Need help/or info re MAXICAM or EXcitech 1325 with ATC and Vac table

[MaNo]

Hello Mano,

I am sorry I was absent for months of CNC ZONE because I am always busy on marketing of our products, now still have problem? you can contact me by info[at]roc-tec[dot]net then we will give you more help.
now I have two engineer very good at Syntec system.

Hope you are going well.

Hi Roctech,

Thanks for your offer. I will definitively get in contact with you via email.

Although you may have read in an other thread on this zone that I am waiting for a promised replacement for the incorrectly configured Maxicam 1325 SE T-V, I am still very interested in learning about the Syntec EZ 4012M so when replacement arrives I will have a better understanding of it.

If your engineers are willing to help not only me to understand the Syntec , but also the multitude of other Syntec users on the CNC Zone, you can only create goodwill for your own business.

[MaNo]

It's well over 7 months since my Maxicam 1325 C SE-T-V machine arrived in Barbados and I haven't produced one single item.

Some of the delay can't be solely attributed to Maxicam as it is due to a combination of misunderstanding and/or wrong information plus several overseas business trips and lack of planning ahead on my part.

To start with, I couldn't connect the machine to the grid because I only have 220V, single phase and the machine is 3-phase. Prior to placing order I checked with the local power company and was told that the area in which my business is located, the supply is 220V 3-wire. That term, '3-wire' is NOT 3-phase and that's the first hiccup. In order to get the machine to work I would either have to get the power company to install 3-phase at my (great) expense or buy/import a rotary phase converter. I opted for the latter and by the time that one arrived and was installed, we were in Sept. Then we had to rewire the place because my wire gauges weren't substantial enough for 1325 together with compressor, vacuum pump,dust collector etc. etc......so, more delay.

Also, the compressor was mistakenly delivered with a 380V motor. It was suggested elsewhere on this forum that I could change the motor-wiring to delta and run it on 220V. The engineers at Maxicam discouraged me from doing that and promply sent a step-up transformer to my consolidator in Xiamen.

Once connected, all I could do was to move the spindle all over the table by MPG or jogging via console but that was about it.

Linda Wu and Monica Lu at Maxicam organized for an engineer to be available via Skype and video cam and for many, many days we tried to resolve the problem. Skype and vidcam are great but whereas I could physically see the entire table, the field of view via cam is limited and when I was told to do something on the inverters at the back of the console and showing it with the camera, engineer could not see the screen or the table/gantry as I could see at a glance. Camera had to be moved constantly. We tried all kinds of settings on the controller, changed parameters of this and that, changed the software on the CFC maybe 5 or 6 times and still got nowhere. Engineer, Luyang (adopted name: Lucas), stayed up until midnight many, many times without complaints. Mind you, starting a session at 5PM (China time zone) meant me rolling out of bed at around 3:30 to 4:00 AM, my time zone.

Even if we could get the machine to eventually run a file I could see that there would be a problem with the ATC rack so after carefull measuring the entire machine and its components, taking some snapshots as well, Maxicam confirmed that the configuration for the type of machine I ordered is the wrong one. The frame is too small for the rack type ATC. We are now around mid-December.

On my return from a trip to Canada early January, I had an email from Linda Wu at Maxicam saying that management proposes to replace the machine.

Quite frankly, I didn't expect that. I had somewhat resigned myself to getting replacement parts, turning up my sleeves and physically doing the replacement of those parts, maybe some drilling and tapping here and there, maybe getting a welder involved too .....but replacing the entire machine ! Whoa.... that really came as a pleasant surprise.

Although I never felt abandoned by Maxicam CNC, I couldn't see the end of the tunnel and I would be less than honest if I didn't admit to being very frustrated and upset at times about and with my purchase.....so the offer to replace the entire machine at considerable expense to Maxicam tells me that they take their business and by extension, customer service very seriously.

I am sure that a rule will be cast in concrete about fully testing all machines prior to shipping. Consequently, future buyers will or should benefit from good quality control at Maxicam.

Mind you, the replacement is so far only in words and with the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) now in full swing, not much is going to happen at the China end until after Feb 22nd. In the meantime, the paperwork and getting the machine ready for shipping back to China has kept me busy.

Will report back as we go along.

[MaNo]

Maxicam 1325 SE T-V loaded and ready to go.......

As mentioned in previous posts, Maxicam Global CNC had offered to take back the machine for replacement. Although we were ready to load in February we were refused a container by the shipping line we normally use for our imports. The reason given for refusal was that the machine is not new anymore since it was exported in 2009 hence it must be "used". We explained to forwarder that the machine has never even cut a single panel and is going back under warranty because it is not meeting the specs of our order. The forwarder's office in Qingdao were adamant. ....no container.

It appears that China has strict rules or laws concerning used machinery. It also appears that those rules/laws can be interpreted different ways, depending on who you listen to and that they are obscure enough the even the local commercial officer of the Embassy of China here in Barbados was somewhat in the dark about it. It also made me think that this is probably the first machine ever to go back under warranty to Maxicam CNC because even their office was not aware of it. That's actually good because if mine is the first machine to go back, it would mean a good QC record and mine was just a fluke. I would have preferred the 'fluke' hadn't come to me but that's life...

To cut a long story short, we had Maxicam CNC issue a certificate stating that the machine is being recalled under warranty for modifications, repairs or exchange to meet customer's specifications. To make sure that no bureaucrat along the way thinks that the certificate might be a fake, we had the Chinese Embassy check with Maxicam as to authenticity of the certificate. This they did and certified the document as genuine and authetic in Chinese as well as English, complete with chop of the Embassy.

So, if ever you need to return a machine to China under warranty, bear in mind that it may get refused at the port of destination unless you have some sort of certificate stating the machine has been recalled for modifications or something along those lines. It could be that by refusing us a container the Qingdao office of the forwarder has actually done us a favour.

As a new crate would have been much too expensive, I mounted the machine on skids and braced it with three pieces of 3/4inch thick scalloped ply on each side. Controller sits on top table as per original shipment.

Now the waiting starts again...it will be end May before I will see the replacement

P.S.: Just in case you are wondering why I post this on the Excitech thread...well, Excitech and Maxicam CNC are sister companies...

[MaNo]

Well, there is really nothing to report except that the container with machine has been sitting at the port in Qingdao since end April.

Maxicam has not yet been able to get container released and storage charges are accumulating to Maxicam's account. I don't precisely know why but it has to do with customs. I am starting to wonder if Maxicam had forgotten to enter the machine under HS code 98010010 (Which China customs does have too and pertains to import of goods exempted from the levy of customs duty (usually for re-export))

I will post further info when available.... in particular steps to take or avoid when doing an AUTHORIZED return of machine under warranty. Obviously it's rarely done and even factory doesn't know the full set of rules and regulations...

If a member of this forum has pertinent info to share, please post here. Thanks

[MaNo]

Well, after all that time I can't report anything definite. I appears that the Chinese customs department has been making life difficult. Up to now I do not know why that is because the documentation for the return was as clear and concise as it should be.

I can only assume that Maxicam made some kind of error because the returned machine was obviously not a regular import (subject to duties, taxes, etc.) and the documents at their end were not properly prepared for a machine meant to be re-exported. Here the HS code no. 98010010, with the correct,sustantiating documents should have been applied but I believe it wasn't.

Anyway, Linda at Maxicam sent me these photos of the replacement machine in the finishing stages. Instead of an 1325 with ATC 5kW spindle, I have upgraded to a 1530 with 10kW HSD ATC.

I looks like the customs documents required by Chinese authorities will e ready in a day or so and then replacement will be ready for shipment.

Unfortunately I cannot point out with certainty where,who or what went wrong so hopefully no one has to go through a frustrating experience like this. Had this machine been meant as a sole source of income, then I would have been up the creek.

As it is I can only hope to see the repalacement in about 1-1/2 to 2 months from now.

[Jason Marsha]

That's going to be a monster spindle Norbert. Let's hope everything runs smoothly from now. The good thing is everthing should be ready from an electrical stand point when the new macine arrives.

Jason

[MaNo]

That's going to be a monster spindle Norbert. Let's hope everything runs smoothly from now. The good thing is everthing should be ready from an electrical stand point when the new macine arrives.

Jason

Hi Jason,

Yes, I suppose it's kind of a monster but I wanted a HSD spindle. The 5 kW Chinese water cooled spindle I had on the returned machine was probably powerful enough, quiet and I believe it was well made too but I never got a parts manual for it so I specified a HSD spindle for the replacement. I don't like being tied to one single source of parts. Although I have been told later-on that replacement bearings for the spindle are not difficult to get I did not want to take a chance without having a parts list with numbers/specs, etc. With the HSD I can get replacements easily enough from the States, UK orr straight from Italy.

The 10kW wasn't my first choice. I wanted a 6-8 kW but all Maxicam had in stock (HSD with ATC) was the 10kW, so I took that. It will, of course, use more electricity but will surely never operate under any strain.

Anyway, I still haven't got the replacement machine. Apparently Chinese customs or rather the Commodity Inspection Bureau is giving them hell. As you probably remember, I discovered the error in configuration of my machine only several months after having installed and connected it. So, by the time all was cleared for the return shipment and the machine got actually back to China, just a little over one year had elapsed. And those extra weeks (or was it days) over the 1 year period were sufficient to create havoc.

The last I heard from Linda at Maxicam is that the paperwork is still being help up at the Commodity Inspection Bureau.

I wonder if there is any room for me at the 'mental'

[Jason Marsha]

Don't worry about the "mental", Norbert, at the rate that documentation is moving through the red tape you should be fully treated by the time the machine arrives.

It really seems that the system is not set up to process any sort of returned machinery.

Jason

[MaNo]

Don't worry about the "mental", Norbert, at the rate that documentation is moving through the red tape you should be fully treated by the time the machine arrives.

It really seems that the system is not set up to process any sort of returned machinery.

Jason

Hey, Jason, Linda Wu of Maxicam advised me Monday that the Chinese Commodity Bureau approved the replacement and shipment of the 1530. All delays, red tape, etc. stem from the fact that the machine I returned to factory landed in China a week or so AFTER the warranty expired.

Linda must be just as relieved as I to get the machine out the door and me out of her hair. All in all, it does prove something about Maxicam's position regarding the company's standing behind their product, doesn't it?

[MaNo]

A quick update and a pleasant one to make at that.

The MAXI-C 1530SE-T-V is at sea and should arrive Barbados Oct 31. I was able to trace the container via CMA CGM online tracking and the ETA is the end of this month. Give it 7 extra days to clear customs and delivery to my warehouse, and I should be up and running before mid-November.

The people at Maxicam CNC have kept their word and I think Linda Wu has handled this frustrating situation very well.

[MaNo]

Replacement arrived and looking darn good. Although plastic wrapped inside a 20' container, Maxicam was worried that some rust would on machine because container was held up for several months by Chinese red tape.

There are some really little spots around the ATC rim of the spindle which came off easily with 0000 steel wool.

Still needs connected to the grid and 'cranked-up' as Jim would say, but I feel that this will go OK and I can put this thread to rest.

Mind you, the entire matter, from discovery of manufacturing error to receipt of replacement took a long time, but I can say that Maxicam has lived-up to its promise and warranty.

[Jason Marsha]

At last Norbert. Hopefully everything is there.

Jason