PCNC Automation Routers

[ger21]

I thought you had the Dual V, not those. But it does say the center wheel is adjustable for fit.

The two outside guide wheels are concentric, while the center wheel(s) are eccentric. Fit up is pre-set at the factory, but is easily adjusted by rotating the eccentrically mounted center guide wheels.

[bdsorcic]

luthier,
Thanks for the encouragement, that helps me keep my faith in my machine, but still I do not believe a person should take advantage of a customers money and use it for their own gain. The buisness owner should honor the customers request first and put themself last. He, Bill should never of had started building a new barn before he had the cash, he is using our money for his own good, hoping orders will pour in so he swims in cash, and gets his new barn build! That is poor a poor buisness plan, and I bet after all those who read my gripes and yours too will shy away from him, all in all he is a loser. If I was going into business I would build my cash reserves first and secure a building loan and worry about customers first making sure they are satisfied and happy, after all they are the ones who make or break the buisness... What you think? I am a retired guy after 35 years in the business, I am a happy retired person with a good cash flow, I never took advantage of anyone and grew up poor working my way through the thick and thin of life! I should know better and do not like people taking advantage of others, putting them selfs before others and breaking promises, that is just me ! You seem like a fair and hard working person and I like you!
As for the Dewalt Router, what do you use for a 1/8" collet. Do you ever use any bits smaller than 1/4" ?

[ashgrimm]

Back in Oct I ordered a 36"x 48" router from Bill.
I paid him up front and was told there was a 6 week lead time. At the end of the 6 weeks Nov 23 I emailed Bill for a update and received a email stating he had some supply problems and needed another couple of weeks. He also stated that he would keep me updated. I waited until DEC 25 and emailed him for an update. On the 28Th i emailed him again and every day since. To date i have no replies to my emails. I contacted Pay Pal and Visa Fraud Services about this matter. Pay Pal coverage is only good for 45 days. Visa will cover your purchase for 120 days.

I am appalled at the lack of customer service. And fear I will half to go thru Visa Fraud Services to get a resolution.
Are there any satisfied customers of Bills here?

Any advise from those of you who have dealt with him would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ash

[luthier]

Brian,
Sears sold, and maybe still sells an adapter for their all purpose laminate trimmer/grinder/dremel-like/ power tool they sold. That is what I'm using with cutters with 1/8 in shanks. Thanks for the kind words.... Forums like this go a long way in helping to work the bugs out of a project.

Ash, Yes there are satisfied users. I contacted a number of people and got their input. I'm pretty satisfied so far and I'm trying to present the plusses and minuses of the machine. I certainly want to be fair in my observations.

One of the things you have to consider is what you are paying for this machine. Look at what the Carvewright people spent on that thing and the growing pains you read about with that. I spent nearly 1000 dollars on a closed loop, motor/controller/ software system from Maxnc 6-7 years ago. I built my own machine and probably put another 6-700 dollars into materials for a 13 x 20 work area, and then there is the sweat equity aspect. If you want super precision you get what you pay for. I think structurally, this pcnc machine is very nice. If I wasn't trying to do fairly precise work, I probably wouldn't have any issues with it. For the stuff I'm doing, I need clean tight cavities made to hold the various parts that get installed on musical instruments. Any deviation from is noticable and I would consider my work flawed somewhat. In order to work around this, I've solved some issues by changing the direction of cut, moving to a spiral downcut, and slowing feedrates at critical locations. It is when it is turning a radius that the problems crop up, it is just a hair too loose and the router and bit flexes outward. If I can tighten this router up some without having to replace the guides, I'll be a very happy camper. Who knows how it will be down the road, but that holds the same for any manufacturer. Time will tell.
I'm sure that if this were my business being developed, I'd be concerned about the tone being set by our discussion right now and do what it takes to make things right, especially following up on the customer contacts.
I think it is an interesting design. I'd be willing to guess that we are the first generation users and our input will be useful for small changes to it. We are like the test group. I can tell you it is pretty darn fast.:-).

[ger21]

As for the Dewalt Router, what do you use for a 1/8" collet. Do you ever use any bits smaller than 1/4" ?

You can get 1/8" collets for Porter Cable and Bosch routers here.
http://www.precisebits.com/gateways/ColletsNutsHome.htm
They work great.

[luthier]

this is what i use from sears $7.99

Craftsman Chuck Adapter Kit

Sold by Sears | Sears Item# 00932350000 | Model# CM-CH01

[cabnet636]

the precise bit collet gerry has posted is a top of the line product for what it will do. there are collets for 1/8" and up, the wrench is a hair too tight but for the precision i live with it. another simple reduction roto zip makes a 1/4 to 1/8th reduction,

jim

[ger21]

Jim, my wrench fits perfectly. Not tight at all.

[cabnet636]

i probably should take a file to it, i have only used them when i am doing some fine 3d with the pc routers, most of the time i just use the spindle.

jim

[bdsorcic]

luthier,
I got the same 1/4 to 1/8 bit adapter off of PCnC from Bill, it is okay but has lots of run out and I am afraid to use it on those expensive 1/8 bits for 3D work. It is good for engraving letters on thin stock but I am looking to do some 3D work and got warnings from prople that they will break the bits? I do not know and have not tried yet, what do you think have you done 3D work on your projects with 1/8 mills using that adapter? I like the looks of the collet and nut from Precision Bits it looks good and is something I would like but they do not make one for the Dewalt D26670 that came with the PCnC machine.. Oh Crap! Suggestions are most welcome!
Today I did a little looking over my PCnC machine and noticed the router is off a coupe of degrees on both the X and Y axis so I spend time taking it apart and shimming it and now it is dead on square with the table. The router is held on with only one bold so I suggest you check yours with a mini square to see if it is square to the table. Hope this helps have not tried it yet as the wife and I are getting ready to go out for dinner and celebrate the new yrs.
I wish you and your family and all at CNCZone a very happy new Yrs with nothing but the best of luck in the coming new Yr!

[jstrait76]

Hello all whom got taken by Bill..

I bought a machine from Bill in May of 2009, and it has never really worked, and now is in pieces and can't get a hold of Bill with his "emergency"

I live in Austin and I was loooking to get into CNC, as I own an engraving shop in Austin and it would fit with our other machines..

Bill's machine on the surface looked allright for a learning machine.
I went to Fort Worth and picked up my machine and thought Bill was an allright sales guy, I believed him that his machine was accurate and would work..

After the whole learning curve of Mach and VCarve, the machine just would not perform, so Bill actually came down to Austin and spent 2 days working on his machine, and I think one of the videos on his website shows the machine cutting a rectangle, wow. Any kind of Vcarve or complex art, the machine would stall, miss steps and generally screw up 90% of all jobs sent to it.. but worse..

I paid 3500 dollars for a machine that sits in the corner of the shop collecting dust.

On a positive note, I have an engraving machine that I dropped off to Bill to convert and work with Mach, and that worked really well for about a month and had to rewire it finding out that Bill wired it with ribbon cable instead of the proper guage. That cost me 900 dollars for 3 motors and a hobbyCNC board in a homemade box, that was wired to fail..

So after dealing with these 2 machines I have learned quite a bit about these hobby machines, and have spent many of nights on this forum and joined tonight to put in about Bill..

My engraver that had to be rewired, I had Bill on the phone and he suggested taking one of the motors off of the "P****tyC" and trying it on the engraver to test the motor, and he promised to send me a new motor. Well that did not work so he said that he would over night a Rockcliff board to me, and I gave him my UPS number. In the mean time he suggested that we take the board out of the "P****tyC" and put it in the engraver. So after all that wiring, I got it to work. Meanwhile I had orders for 100's of items with this engraver and was happy to get it up and running..I have never received the new board or motor

Now I have one machine working and the PCNC is sitting there missing a motor and the board..

I have tried to contact Bill and his cell is out of service and the lady that answers the phone for him always says he will call me back and it has been over 2 months now...

PROBLEMS I HAVE WITH THE MACHINE OTHER THAN THE OBVIOUS:

1. The soft rack and pinion, what a joke - this is set up to fail. the clamps for the belts seem to always fail and come loose, or pop off.

2. The piece of plastic that is super glued in that rides on the belts. Mine have fallen off and I feel is bad design, anything that is super glued, come on

I guess those are the big ones, I am thinking of putting lead screws on the X and Y of the machine and trying to figure that out, being as I refuse to ever deal with Bill again...

My business partner and I were talking about mistakes that we had made this year and I had asked him if we should have never met Bill, and he said that we have learned a lot about CNC and the problems, how to fix, rewire and diagnose this type of hardware and I guess that is something..

I have built up another engraver as a back up with the knowledge that I have gained through these experiences and Nick at Rockcliff is real good with the tech support, btw I sent Nick photos of Bills work and he agreed with me about the wiring, and I will have to post that at some point..

I am glad that I got out all this about PCNC, and Bill, I hope he gets his stuff together and designs a better machine and has great service so people out there don't think they got ripped off!!

MY PCNC SERIAL IS R1001, maybe I was the first machine, my theory anyway

-J

[luthier]

J..... I'm am so sorry to hear that things went bad for you. Thanks for sharing that information. I wonder if the design was altered on the later machines that got built? Mine has some modified angle material on to hold the soft rack at both ends where the rubbers slips in and around itself at the ends. It looks like a simple part to make if you don't have them.