enthusiasm for the product is overwhelming.
At some point in the process, users become more than “fan boys” and become more open about the flaws and limitations of the product they purchased.
How about some hard, honest feedback about a 1F cnc? Nothing is perfect, there is room for improvement, actual users are the most reliable source.
What hasn’t worked? What would you change? How would you improve the product.
Thanks in advance.
Good day Bud,
Although I haven’t made my purchase yet, I am planning to buy the Journeyman in the new year. I have read pretty much every article in these forums and have seen the advancement 1F team has made with their products. They have exceeded most purchaser’s expectation when it comes to support and customer service. In its infancy the products had a few glitches that were worked out and solved with updated controller software and videos that show step by step how to solve most common issues. If you read though the forums you will see how far they have come along.
All the best,
Neil
Thanks Neil for the reply.
Anyone else have anything to add? Is there nothing negative about these machines???
I’m still very new to my Woodworker. I decided i go with Onefinity after doing a ton of research on entry level machines. I’ll drop a few points with my feedback so far.
-Initial assembly/setup was a cake walk. You definitely need to take you time and “calibrate” the machine. Make sure the Y rails are parallel/square and then check/adjust your steppers until you can make a perfect square on the machine. I got mine too within 0.5mm and called it good. My tram was excellent and didn’t need adjusting.
-The machine did require more fine tuning, tinkering, and “learning” than I realized. Don’t expect to just set it up in 30 minutes and get perfect cuts. I’m still tuning things as I learn what settings are and what they do.
I have mixed feelings about the stall homing. It was fussy at first until I learned how to fix it. I still have some repeatability issues and sometimes have to home a few times to get the two Y motors to get lined up. Many times on initial homing, the left Y motor stall homes and the right side is about 1/16" off. I’ve learned I get more consistent results if I start the homing with the machine very near the 0,0. Once it’s homed adequately, I don’t have issues losing homing position.
The machine is pretty darn rigid and strong. My oops from Sunday is a great example. I have a 2.2kw 80mm spindle. I switched to a 1/2" downcut endmill for a profile cut and forgot to re-zero my Z-axis. This resulted in me cutting a pass that was an inch deep (3/4 pine board & 1/4 MDF) instead of 3/16". The machine made it about 8 inches before realized my mistake and stopped the cut. It was an ugly cut and sounded a little harsh but neither the machine or the spindle struggled. Pretty impressive.
-I don’t like that so many people have controller issues and bearing/dust issues. I haven’t had those issues yet but it concerns me with the long term reliability. Onefinity sounds pretty responsive and fair with warranty issues.
-I’ve got the JTech laser kit. It works great now that I’ve got the settings hashed out. I wish there was better documentation on setting it up and adjusting machine settings. There is a known issue with the laser where the you can’t get it to test fire through the MDI command screen if you’ve homed the CNC. Hopefully that gets fixed in a firmware update. It’s annoying but a simple screen e-stop reset gets out going again. I don’t like the fact that I have to run my Woodworker un-homed to use the laser.
That’s about all I’ve got for now. I’m sure I’m think of more later. So far, still very happy with the purchase. I think this will be a great starter CNC. I’ll likely go “bigger and badder” in the future.
Josh,
Just the kind of info I was looking for.
I currently run a ShopBot Desktop Max and my bed is 24 X 36. I’m looking for a machine that I can fit a 4 foot width of plywood. With the open end design I can tile any jobs using VCarve Pro software…
Thanks again.
Bud
Hey Bud,
I had these questions too. I decided that I wanted to get a real picture of the machine because I had other machines in mind to buy. After having followed the forum for three monthes my questions were pretty much answered. And after following the forum for eight monthes now, even more.
We have a search function too 
Hi Bud,
I have had mine for 8 months and am not sorry to have bought it. I did upgrade to a 2.2 kw spindle and the X50 journeyman, so tiling 4 foot stock is good. I’d say the weak link is the controller, but have had no problems yet with mine, and feel pretty confident in fixing issues myself. I also added homing stops that are found here in the forum and that has been solid since. I think the homing issues are a bit overblown, as the home process isn’t even necessary at all. The repeatability isn’t homing, but is in fact zeroing on your work piece. All the homing does for you is locate the travel limits to the controller and then the controller can determine if your file will fit within the bounds once you have identified where your stock is located on the bed. It can be done very roughly for small projects as you will be nowhere near the physical limits anyway.
Would I do it again…certainly would.
I’m coming from a Shopbot Desktop too. I got the Journeyman for the 4ft width (& with tiling, infinite length).
Very similar machines in terms of robustness. The router on the 1F is louder by a lot vs the Shopbot spindle. I may upgrade to a spindle down the road.
One feature of the Shopbot was the ability to run jobs with multiple bits in a single file. That’s something you’re not going to do with the 1F. 
Jim ,
I have ordered the 80 mm mount but am on the fence for what spindle to purchase what do you have for a 80 mm spindle and are you happy with it
I thought vcarve pro created guide that combined multiple tool paths into one file,.
It does but 1F says to split them by tool. I can’t run mine yet because I’m waiting on my QCW (now officially late) and extension cables for the motors so they’ll reach through the table I’ve built. I can live without the QCW but I would need to disassemble my table to move the controller back close. I didn’t think it would take two or three weeks to get some in-stock wires. I’ll grab the connectors and wire from Mouser later this week if 1F doesn’t ship. I will test the VCarve combined toolpath file but understand that’s not supported by 1F per their posts here.
Hmmmm…
Is it a controller issue? That’s certainly a efficiency stopper. I have lots of saved toolpaths that I’ve saved over the years that have combined tool paths. I calculate each one individually but then output them to a single file. Since it’s Gcode I’m not sure why that would be a problem for any controller that ran gcode.
I am using carveco maker+ but have used combined tool paths with the 1f. It just pauses at every toolpath change. As long as I am using the same tool I just click continue and the next tool path runs.
I have owned my machine for almost a year now and I think it is one of the best in it’s class. There are things that could be improved on for sure, but bang for buck I do not think you could get a better machine for the cost.
If I had to say the weakest parts of the machine are the controller and the router. The controller has some limiting functionality not supporting true arcs and macros and could be improved or upgraded. The router needs a spindle upgrade that is supported by 1F. Both can be addressed by 3rd party solutions if those things are an issue, but out of the box I have had more than enough use as it is and it has been a great machine.
Hey J, hey all,
you can define the machine’s behaviour at every tool change event (M6) in the General Configuration Tab of the Onefinity Controller -
Insertions of sequences of ‘G’ and/or ‘M’ codes are possible at the beginning, at the end, and during tool changes. It is often helpful to add comments to the commands. Comments are enclosed in parentheses. Some commands cause program execution to pause and wait for the user to take action before resuming execution. When the characters ‘MSG,’ are entered at the beginning of the comment, the remainder of the comment is presented to the user in an “action dialog”. This helps instruct the user on what action to take before resuming execution.
The “tool-change” entry box contains commands that are run every time an M6 (tool change) command is encountered. By default, the “tool-change” entry box contains the following commands:
(Runs on M6, tool change) M0 M6 (MSG, Change Tool)These commands simply pause execution and prompt the user to change the tool.
The following example provides a set of commands that can be used to change the tool and then set the height of the z-axis after the tool change. This example assumes the use of a 0.75” (19.05mm) touch plate like the one shown here.
(Runs on M6, tool change) M70 G21 G0Z100 M0 (MSG, Change tool and attach probe) F100 G91 G38.2 Z-100 G92 Z19.05 G0 Z25 M0 (MSG, Remove probe) M72M70 tells the controller to save its current state (e.g. feed rate, distance mode, and units) so it can be recovered after the sequence is completed.
G21 tells the controller to operate in Metric units.
G0 Z100 raises the tool to 100mm so the tool can be replaced.
M0 (MSG, Change tool and attach z-probe) - The comment starts with ‘MSG,’ so the text “Change tool and attach z-probe” is presented to the user in the action dialog.
F100 says that the feed rate will be 100 mm/minute. This feed rate should be slow to prevent jamming the bit into the surface of the probe. Ideally, the search will stop at the instant that the bit touches the probe.
G91 puts the machine in “incremental distance mode” so it will probe downward by 100mm or until the probe is found in the next command.
G38.2 Z-100 tells the machine to move towards the probe and stop when the probe surface is found. If the search reaches Z = -100 without finding the probe surface, the search will stop and the probing command fails.
G92 Z19.05 sets the z axis to 19.05mm, which is the height of the probe base being used in this example.
G0 Z25 tells the machine to move up to Z = 25 so the probe can easily be removed.
M0 (MSG, Remove probe) reminds the user to remove the probe and waits for the user to click “Continue” to resume execution of the GCode program.
M72 restores the original state (e.g. feed rate, distance mode, and units) that existed at the beginning of the tool change procedure.
– Source: Buildbotics Controller Manual (Note: Onefinity Controller is a fork of buildbotics.com Controller.)
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| NOTE: |
Unlike the touch plate shown above, the Onefinity (Triquetra) Touch Probe is 15.4 mm high instead, therefore you need to replace “Z19.05” by “Z15.4” in the example above.) |
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| NOTE: |
There exists a better, updated ‘tool-change’ routine (which by the way also honors tool number). |
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| NOTE: |
This script is lacking a G91 (set incremental distance mode) before the G38.2 probing command. Better use my updated ‘tool-change’ routine (which by the way also honors tool number). |
Tags: tool change, tool changer, tool changers, tool changing, G codes, M codes, gcode
It’s not an issue when using the same tool. The guidance from 1F is to separate the project by tool. So if the project requires say 3 bits (V-bit, 1/4" upcut endmill & 1/8" ball nose endmill) you create 3 different G-Code files and run them individually.
I’m used to having them all in one G-Code file where the controller stops and allows for the bit change and rezeroing of the X-axis.
I believe I read a post where they said it was a control application issue that was targeted for fixing.
I saw the last post you referenced but am hesitant to change basic behavior so I don’t have to worry about impact on controller updates. It’s nice I can do it, I just shouldn’t have to. Many people in fact would muck it up and cause issues for themselves and then 1F Support as a result. It should be fixed in the controller.
Hey Aiph5u thanks for that tip! I have already made other changes in the software to fix the inch/mm issue so this will fix another minor annoyance I had. 
Hey Jim,
I don’t understand you. You can make the machine to allow you to change the tool by driving the milling motor to the home position, raising Z high enough, issuing a message asking you to change the tool, then offering you to Z probe the new tool length, and then continue with the execution of your gcode program, which is something everybody would expect from any CNC machine, but you fear it?
What do you expect the manufacturer to fix? To enable you to use the joystick during tool change?
Also, if you have your own custom tool change instructions (which is nothing unusual on the part of a CNC operator), why shouldn’t you keep using them after an update?
It is a free-text input field! It is for the tool change behaviour! It is made for this!
I use a naming convention with my files that includes the bit size and type as well as the part origin location. Since I set my Z0 to the top of the stock for Vcarves or pockets and to the bottom of the stock for profile cuts it makes more sense for me to just have the files separate anyway. Fusion further solidifies this decision for me by using different setups for different origin locations thereby disallowing the combination of toolpaths even with the same tool.
Hey Jim,
Believing is in the church Can you find that post so that one can understand what you mean that you expect the manufacturer to fix?
