[luthier]

That looks great. Nice work there! Did the extra linear guide take care of any slop that you had. In other words, how is the accuracy now?

[bdsorcic]

Hi Luthier,
I can not find any slop! but I have yet done a deep thick carve that will tell me the truth yet! I replaced the Dewalt with a Porter cable, I have been working on improving the design for so long and am afraid I forgot about how to operate the mach 3 and Vcarve pro software, so I am getting the learning curve back now. I also got my video camerra out of the closet and hope to do a good carve soon to post for all to see. I hope all the improvements were worth the effort, I still see room for more improvement for example the 'Z' ball screw assembly could of have been a 3/8 incher and of better design instead of a cheap 1/4 incher that alone is supported by a pulley above, if that design was improved it would support a heavier router for more power. the Wisecarver rails are not a good idea for the 'Z' axis a pure rail would be better. Well so far we got what we paid for and it is up to you all to make improvements to where Bill screwed you! That is about al lI have to say, I hope those of you who got screwed get to see Bill pay for his sly ways, I am NOT 100% happy with what I have but am trying to make do with what I have, I do admit I got screwed by my own stupidity, but along the way I learned alot about CnC so it is a 50% / 50% deal ! I hope to hear more from you all, this thread seems to have died down, and I hope you all will keep it up and keep us all informed to any improvements you have done, even let us know if you trashed Bill's Cnc for a better one, I am intrested in hearing from all of you.... Peace to you all !!! :cheers::cheers:

[dobrientruckers]

I guess you could say I'm trashing my virtual machine since I never received it. However, since I had convinced myself I needed one and set a bunch of things in motion to use one, I'm going ahead with the purchase of another CNC router and I'll have two - one vaporware and one solid screamer (or I guess I should say buzzer.)

Dennis

[luthier]

I have to tell you that I'm using Bill's design as is to cut guitar necks out of mahogany and so far I'm pretty happy with the results. I guess I will spring for another wisecarver guide and maybe the 5 wheel carriages, to help add some stability. I am willing to invest a few bucks more and see what happens. I have been looking at some parts on Ebay, because I'm thinking that I can get better accuracy with a smaller machine for what I'm doing and since I have another set of motors and controllers here, what the heck.

[dobrientruckers]

Bill told me (in may last conversation with the weasel on 1/25) that he has changing from Bishop Wisecarver to THK rails and bearings. He said that they were in customs on their way to Vevay from China. Of course, concidering the source, he could have easily been blowing smoke up my shorts. According to his sister (who he screwed along with 17 customers) there's a whole bunch of stuff in her garage.

So, maybe the THK rails may be a way to "upgrade" your PCNC router. I have absolutely no idea what the difference is in them nor how interchangable they are.

Dennis

[SparksStudios]

So, anyone else notice if their PCnC tabletops are less then perfectly flat? Mine seems to take a decidedly deep dip (0.02") over the second cross brace from the end. The spoil boards bridge the dip but then they flex whenever I clamp something down, and then I get uneven depth cutting. I was thinking of unbolting the tabletop boards and using washers to try and level it out, unless someone can suggest a better idea, (short of replacing the whole thing, of course).

Taylor

[luthier]

I think ideally you need to machine your surface once the axes are up and running. In my experience with sheet goods, nothing is ever dead flat anymore. Go to your local home center and look at even the premium birch plywood. I think an idea might be to adhere pine boards or something even more stable between the clamp channel and then run a router bit over them to level then to the axes. My stuff tend to be short in length so I don't notice those irregularies that much.

[bdsorcic]

Before you decide to rip the table apart, check to see if the Wisecarver rails are parallel on each side (they have a lot of play when loosened up), mine were not they were lower in the rear and one side was higher than the other. I made a jig to help me adjusted the rails to be the same height and parallel on each side, everything is now straight. I am not saying that is the solution to your table problem but it could be as Bill made every table different and he did not use any jigs or anything, he just threw them together by eye!

[SparksStudios]

... Bill made every table different and he did not use any jigs or anything, he just threw them together by eye!

I totally agree, he did these by eye! That's what I wanted to point out about the tabletop. One of the cross-pieces was not welded to the same height as the others. So when Bill screwed down the MDF tabletop using the T-rails to secure it to the frame; it bent the rails and the MDF and produced a "dip" across the table surface along the "Y" axis.

It's not something that can be routed out, I think, since the tabletop itself is flawed. I might be able to level it with washers after removing the MDF tabletop but just not sure if everything will flex back to "true".

(in the second picture, it's not the MDF spoil board bowing up, instead it's the MDF tabletop dipping down.) (hard to show with this camera.)

[M250cnc]

Hi i am not sure of your table size, but depending on the size a simple fix would be to use a true flat surface the size of your table.

Sit this on the bed of the machine and put some adjusting/packing pieces under so the reference flat surface is adjusted to get it in the best position.

Then take out the packing pieces then using epoxy resin cover the bed ways and place a piece of paper between the resin and replace the flat surface replace packing in correct order then let the epoxy dry.

You need to know where all the fixing holes are before doing this.

A piece of ground stone counter top would be ideal but do not tell your partner. :nono:

HTH
Phil

[gjp]

Rather than work off the table itself, we decided to attach a piece of MDF board to the top of the table, then mill the surface slightly with a 3/4" router bit. That way, we know the table is level, rather than trusting that the PCNC table itself is level to begin with. Therefore, we haven't run into the same kind of trouble in this regard.

[cncpaman]

I too jave a faulty pcnc where the gantry sticks making it impossivle to rout even a small 1x2 carved sign someone said servo motors need replacing not enough power to move the gantry at this point i am frustrated since i did not think it was going to be this tough to make small carved signs i see them everwhere and all i wanted was to get in on the action needless to say i have invested almost 3000 dollars on this and have yet to make any money on this is there someone who has time to show me how to get this right i have v carve mach 3 and cut 2d i am in phila area and willing to pay or trade up to something that works as i am not that mechanical to do this and already frustrated with this etc 267-981-1319 or [email protected] a friend said replace motors or just scrap it or donate to a school wood shop i dont hav e much more patience with it ....

[luthier]

Did this machine that you are talking about ever work right? Are you the original owner? Mine has " worked" correctly, but the tolerances are too sloppy for what I do. That is because of a flaw in the design of the parts. My take is that the design utilizes guides that have too much play in them, and the head isn't rigid enough to plunge into hard materials without flexing. I think it would be OK for products that don't require extreme accuracy.

[bdsorcic]

cncpman,
I can sell you mine if you are intrested. I have made numberous improvements and it "Seems" to work just fine, got rid of all the slop and made an aluminium head, and added many features. I can sell it to you and that will include numberous bits and the computer box with all software too. After I made all those improvements I lost intrest in it? Dunno why maybe because I am afraid to break it again??? I Tested everything and all fuctions as it should. Nothing broken see Pics of it all over this PNC forum..

[cncpaman]

might be interested in trade dont want to put out much more money mabe u can take mine and fix it i could give you some cash in the deal but only if i could see you demo a sign and the process i am in se pa ... so far i have only cut a few jobs only the sample file from v carve looked half decent the ones i made were plunging in too deep and looked terrible sometimes it went thru to the board on the machine rt thru the material and i had to stop it i tried tweeking some settings just to a little bit better dont know what else i could do etc...

[bdsorcic]

cncpaman,
Tell you what, you can send me your V-Carve Pro 6.0 files and expalin what wood/matterial you are carving on and I can try to duplicate it and see how my machine handles it, I could video the progress and sent it to you. I will only sell my machine, no trades and I do not want to mess around with another machine. Those machines cost too much money and time to repair, I saw how he made them and everyone is different. ... depending how drunk/sober he and his hillbilly crew were on the day they worked on the machine. Your machine will be built much different than mine. I live near southeast wisconsin so it is quite a ways.

[wtfisthis]

Holy sh*&... Sorry to dig up such an old thread guys, but I kind of had to. WAAAAYYYYYY back, I want to say about 2009/2010 era I worked with my dad and at the time he was coworkers with Bill at a sign shop. I remember many nights being up until 11-12 at the shop assembling these machines by PCNC Automation with my dad and Bill (Out of Euless, Texas) and this one terrible weekend out in Trader's Villiage in what I remember as 115 degree heat... Unbelievable what he turned out to be in the end. I knew something was up when he just up and quit his job out of nowhere and we never heard from him again. Did any of you end up getting your money back? or compensated in ANY way? Does anybody still have one of these machines by chance? I'm starting to get much more involved in cnc's and beginning to design and build my own machine and was just wondering what any of you did to upgrade his machines and make them somewhat useable.
Thank's in advance guys, and sorry to hear about the crap he pulled. Hopefully karma bit him hard enough to teach him something.

[luthier]

Holy sh*&... Sorry to dig up such an old thread guys, but I kind of had to. WAAAAYYYYYY back, I want to say about 2009/2010 era I worked with my dad and at the time he was coworkers with Bill at a sign shop. I remember many nights being up until 11-12 at the shop assembling these machines by PCNC Automation with my dad and Bill (Out of Euless, Texas) and this one terrible weekend out in Trader's Villiage in what I remember as 115 degree heat... Unbelievable what he turned out to be in the end. I knew something was up when he just up and quit his job out of nowhere and we never heard from him again. Did any of you end up getting your money back? or compensated in ANY way? Does anybody still have one of these machines by chance? I'm starting to get much more involved in cnc's and beginning to design and build my own machine and was just wondering what any of you did to upgrade his machines and make them somewhat useable.
Thank's in advance guys, and sorry to hear about the crap he pulled. Hopefully karma bit him hard enough to teach him something.

I was one of the last ones to get a complete machine. I was quite disappointed in the Z axis flex. Instrument wood is expensive and it only took a couple of poor parts for me to realize that the machine wasn't going to do what I needed it to do. It would be great for the hobbiest who doesn't need parts to fit together within =/- .010. The linear guides are not really designed for that kind of accuracy, although it wasn't a bad idea. I ended up buying a K2CNC and still have the PCNC in mothballs. I often look at it and wish I had the energy to retrofit some decent guides to it as I bought another K2 Z axis for it a few years back. It just took a back burner. This whole episode really taught me a lesson about buying machines from a reputable source though.

[mmcclung]

Holy sh*&... Sorry to dig up such an old thread guys, but I kind of had to. WAAAAYYYYYY back, I want to say about 2009/2010 era I worked with my dad and at the time he was coworkers with Bill at a sign shop. I remember many nights being up until 11-12 at the shop assembling these machines by PCNC Automation with my dad and Bill (Out of Euless, Texas) and this one terrible weekend out in Trader's Villiage in what I remember as 115 degree heat... Unbelievable what he turned out to be in the end. I knew something was up when he just up and quit his job out of nowhere and we never heard from him again. Did any of you end up getting your money back? or compensated in ANY way? Does anybody still have one of these machines by chance? I'm starting to get much more involved in cnc's and beginning to design and build my own machine and was just wondering what any of you did to upgrade his machines and make them somewhat useable.
Thank's in advance guys, and sorry to hear about the crap he pulled. Hopefully karma bit him hard enough to teach him something.

After an investigation by my credit card company, my money was refunded. The CC company ate the cost. I was lucky because I had returned the machine.

[cabnet636]

Holy sh*&... Sorry to dig up such an old thread guys, but I kind of had to. WAAAAYYYYYY back, I want to say about 2009/2010 era I worked with my dad and at the time he was coworkers with Bill at a sign shop. I remember many nights being up until 11-12 at the shop assembling these machines by PCNC Automation with my dad and Bill (Out of Euless, Texas) and this one terrible weekend out in Trader's Villiage in what I remember as 115 degree heat... Unbelievable what he turned out to be in the end. I knew something was up when he just up and quit his job out of nowhere and we never heard from him again. Did any of you end up getting your money back? or compensated in ANY way? Does anybody still have one of these machines by chance? I'm starting to get much more involved in cnc's and beginning to design and build my own machine and was just wondering what any of you did to upgrade his machines and make them somewhat useable.
Thank's in advance guys, and sorry to hear about the crap he pulled. Hopefully karma bit him hard enough to teach him something.

I was showing this to Joey At CAMaster the entire time,, Initially i was encouraging them to build a desktop and was thinking this was the price point to meet,, WRONG as Joey told me it is in the bearings , rails and stability. He went on to design the CAMaster Stinger and has sold thousands of them since then, I learned a big lesson from this thread