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  1. #81
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    I have a Maxnc 10 open loop mill which I haven't used in 2-3 years. I also bought a Maxnc closed loop motor control system for use on my home built cnc router. It was nice having everything all put together, but their documentation was horrible and there was no real tech support. Given this was all before the company was sold to its present owner. My system with 1/4-20 rod drive ran really slow as compared to the pcnc system. I don't know how mach3 would work with the maxnc system, but problems with skipped steps with the Max got me to buy the pcncautomation machine in the first place. It could be a controller problem, or motor problem, or software problem, but I did swap out computers and that didn't cure it. Now that I know more about that end of things, I'd probably go with a more popular system.



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    I am getting a chinese 1200 x 1800 router and adding controls here (you can get it with controls from there but they are not the best. The cost of the router FOB china with steppers, vacuum table and 2k spindle and inverter is 5600$...shipping is around 800-1000 to get it to my door. There is more info on the chinese router thread



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    Just noticed that the pcncautomation.net link no longer goes to Bill's website. A WHOIS search shows the domain registration expiring today. Guess there's not going to be a PCnC Automation 2.0!

    Last edited by SparksStudios; 04-26-2010 at 02:50 PM.


  4. #84
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    Someone aught to buy that web site and whip up a site to collect facts and figures on Bill J's nefarious dealings!



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    Tried to call county prosecuter (SWITZERLAND) today. Left message for her to call me back. (Monica Hemsly 812-427-2909) Talked to her 2 other times and she said deputies were dispatched but Bill wouldnt answer the door. They must have forgot thier badges or they don't take this seriously OR Bill is local "good old boy"!!!! He is a sly one. Glad others on here are on his trail to TX. Suggest calling Monica friday and maybe she wiil take this more seriously even if he has left state: he's committed major crime and should be hounded. BTW sent Monica all PCNC transaction paperwork some time back, others may want to do same.JIM



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    Looks like he is back at it again. See the posting on Craigslist I just found houston.craigslist.org/bfs/1749085116.html



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    I doubt that that is Bill selling new machines. I e-mailed the seller asking if it was new or used. Bill's sister told me he left everything behind in her garage when he split for parts unknown.

    But then again he could be selling a picture of one of his old machines....sounds like someone needs to contact the authorities in Indiana to check this out.



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    Thumbs down Wonder who that is from if not Bill Johnson himself?

    Copied from " http://houston.craigslist.org/bfs/1749085116.html "

    Table Top CNC Router - $3800 (Spring, Texas)
    Date: 2010-05-19, 1:26PM CDT
    Reply to: sale-m6c9e-1749085116@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

    Tabletop CNC Router 36X60 - PC operated. Moving gantry providing stationary work surface, dual motors on x axis-soft rack and pinion, NEMA 23 stepper motors 250oz/in, heavy duty T-slot surface for easy part fixture. Mach3 CNC interface - Windows based G-Code, spindle controlled automatically by software. Mach3 software is extremely user friendly with a single screen design, built in G-Code editor and toolpath preview, production logging and reporting.
    Complete computer set up for this machine with additional VCarve software and tools included.

    * Location: Spring, Texas
    * it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails PCnC Automation Owners Group-3k93oa3la5q25w45r3a5je9da2c122292179b-jpg  


  9. #89
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    Default here is a copy of the ad

    in case he removes it from craigs list

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails PCnC Automation Owners Group-pcnc-scam-jpg  
    James McGrew CAMaster 508 ATC
    www.mcgrewwoodwork.com http://dropc.am/p/EJaKyl


  10. #90
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    Reply from the seller "Gary Sommers"

    "It is a used machine. It will be one year old in July 2010."

    Since he left all his CNC router syuff in Vevay, I would have been surprised if he was up and running again. Also, he was in the DFW area for 3-4 years before he moved to Indiana and Spring Texas is in the Houston area. Not that he couldn't have ties to that area too........

    Keep lookin' for Bill!

    Dennis



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    I do believe Spring Tx did come up once in a converse with BJ. Good catch on craigs list, even if it was not him. JIM



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    Default Hello all

    Quote Originally Posted by jslade View Post
    I do believe Spring Tx did come up once in a converse with BJ. Good catch on craigs list, even if it was not him. JIM
    Is this the Bill Johnson ur looking for?

    http://www.buyerzone.com/local2/d/41...33F08003F.html

    Someone is advertising in euless tx near dallas tx, about 3 hrs from spring tx. I called the # there and a Diana ask for u to leave a voice mail.

    Hope this will locate the Bill Johnson for u.

    Last edited by william-55; 06-14-2010 at 02:43 PM. Reason: miss spelling


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    Sorry, but that's a dead end - unless you can get her to open up on what she knows about Bill. Her last name is Allen BTW.

    She's up in the DFW area which is a world away from Spring which is a suburb of Houston. She used to do some kind of marketing for Bill but when I talked to her several months ago she said she hasn't been connected with Bill for a year and that she'd heard "he's moved up to Illinois or somewhere". She wasn't to forthcoming on the phone, sounded like she didn't want to talk about Bill.

    That's about all I have to contribute.

    Dennis



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    BTW, Bill had told me he worked at Multicam for three years. They are located in Dallas.

    Anyone got any conntacts there that might still be in contact with Bill?



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    Does anybody know of any decent linear guides that would fit in the space of the current ones that BJ used?



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    There is a seller on ebay called "irvineman" and their linear bearings are very reasonable and of good quality. The brand name is VBX. I purchased these for my conversion that you can check out under the thread "Pcnc conversions, upgrades & rebuilds"



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    But do they fit in the space of the existing ones or do they require major surgery the head?



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    I don't know of any other bearing system that can bolt right in the existing place of the wisecarver bearings. There would be some modification on your part to make it work. I did like the idea of adding a double wisecarver bearing to the y axis as someone has allready done.



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    I realize that I am way late to the party, but we purchased R1008 from Bill through eBay on June 26, last year - one year ago tomorrow. I also paid Bill an additional $900 for a rotary engraving attachment after talking with him for a total of probably 2 hours on the phone to try to feel comfortable that he knew what he was doing with it. We make a lot of ADA signs and, among other reasons, wanted the other head to drill holes for Braille balls.

    I won't go through all the details because you guys know all the basics of the story as well as anyone. I think we were luckier than many of you, but that still leaves us pretty far short of good. The biggest nightmare was with the rotary engraving attachment, but I have to admit that, for whatever reason, Bill seemed to take an honest interest in that.

    The entire unit arrived on August 11 (way late from promised date - same excuses you guys got pretty much). I have to say that Bill was very helpful in getting us set up. We also have a large format (4' x 8') CNC laser, so we were familiar with a good part of it, but the software was different and the laser doesn't actually touch the work (let alone cut into it with significant lateral forces) so there were still quite a few questions.

    It became apparent on the first sign we tried to drill the Braille holes in that the rotary engraving head did not work even remotely like it should. Sparing you from the endless excuses, we finally received a new head on (ready for this?) Friday the 13th of November. To my continued amazement and thanks to the good Lord above, it works! There are a couple of issues we have under very specific circumstances that we can overcome when we have those situations. The fix is not automatic and requires doing part of the work, stopping, resetting, and then finishing from where it was stopped. The motor loses a step(s) somehow under certain patterns of movement so we need to fix that rather than work around it, but it does not come up that often.

    I really appreciate all the posts you guys have made with your mods. We have done some of those ourselves after spending hours and hours (as many of you have) to figure out what to do and doing a lot of trial and error. I would really like to replace the belts with ball screw assemblies, but am not sure where to start. We've had one belt clamp break and have it pieced back together enough to work, but can't find replacement parts so far.

    I checked our wiring and voltages across the Rockcliff driver board and, again thank God, we are set ok there. I got 3.6 volts across all 4 points which corresponds to 2.25 amps. That's a hair higher than the 2.1 they recommend, but less than the 2.5 max so I didn't tweak it.

    One last thing... concerns Mach 3 - specifically Scott Nichols. I'm not sure exactly what the deal was with my license, but I am pretty sure from the original response from Scott that Bill had jerked them around and maybe put my machine's license with someone else. Scott was still nice about it and said that pending trying to find out from Bill what the story was that my license would not be blacklisted and I was still good for upgrades. We had an incident yesterday that makes clear that we have to take some remedial action right away and I was so mad I yanked the PcNc sticker off the machine and wanted Bill's name completely unassociated with the thing. I sent Scott an email telling him that (I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm crazy now. 'Course, he may be right) and asking him to please change the name on the license. He very graciously did so immediately. Now, part of that could be that he's afraid to deal with a crazy man, but I think it's almost entirely because they are a good and reputable company and want to take care of their customers. Just thought I should mention that.

    I notice things have died down on the thread. Please keep posting any changes you make - what works, what doesn't. There may yet be a couple of others like me who are late finding this. Again - thank you all very much for your cautions, solutions, and sharing the anger and frustration we all feel. Maybe I'm just an extremely slow learner (Oh God, my 8th grade teacher was right!), but I still believe most people out there try to do the right thing when they can. I know that's the way we run our business and I deal with people every day that are the same way. So yes, this should teach us caution, but let's not allow us to become callous and untrusting of everyone. Life's no good that way.

    Oh, and I also gave Bill a good recommendation one time right when he had gotten the rotary engraver working. Don't remember who it was to, but if it was one of you I sincerely and deeply apologize.

    Paul



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    When I was talking to BJ, I specifically told him of my concern that he muight not be around to service his product if he went out of business. That had already happened to me about 15 years ago with a company that was building and selling an abrasive thickness sander. They had a proprietary ( sp) design that utilized a scaled down industrial conveyor. Well it turns out the gum rubber hardens in a year under normal daylight. The next year I went to order a new one and they were history.
    I don't think there are any guarantees with a small business. I've seen a lot of CNC places go under that sold desktop size products like this, hence my hesitancy. I guess I just hoped for the best. There's no way I could afford an industrial strength router made by some of the bigger guys which is why I was interested in The PCNC in the first place. It really was the first one that was affordable that didn't look like a toy. I consider myself lucky to at least have one that I can improve.



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