[ruawake]

Legacy seems to be going out of business, not answering, or sending callbacks
to it's customer. Even Jon, when 5 years ago seemed to be a straight shooter, became a lier.

[rcpilot82]

A little more of an explination is required for a post as harsh as that. the little contact I have had with dean from legacy was positive and very quick responce. I am a potental customer so I am curious as to what would prompt you post. Sooooo, explain.

[ruawake]

I ordered a product, and literally, was told so many different stories as to why it was not sent out. Finally, got to to talk with the owner, who went through some sob story and then told me I would have either a refund or the product in a few weeks, which extended until 4 months. I finally received a refund.
If I had not hounded them with emails and phonecalls, I WOULD HAVE RECEIVED NOTHING!
I know it seems like a great company, untill you have paid, then you have to wait, wait for the mistakes to be ironed out. Just too many problems. My advice is to save up a bit more and buy a better product.

Ruawake

[rcpilot82]

your situation sucks for sure. it was my understanding that the lasers they sell are the same redsail lasers as everyone else, that being said, since I live in PA about 3 hours away from legacy, it would be economical to go pick up the laser myself. So I may be able to avoid some of the issues you have had. I have not made up my mind completely yet on who I will go with when I purchase my laser. after sales service IS important to me and being close to legacy is what is leading me towards them. who else do you suggest?? I am looking at the 1100 series from legacy.

[cabnet636]

i am not sure yall are speaking of the same company?

leagacy cnc does not sell lasers

[rcpilot82]

hmmm, never heard of legacy cnc. legacy lasers does sell routers. they are based out of PA. ruawake, are talking about the same company???

[cabnet636]

http://www.legacywoodworking.com/

this is leagacy cnc and mills, they have been around a while, there original non cnc mills are consudered an industry standard if they are struggleing with the cnc and economy then my prayers are with them.

cnc is not always easy nor is it for everyone i have seen machines sold to people who had no computer experience and have no clue what they are getting into, this can lead to disater for all involved

the original leagacy is a fine piece of equipment

this may be who you are refering to,

http://www.legacylasers.com/Laserengravers.html

chinese lasers but they have a forum !! don't know about lasers but will approach that next year

jim

[rcpilot82]

Yep, legacy lasers is who I was thinking about. not the right company I guess. sorry for the mix up.

[mlisonbee]

I live in Utah, home of Legacy Wood Working, makers of a 5 axis cnc machine for wood. I've been by the plant on many occassions and they are booming because of the product they build. I own their built from the ground up Artisan CNC and it rocks. No other machine I know of can turn and do flat work in one machine. I also owned their old style CNC adapted to fit their older mill. I wasn't happy with the quality it produced. They cleaned up all of their issues with their new Artisan models though.

[Oscar6984]

ruawake,

What did you order from Legacy? Just wondering if it was one of their new CNCs or a part for one of their older manual machines?

Oscar

[mlisonbee]

I ordered the Artisan series model 721126. I also owned the 900 manual model with the CNC add on. It was their first departure into the CNC business. The manual 900 model fitted with the CNC looked like a great match. I wasn't happy with it because of the slop in the back lash. Legacy is aware of the problem and depending on how you plan to use the CNC will likely talk you out of buying one if your expectations exceed the machines abilities. The new, designed from the ground up as a CNC Artisan series is a really great functional machine. I use it like a lathe turning and carving 3d vector files on the round and then change a couple of settings and I'm cutting out flat stock. For what the machine does, I think the machine has a bargan price too.

[rwin]

I was told if i would pay up front i would receive the arty personal in 4 to 6 weeks. which i foolishly did. it has been well over the time limit and i finally after many calls and emails have received the email that says they may ship it by the 22nd of december. I don't believe them but cannot get hold of anybody but the salesman. i am really disapointed:argue:

[rwin]

ruawake,

What did you order from Legacy? Just wondering if it was one of their new CNCs or a part for one of their older manual machines?

Oscar

it was one of the new ones the arty 32 and i have heard every exscuse why the shipment is going to be late

[mlisonbee]

I know most of the people at Legacy and have worked with many of them directly on many issues. I sometimes have trouble getting through to the person that can help. Having been at their shop and seen first hand how they operate, I don't stress so much when I can't get a hold of someone. I know they get busy helping another client and how much time that can take given the complexity of a CNC machine. I just call and call until I get the person on the phone instead of waiting for a call back. This is not ideal for customer service but I also understand growing pains of a company. They have a remarkable product and make each machine to order. They have you pay up front for the machine because they don't have the facility to make these machines and store them waiting for a buyer nad don't need to make a machine that a buyer isn't ready to pay for. When you order, you're put in line with the other orders. They will give you an estimated delivery date when you order but based on the number of orders that come in, that date can change daily or weekly. When I'm at their plant, I'm in awe of a company that has been able to grow in this tough economy. Their hearts are in the right place. I've never been lied to and have done business with them over the past 3-4 years buying two machines. Just don't take their delivery dates as gospel. Delays will happen. They're custom making every machine. They are good people.

[wednesday]

I am happy to have come across this post. Not due to any gripes about the company mentioned here but because of the posters both pro and con. Honestly I have not heard of Legacy CNC's but after spending a bit of time to read through what they're doing I am most certainly impressed. They have a great looking product at reasonable pricing.

Mlisonbee takes up a heavy sword in the defense of these fine folks and for that kudos. Your words can be applied to [and for] many custom builders of...anything in America right now. There just are certain things that many manufacturers endure to stay in business, the least of which is not having the luxury of turning away work. That always adds up to a longer lead time for someone no matter how hard you try.

It is easy to be quick judging and start spouting off about what we feel is a personal injustice. And while it is obviously painful to go through and perhaps holding up your own plans it doesn't mean that your faith and trust were misplaced. Do you really want to eat at a resturant that has an empty parking lot every night of the week.

It is much more difficult to take their backlog as a good sign that they are on to something. Harder still to imagine that they are busting their hump trying to accomodate maybe more than they were ready for. All I know for sure is that this company is still here and doing business, and that's a hard thing to claim right now.

There is a sign at our metal suppliers place that reads something like this;'We do things three ways: Good, Fast, and cheap. Customers have the choice of only two options at a time;
Items that are Fast and Cheap are often not Good.
If you order Good and Fast then the item will certainly not be Cheap.
And you can guess that things Cheap and Good will never be Fast."

Call them again and this time really listen to the reasons for any delay and try to understand that "beyond their control" may be just that.

And from personal experience; If you just cannot find it in your soul to give a crap and want immediate satisfaction no matter what, then you need to pray for a kind word or two in your favor when you undoubtedly are on the flip side of this coin.

MC

[hellenic]

I first purchased their manual kit back in 1992. I have had many negative experiences with other companies and I have never posted a negative review. I have been consistently disappointed with Legacy Woodworking. I have "upgraded" my original machine to their rack and pinion cnc upgrade. I spent over 15thousand dollars with the company only to wind up with a pile of useless metal and electronics. The last straw was when they offered to take back the garbage they sent me and send me an Artisan machine for just another $10,000. I cannot speak about their new cnc machines because I do not own one. If you do get one I can guarantee you that it is at my expense. Whether or not the next generation of cnc machines they produce will be at your expense is to be seen. The silver lining is that I built my own 4-axis ornamental mill from scratch. Including the purchase of an Ellis horizontal band saw and a Miller welder, the whole thing cost me $6,000 and it is no toy. I can mill an eight foot by 11.5 inch column as well as half a sheet of plywood, no problem.

[Begat]

Thought I'd give another perspective. I have nothing but good experiences in getting customer service from Legacy. I bought an Arty last year and it arrived on time, and the technical support on getting small adjustments made was very good. When I picked up a used Artisan, Legacy worked with me to get that machine in shape as well despite not selling it to me.

None of this is to deny the experiences that anyone else has had, only to relate mine.

Begat

[hellenic]

I re-read my original post and I have to say that I sounded disgruntled. The truth is that I was. I am happy that you have had positive experiences with the company. I wish that I could say the same. Not to say, that they weren't personable or friendly when I had technical issues in the beginning. I wish that they had acknowledged that their initial attempt at a CNC retrofit to their manual ornamental mill was a failure and made it right without trying to take me for another $10,000. The funny thing is that I was on my way to Utah to look at their flagship machine. I just needed to get what I had working first before I could justify spending any more. I was asking the owner of the company questions about how to get their "smart tool" working because it never worked in the first place. He told me that the modifications I had done to my machine went way beyond what the machine was meant to do (I guess he meant "work") and that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars figuring out the logistics of a CNC machine and that if I were to modify one I should do the same. He saw it as me trying to milk him for info I should have researched myself and I saw it as, "please help me make this thing work so that I could justify to my wife buying another one." This happens when you volunteer yourself as the guinea pig. Glad you didn't. I hope the company got their act together. I hate to see another American company go under.

[Begat]

Hello Hellenic,

I made my decision once I realized that the bad press Legacy was suffering was due to an unfortunate attempt to turn the manual machines into cnc routers. I can see you caught them right in the bad spot.

Despite some bad internet posting, I went ahead with the purchase. And I did so because I think they have a machine that suits what I want to do with woodworking. After growing up in a world full of flat, processed furniture, I wanted to make some stuff that's round and not just a table leg or kitchen island. They do have a niche market, and milling does beat the hell out of carving.

What kind of system do you have now?

Begat

[hellenic]

I started out by taking the guts from my rack and pinion cnc upgrade and designed a machine that can handle 1/2 a sheet of plywood and an 8' column. Ironically, I designed the machine in google sketchup. One of the things that made me turn sour was that as I built my machine I found myself replacing and redesigning the original rack and pinion upgrade parts. This made me question the integrity of the engineering of their Artisan machines. When the offered to upgrade my machine for 10K they told me to send back my old machine and they would take my parts and use them in building my new Artisan. Once I saw that that the parts were inferior, I was thankful I didn't go that route. Look, I am done being negative about Legacy. I am just sharing my experiences with you. The best thing I ever did was build my own machine. I mastered Mach3, gained an intimate knowledge of the mechanics of the cnc both mechanical and electrical, and obtained a plethora of knowledge about automating machinery and woodworking. I was also able to play around with an build an MPG and set up a laser to reference a part (still working on that), which was a lot of fun. Initially, I would have loved to have everything handed to me. Even thought the process was frustrating, I wouldn't have it any other way now. I run my machine with vcarve pro now. I do all my 3d designs in Keycreator and export them as .STL files into Carve 3D.