[SparksStudios]

Welcome Paul, to our little group! I notice your machine # is R1008. I sometimes wonder just how many machines Bill actually produced.

Anyone have a number above R-1020?

I get the feeling he didn't make more then 20 to 30 of these things, if that many.

(BTW: My Mach3 info screen originally showed "R-1008" for the license, my serial # is R-1010. Scott fixed me up a new license file with no "PCnC" in it at all, no problem.)

-Taylor

[ccci1]

I was wondering how many actually got made as well, what with some being sold twice and others being paid for and not being built at all. A while back it might have bothered me that you had an identification of R1008 on your license, but it's been long enough now that I can actually kinda chuckle at it. Especially since the folks at Mach made that part of it ok for both of us.

It looks like Bill just plain swindled a bunch of folks, but I really think that some parts of it were just complete screw-ups or lack of attention to detail. Always trying to find a silver lining I guess I choose to look on it like Luthier put it - "I consider myself lucky to at least have one that I can improve."

I think one of the reasons we allowed ourselves to step out in faith is because Bill wrapped his "story" around a lot of truth. At least what he told me was that he had worked for a large CNC maker and wanted to make the technology available to the really serious hobbyist and small commercial shops. Good quality - granted less muscle than the big machines - but at a very reasonable price.

It didn't really seem too good to be true because I had already looked into building my own and knew somewhat what the prices were and he claimed that he was going to just try to do little more than break even on the first couple of dozen machines so he could get his name out there and let that do the selling for him. Well, that's a little like we run our business in that we offer a 20% discount from a first-time customer's best quote to take some of the risk out of them giving us a try. Of course, the difference is that we bust our humps to make sure they are satisfied so they will come back. But, anyway, that kinda resonated with me and I just thought Bill was trying a similar approach to us. Once you start to identify with a salesman - fair or fake - you have a tendency to lower your guard.

Well, guess that was a lot of words that don't really mean much or help any, but I just don't want to find myself afraid to trust anyone ever again. Doesn't seem like a healthy way to live. Specially for an old farm boy that grew up with everybody helping everybody.

I'm going to use the same philosophy I was taught about the stock market. Don't ever invest money you can't afford to lose. Doesn't mean you want to lose it, but it won't keep food from the table if you do.

Have to ask again...I know it's been a while now, but there are some of us (well, at least one) that would really appreciate seeing results from any mods you attempt. We are starting to take a look at some improvements and I may even post our proposed changes to see what y'all think of 'em. I'll definitely post results once we get that far.

Paul

[dobrientruckers]

A while back, like before Bill vaporized and it looked like we may be able to get some retribution, I started collecting information as it crossed my path. One of those items was serial numbers. So here's a list I had that is far from complete (according to Bill there were 14 customers who paid and didn't receive machines - according to his sister there were 17) and in many cases may use people's names from other forums:

R1001 Jesse Got May, 2009 Straight Austin Award King (DOA and still is)R1008 ccci1 ordered 6/27/09, got working 11/13/09
R1010 SparkStudios trying to get table surface flat. Last one from TX
R1012 iborkey got machine and then zero support
R1014 gjp got in Oct 09 was wired wrong resulting in bad controller
R1016 mmcclung got and returned 11/10/09
R1016 bdsoric got 11/16/09 and is rebuilding
R1017 Justin Eckerly got on E-Bay and is happy with machine
R1019 Protrack Corp bought 8-09 spending $750 to upgrade bearings
R1020 allmax got 11/17/09 may be last machine Bill delivered
R10XX dobrientruckers - paid for and never got
R10XX wildhorse - paid for and never got
R10XX ashgrimm - paid for and never got
R10XX jslade - paid for and never got
R10XX y2khines - paid for and never got
R10XX Steve Robinson - paid for and never got


Hope this is of some help to someone. Feel free to suggest additions, corrections.

Dennis

[dobrientruckers]

I guess these investigators were a little more aggressive than the Vevay ones:

Executives Charged For Running Bankrupt Company



July 7, 2010
SALEM, S.D. (AP) — Two men at the helm of Salem's largest employer when it collapsed into bankruptcy now face criminal charges.
Randy Bauer, 52, of Appleton, Wis., and Jason Ollerich, 37, of Sioux Falls, each are charged with four counts of theft by deception, Attorney General Marty Jackley said. The men are accused of taking advance payments for grain augers they never intended to make.
Bauer was president and Ollerich vice president of Feterl Manufacturing Corp., a business with a 50-year history in Salem that once employed almost 150 people in the southeast South Dakota town of 1,300 people. They are due in court July 19.

The plant closed in October 2008 and later filed for bankruptcy. Canada-based Buhler Industries Inc. bought Feterl's assets in February and reopened the plant.
There are 26 employees working on Buhler Industries' first batch of 60 augers, operations manager Jeff Hatch said. All but four of them had worked for Feterl. The plant hopes to double its employment by the end of next year, he said.

[jslade]

Anyone who thinks crime does'nt pay has never been to Switzerland Cty IN. Can't imagine BJ's case wouldn't have been easy slam dunk if those tax sponges in Vevay would have even tried to DO THIER JOB!!!! Those folks in SD may have even had to go to Wisc. the way it sounds. How dare they harrass those two poor fellows (crooks). Ha Ha! JIM

[luthier]

A while back, like before Bill vaporized and it looked like we may be able to get some retribution, I started collecting information as it crossed my path. One of those items was serial numbers. So here's a list I had that is far from complete (according to Bill there were 14 customers who paid and didn't receive machines - according to his sister there were 17) and in many cases may use people's names from other forums:

R1001 Jesse Got May, 2009 Straight Austin Award King (DOA and still is)R1008 ccci1 ordered 6/27/09, got working 11/13/09
R1010 SparkStudios trying to get table surface flat. Last one from TX
R1012 iborkey got machine and then zero support
R1014 gjp got in Oct 09 was wired wrong resulting in bad controller
R1016 mmcclung got and returned 11/10/09
R1016 bdsoric got 11/16/09 and is rebuilding
R1017 Justin Eckerly got on E-Bay and is happy with machine
R1019 Protrack Corp bought 8-09 spending $750 to upgrade bearings
R1020 allmax got 11/17/09 may be last machine Bill delivered
R1022 Luthier got his machine and is living with it as is
R10XX dobrientruckers - paid for and never got
R10XX wildhorse - paid for and never got
R10XX ashgrimm - paid for and never got
R10XX jslade - paid for and never got
R10XX y2khines - paid for and never got
R10XX Steve Robinson - paid for and never got


I added my machine into the list

[dobrientruckers]

Luthier,

When did you get your machine? Later than 11/17/09? Curious as you serial number is two higher than Allmax's.

Dennis

[luthier]

Well I didn't have it on a post I made 11/20 and I had it by 12/7. It was shipped between those two dates. It was made and waiting to be picked up in that span of time.

[dobrientruckers]

Well congratulations then - it looks like you got the last PCNC Automation Router the hiding BJ ever delivered!

[luthier]

Wow...lucky # 22..... I had worried about the "going out of business" scenario during the whole process, due to my experience with the Ross Industries sander I bought. I guess I should learn to go with my intuition more in the future.

[gjp]

For the record, I don't actually own the CNC. The company I work for owns the CNC, and it is my job to try to make it work.

Our company is currently working on beefing up our machine so it doesn't flex so much. I don't think we got the worst one PCNC ever made, but it certainly isn't the best one.

[SparksStudios]

Two places I've noticed flex was the thin sheet-metal brackets joining the over-head gantrey to the side-cars. I'm planning to replace them with 1/4" thick angle brackets from 8020.

Another place was the mounting plate for the router; there's no right-angle break to keep the flat piece of metal from flexing in the thin direction. I want to see if I came make a plate with one or both side edges curled up to add stiffness to it.

[Eyompdef]

I purchased a 24 x 36 cnc router from Pcnc Automation Serial #R-1003
back in April of 2009. I actually got the machine, but have not gotten it to work yet. The drive pulleys for the X axis were misalligned by 1/4".
Also one of the stepper motors did not function. I purchased a new motor and that motor did not work. The wiring to the motors must be bad!
I hope they arrest this guy and that he has to pay for all his fraud!
William
Rochester, MN

[mmcclung]

I purchased a 24 x 36 cnc router from Pcnc Automation Serial #R-1003
back in April of 2009. I actually got the machine, but have not gotten it to work yet. The drive pulleys for the X axis were misalligned by 1/4".
Also one of the stepper motors did not function. I purchased a new motor and that motor did not work. The wiring to the motors must be bad!
I hope they arrest this guy and that he has to pay for all his fraud!
William
Rochester, MN

Most likely a break in a wire in the harness. When I was at his "garage shop" (that is being kind) I saw his guy making a wiring harness with a pocket knife. All you have do do is knick the wire and it will eventually fail. I had an X axis wire break at the motor. Try to trace it back to the pc board and ring out the wires. Have you tried to swap out the X and Y at the pc board? Seems like that should tell you where the problem is. I can't help you any more than this since I returned my machine (S/N R016).

[Eyompdef]

Most likely a break in a wire in the harness. When I was at his "garage shop" (that is being kind) I saw his guy making a wiring harness with a pocket knife. All you have do do is knick the wire and it will eventually fail. I had an X axis wire break at the motor. Try to trace it back to the pc board and ring out the wires. Have you tried to swap out the X and Y at the pc board? Seems like that should tell you where the problem is. I can't help you any more than this since I returned my machine (S/N R016).

With the help of my electrical engineer friend, we finally got my machine working. Now I find out that I do not have a license for my machine, so the Mach3 software will not process a program over 500 lines. Artsoft says I will have to go through Bill Johnson in order to obtain a license... Yeah right!
I am ready to give up altogether. These internet companies seem to be a bunch of crooks and I do not have any more money to waste on this machine!

[cabnet636]

if the machine is working the 150.00 or so for mach 3 seems like a decent investment, it is capable of doing the job, there is cheaper controller software out there yet mach is a good threshold, the fellows who own mach are actually some devent guys whos software has been ripped off by every one so to get license support is not a bad idea, what bill did was send you the demo, i would just get a new license from artsoft

[Eyompdef]

if the machine is working the 150.00 or so for mach 3 seems like a decent investment, it is capable of doing the job, there is cheaper controller software out there yet mach is a good threshold, the fellows who own mach are actually some devent guys whos software has been ripped off by every one so to get license support is not a bad idea, what bill did was send you the demo, i would just get a new license from artsoft

The people at Artsoft told me I had to go through Bill Johnson to get a license. They seemed unwilling to sell me a license. I am not going to deal with anyone online anymore concerning my router!

[SparksStudios]

The people at Artsoft told me I had to go through Bill Johnson to get a license. They seemed unwilling to sell me a license. I am not going to deal with anyone online anymore concerning my router!

William,
I can understand your frustration, everyone on this forum can relate. Let me see if I can help any. I have #R-1010; I always wondered about the group that were between 1001 and 1010, we had not heard from any of them on here before now.

So, bought in April of '09, that was when Bill was still in Texas and I would have thought still trying to make a go of it.

Did Bill send any software to you? I ask because it's possible to download Mach3 with it's default trial license, which is what you say you've already got.

If Bill did send a disk with the machine, you need to search for "mach1lic.dat" on it. In the installation he did on my PC it was under /basic/Mach3. That would be the registered license file and needs to reside under your /Mach3 folder with the executable. That would remove the limitations.

If it worked, the "About" banner under the help menu should show: Licensed to "PCnC Automation R-1XXX"

Of course, mine showed another machines serial number at first, (Thanks Bill!) but I asked the folks at Artsoft about it and they recompiled the license with the correct info. (Took PCnC off it completely!)

Anyway, hope this helps.
Taylor

[SparksStudios]

dobrientruckers -
A while back, like before Bill vaporized and it looked like we may be able to get some retribution, I started collecting information as it crossed my path. One of those items was serial numbers. So here's a list I had that is far from complete (according to Bill there were 14 customers who paid and didn't receive machines - according to his sister there were 17) and in many cases may use people's names from other forums:

R1001 Jesse Got May, 2009 Straight Austin Award King (DOA and still is)R1008 ccci1 ordered 6/27/09, got working 11/13/09
R1003 Eyompdef bought April '09, X axis was misalligned by 1/4", one of the stepper motors did not function, also missing Mach3 license.
R1010 SparkStudios Oct. '09, table surface wasn't level. ctrl brd. wired wrong, Last one from TX
R1012 iborkey got machine and then zero support
R1014 gjp got in Oct 09 was wired wrong resulting in bad controller
R1016 mmcclung got and returned 11/10/09
R1016 bdsoric got 11/16/09 and is rebuilding
R1017 Justin Eckerly got on E-Bay and is happy with machine
R1019 Protrack Corp bought 8-09 spending $750 to upgrade bearings
R1020 allmax got 11/17/09 may be last machine Bill delivered
R1022 Luthier got his machine and is living with it as is
R10XX dobrientruckers - paid for and never got
R10XX wildhorse - paid for and never got
R10XX ashgrimm - paid for and never got
R10XX jslade - paid for and never got
R10XX y2khines - paid for and never got
R10XX Steve Robinson - paid for and never got


I added Eyompdef's machine into the list

[Eyompdef]

William,
I can understand your frustration, everyone on this forum can relate. Let me see if I can help any. I have #R-1010; I always wondered about the group that were between 1001 and 1010, we had not heard from any of them on here before now.

So, bought in April of '09, that was when Bill was still in Texas and I would have thought still trying to make a go of it.

Did Bill send any software to you? I ask because it's possible to download Mach3 with it's default trial license, which is what you say you've already got.

If Bill did send a disk with the machine, you need to search for "mach1lic.dat" on it. In the installation he did on my PC it was under /basic/Mach3. That would be the registered license file and needs to reside under your /Mach3 folder with the executable. That would remove the limitations.

If it worked, the "About" banner under the help menu should show: Licensed to "PCnC Automation R-1XXX"

Of course, mine showed another machines serial number at first, (Thanks Bill!) but I asked the folks at Artsoft about it and they recompiled the license with the correct info. (Took PCnC off it completely!)

Anyway, hope this helps.
Taylor

Thanks Taylor! I did get a cd from Bill, but it did not have a license on it even though I paid for one when I purchased the machine. I am currently trying to obtain a license (with my wife's help) from Artsoft.
I am not a business but just a retired machinist who enjoys woodworking and wanted to make some fun things on my router. I can't afford to put all the money that other owners seem to be putting into their machines, nor do I have access to a milling machines to rebuild my machine. I realize that not everyone who sells machines on the internet is a "Bill Johnson"
but I have really lost faith in buying anything on the internet over $500.00!
Bill Hammond