The importance of dust collection and maintenance on the Onefinity

Original/PRO Series (Buildbotics) (Gen 1) Troubleshooting (X35/X50)
25

You’re welcome and… wow… those wipers really lit the place up! Funny because I came back here to send you another message suggesting you look into them. Obviously, I would advise against them if 1F is… not because I agree with 1F… but because I have read in the past that aftermarket accessories not supported by 1F may cause issues with receiving technical / warranty support. That’s not a dig against 1F… as I believe that would be standard practice of any manufacturer… if you add something they don’t support (or as in this case, specifically advise against)… why would they continue to honor warranty support? Further, I would point out that it appears based on their postings here that they did still assist those customers who were having issues after installing the wipers.

Now that I got that all out of the way… I wanted to tell you my experience regarding dust collection and cleaning after just over 1yr of ownership of my 1F Elite Foreman. I think it may help reduce your concern over the ball nuts.

I have my machine hooked up to a 4" DC hose (using PWNcnc v10 dust boot), which runs off my whole shop cyclone DC. That DC is nothing more than a 1.5hp unit I made following Wood Magazine plans about 20-25 years ago. It works surprisingly well when used properly. Specifically, because the v10 is not Z independent, that means making sure the proper amount of spacers and proper brush length are installed to keep the brushes in contact with the work. I have an ATC, and occasionally have to do a feed hold / spindle stop to change the spacer and brush setup during a carve if bit lenghts change significantly… but it’s worth it. In addition to the DC hookup, I am pretty diligent about vacuuming / blowing / wiping off the rails and screws after each project.

I do not use my machine daily. I am mostly a weekend warrior with occasional evening use during the week. So keep in mind I am not the same as someone who uses it all day every day. That said, during my first year I ran nearly 200 jobs on the machine, including a full set of MDF kitchen cabinet doors. We all know MDF is probably about the worst for dust.

I went through the 1F cleaning and lubricating procedure as per their instructions, for the first time, a couple weeks ago. NOTE: They recommend much more frequent cleanings. I found VERY little dust in the ball nut assemblies. Almost none, really. Assuming the same frequency of usage, I probably could have went another year.

Hang on while I put my boxing gloves on: I did purchase and install the Etsy wipers after performing that first cleaning, only because I happened to see them and thought it seemed like a good idea. So far, I have used the machine a few times and have not had any issues… but I guess time will tell.

All of this is a very long-winded way of saying: If you keep decent dust collection hooked up and take very simple precautions, like wiping the rails and screws down occasionally, and definitely after very dusty jobs like MDF… you will be just fine. Lastly, I would point out that a lot of YT creators and the like run their machines without dust collection for video recording purposes… and therefore are much more likely to have issues if not cleaning very frequently.

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Not weighing in on using aftermarket wipers but I can understand @WC_CUSTOMS frustration. This is a perfect example of information-free data. 87 is an interesting number but tells us nothing beyond that data point.

Information would be if it also included the total population of wiper users like “87 out of 107 people using wipers” or “87 out of 15,985 wiper users”. Those are radically different pieces of information. Even better would be “87 out of 15,985 wiper users had failures requiring wiper removal vs 1,100 out of 27,030 non-wiper users who had failures due to dust packing into the bearings”. *

I used to teach data-centric performance analysis and the selection of full sets of data points for comparison was a major focus because without sufficient data points unsupported leaps in assessments of causality were required to come to any conclusion and those could be whatever the data selector wished them to be.

*All numbers (besides the 87) are for illustrative purposes only. It is unlikely that OF has the data required to compare against population numbers. Although reasonable estimates could be made using the Etsy displayed # sold figure & total machine sales.

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27

With over 5000 machines sporting my wipers, 87 support tickets isn’t all that bad is it?

I’ve tried to reach out to 1F to understand the issue they perceive with them, I never did get a response… the only communication I’ve ever received from 1F is asking to improve my documentation to assure users with Masso controllers properly calibrate their stall homing as that was causing calls into support.

It’s a shame we couldn’t work something out as these are very beneficial and have a proven track record for years now.

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28

Let’s see if we can find some common ground we can all agree on :slightly_smiling_face:

The Etsy aftermarket wipers on the ball screws are a use-at-your-own-risk addition.

The Onefinity CNC was engineered from the ground up without the need for external wipers. All four ball nuts already include integrated wipers from the factory. With proper maintenance and dust collection, additional aftermarket wipers should not be necessary.

That said, if a customer chooses to install aftermarket ball screw covers or wipers and finds them helpful—great! However, if a machine issue arises and they plan to contact tech support, we ask that they first remove those aftermarket additions to see if the issue resolves. Our support team would request this step regardless, as those parts are a known variable.

This approach helps ensure our support resources are used effectively and that we’re diagnosing based on the machine’s original design.

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Just so you remember. Onefinity did not support spindles, drag chains, or tool changers either, at least until they started selling them.

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