hungarians, I'll order it there.
Due to the Pound/Euro rate, the machine is cheaper directly with Stepcraft.
Cheers
David

Hello David,
UCCNC (V1.1012) works fine with the UC100 Please have a look also to the UC300, if you want to expand wad (handwheel and other sensors is the UC300 runs better with MACH3 and UCCNC.
Best Regards
Wolfgang

Many thanks,
I had tried the German pages in the mean time.
I have also done a lot of online research and do think the 600 is big enough for my use.
I wanted to use Mach3 as my pal has it and my thinking is: if I have problems, he can help me.
I have also mailed Stoney regarding the UC100. If they are the same price as the Hungarians, I'll order it there.
Due to the Pound/Euro rate, the machine is cheaper directly with Stepcraft.
Cheers
David

Please, please beware!

StoneyCNC costs a little more than direct from Stepcraft, but he provides absolutely superb support where Stepcraft don't. The Stepcraft is not a buy, screw together and use machine - particularly if (like me), you're new to CNC. Expect to spend a long time getting the machine set up and tuned for it to work properly. Just a few things from my experience:

My 840 arrived very badly packaged by Stepcraft, and the aluminium profiles were all scratched and gouged - unusable. The control board cage was bent and broken. The bottom aluminium plate was incorrectly formed so would not fit, a few parts were missing. There were various other issues. Rory sent replacements for all of the faulty parts straight away - I had everything in a few days, and he spent a long time with me to get everything running smoothly.

My one contact directly with Stepcraft was about my HF500 spindle, which is faulty (play in the bearings). They said it had to be sent back to them with proof of purchase and a description of the error. No indication of how long it would take, but from talking to others I understand it would be months, all at my expense and I would be without a spindle and unable to use the machine in the meantime. Once again, Rory stepped in with a solution.

Again, with the UC100 and Mach3 / UCCNC (I use and would recommend UCCNC above the WinPC, it controls the machine much more smoothly), you might get it cheaper elsewhere. But will it come with a tested profile for the particular Stepcraft version you have purchased? Probably not - and where will you get it? Until you have it, your Stepcraft will not work.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Stepcraft is a good machine for the price, but the trade-off is that you need a lot of expertise, time and persistence to get it working well. I had the persistence; but it still took a few weeks from arrival of the package to making my first cuts with a properly setup machine (during which time I had disassembled and reassembled it completely three times). And the expertise - a lot of it came from Rory.

In my opinion, the small amount extra Rory charges for this kind of support is absolutely superb value - actually, based on my experience, I think it's absolutely vital.

Cheers,
David

I'd really second the recommendation from david. You only read good things about the support given by stoneyCNC. So, if you expect or see the slightest chance to be in need of support you should buy there.

But I don't second other statements.
What you can also read here from time to time is, that packaging is really good. Actually it's the first time that I read the opposite. I don't disagree with what's been said about the status of the package after transportation, but maybe someone else has to be blamed for the scratched and bend parts. When studying I worked for UPS and I know how hard life of a parcel can be!
On the other hand a company has to rely on their workers and you find good and bad ones. So, letting SC know about your bad package should at least help to figure out wheather there is a worker which provokes bad packages. Did you take some photos?

The construction of course is a matter of your personal experience in mechanics. You can be too much experienced and too little experienced, both ending in a nightmare. For me the steppi worked after some hours with some little backslash and after tightening 2 screws it worked perfect. I would say that I am not a real expert, but have a good amount of allround talent and CNC and the mechanical part of machine assembly was totally new to me as well.

So, someone ordering a steppi has to be prepared for both, an easy walkthrough or a nightmare. But at the end of the road there is lots of fun 😆

Well guys, being as its now June, I bought the machine (600) from Stepcraft back in March. I also bought the UC100 from Stoney.
The build went ok and after asking for it, Stoney did provide a XML file so I could at least try it out.
I did manage to mill a servo box using the UC100 and Mach3. Then a sudden work related project popped up unexpectedly and I Had to abandon my efforts.
Last week I fired up the machine and had some "UC100 not found" issues. I re-started everything a few times and eventually it worked again. (Dont know why)
I then found the maching ran the Y axis for about half way then ground to a halt. It then did the same on the Y axis. I havent touched the machine and it has been stood untouched since The end of March - strange!
As my main table is occupied with model aircraft parts that have been painted , I havent been able to have a decent look what the problem is. I can only imagine it must be an adjustment issue as it was ok before.
I must admit I find it very complicated (i have devcad /cam and mach3) but I am confident it will be ok in the end.
I hope my pal, who has a larger machine, will find the time to come and help.
David (Herriman)

I'd really second the recommendation from david. You only read good things about the support given by stoneyCNC. So, if you expect or see the slightest chance to be in need of support you should buy there.

But I don't second other statements.
What you can also read here from time to time is, that packaging is really good. Actually it's the first time that I read the opposite. I don't disagree with what's been said about the status of the package after transportation, but maybe someone else has to be blamed for the scratched and bend parts. When studying I worked for UPS and I know how hard life of a parcel can be!
On the other hand a company has to rely on their workers and you find good and bad ones. So, letting SC know about your bad package should at least help to figure out wheather there is a worker which provokes bad packages. Did you take some photos?

Sorry I should have been clearer, I was not saying that this problem was common to all SC packages - otherwise we'd have heard about it all over the forum! In my case, however, the two Y axis profiles were shipped loose in the box with no bubble-wrap protection, resting guide-rail-side-down directly on the thick sharp edge of the aluminium base cage... with obvious consequences. As well as also having been damaged, two of the sheet metal folds in that base cage were not square, so one side rose 1.5mm higher than the slot for the MDF base plate in the Y profile - impossible to install the base plate as it butted up against that protrusion. Photos of all issues were taken, spares were provided and SC were notified - as a business owner myself I always believe in giving feedback on these kinds of things, just as I like to receive it - if I don't know about issues then I can't fix them.

The construction of course is a matter of your personal experience in mechanics. You can be too much experienced and too little experienced, both ending in a nightmare. For me the steppi worked after some hours with some little backslash and after tightening 2 screws it worked perfect. I would say that I am not a real expert, but have a good amount of allround talent and CNC and the mechanical part of machine assembly was totally new to me as well.

Absolutely, and my disassembly/reassembly was to get the machine working as well as possible, as well as to rectify some issues caused by the design (such as the X limit switch jamming with the washer under the brass roller, and some of the brass rollers jamming - both of which have been raised by others elsewhere in the German section).

So, someone ordering a steppi has to be prepared for both, an easy walkthrough or a nightmare. But at the end of the road there is lots of fun 😆

Yes! Despite the issues, I had a lot of fun building the Stepcraft, and a lot of fun making stuff with it. All I would reiterate is that, without Rory's support through the process, it could quickly have become a very negative experience.

But ultimately - hats off to Stepcraft for creating a machine this capable in this price bracket - it is an achievement.

Cheers,
David

UC100 not found - my issue with that was the USB cable not being tight! 🙂

If the machine has been sitting since March and in June can't manage full travel, I'd suggest looking for grease having dropped from your upper guide rail on to the lead screws. If you grease too heavily this can be an issue (you guessed it, I've had that one as well). I used degreaser on the lead screws and then rinsed with sewing machine oil, everything went back to normal.

Failing that I'd go back to the tuning of the machine with particular attention to tension of the rollers and orientation of the brass fitting the lead screw runs through.