Hello everyone! I am new here and new to 1F but I think over the last few days I’ve watched every YouTube video and read every forum post about this machine and I dig it.
I’m going to ask you guys and gals to play Devil’s advocate for a minute and try to convince me not to buy a 1F Woodworker. Yes, you read that right, I am 99% sure that my money is going to Onefinity in the next month, but I would like to hear all your complaints, any and all reasons why I should take my money elsewhere. Air the dirty laundry, so to speak. I think it can be a good mental excercise to step back and examine things from another angle sometimes. I’m already basically fangirl-ing over this thing and I haven’t even bought it yet Please temper my excitement before I have an aneurysm!
I am an engineer by trade with a decent amount of CNC experience so I am very intrigued by the stability and drive mechanism in the 1F at it’s price point. I do have some concern about controller longevity since it is based on the RPi, but I’ve been running my own RPi doing home automation stuff for a couple of years with no issues, so maybe that concern is unfounded.
Well, you’re intrigued for all the right reasons! It’s all that and more. My Machinist model is half the size as the woodworker, but uses all the same hardware. WOW, what a stout machine. Some might say overengineered. If it is, it’s in all the right places.
I can’t pass judgement on the controller, only to say that I built my own.
Oh… I was supposed to change your mind. Sorry, that ship has sailed!
I don’t have mine yet, but I’ve also done a lot of research and it will be a hard “unsell”
With the OF you’ll only get about 1/2 hour of assembly enjoyment where some others you can assemble for hour after hour after hour
If you go with another make, you may have the enjoyment down the road of buying another CNC as that one may not meet your needs.
If your project doesn’t turn out well, you will probably only have yourself to blame, not a crappy frame.
OK, kidding aside the only a few things that gave me any pause at all were the following:
Wasn’t super excited to have my credit card charged months before I would receive the machine. It was the community here that gave me trust in the company that they would deliver.
As you mentioned, the controller. But I finally reasoned out that absolutely worst case, I could swap the controller out and still have the best frame I’ve seen anywhere in this price range. Better case, the stock controller continues to be refined as they address issues and add needed features.
The recommended operating temperature range. My initial thought was to put in my garage where I do 3d print in the the cold winter but the OF folks highly suggest not running the CNC in very cold temps. To be honest, the other CNCs out there may have similar restrictions that I never noticed. In any case, I’ve decided to make a home for the CNC in the high headroom and concrete paved portion of my crawlspace. It stays a pretty comfortable temp year round and actually will have a bit more elbow room to work in.
Hi and welcome. Real Talk - My 2 cents. NOT a fan of the electronics. I am completely new to the CNC world but been buying electronics for half a decade. I have had my machine for about a month and a half and a month in my controller died. Before that had issues with the controller and monitor doing wonky stuff e.g. controller needing to be rebooted to home properly, monitor freezing up etc.
That said…yeah I know we’re supposed to be dissuading you, but gotta give you the whole story. Reached out to support on a Friday late afternoon when my controller died. They worked with me through the weekend to diagnose the problem and on SUNDAY we determined it was a dead controller. Would have had a new controller in 2 days but a snowstorm caused DHL (delivery service) delays - not 1F’s fault, they shipped out my replacement immediately. Got the new controller as well as several emails following up with me to make sure everything was to my satisfaction. Also, monitor issues were an easy fix. Changed the monitor and now use an older Ipad connected to my network. Works great and bigger screen. The whole process from beginning to end has been completely newbie friendly so I imagine for a seasoned vet like you it will be a dream. The machine itself is a beast and has taken a beating like only a newbie can give it. Never did I think that assembling my first CNC could be so easy. Assembled and ready to do my first cut (spoil board) in less than 2 hours. Just hard to argue against this machine and this company in general. Satisfied customer despite the electronic issues. Hope that helps.
@clw - bloody brillant. Had me in stitches. But spot on across all fronts.
@Mirramjr - more the SW on the controller than the ‘electronics’ - needs some work.
@ConvenientWoodwork - this is my third machine - best so far. By far. Just sayin. But they only provided like 2 stickers, so I will ding them for that.
Please temper my excitement before I have an aneurysm!
Glad we could ‘help’!