Good morning….I currently have a small CNC 17x17 and am using Vectric desktop. I have outgrown its capabilities. I am looking at the 1F X-50 Woodworker (along with 2 other systems) for several reasons with the biggest being down the road I can upgrade. I would like to get some of your input, opinions and what not.
1)There is no perfect machine but for those of you who have had issues how was your support?
would you recommend the stiffy add on?
For those who have been using 1F for a while are you still happy with your purchase?
4)Do you have confidence it will do what you want it to do?
I will upgrade to Vectric pro and I am assuming it plays well with 1F controller. I am currently using UGS as my controller. Any suggestions to make that transition “easier’?
Thank you for reading and taking the time to help an old fart out.
I for sure would, in my opinion in this price range nothing else comes close, I have the stiffy but not sure it is needed, for the few issues I have had (mostly self inflicted) 1F has been very good for support.
No I don’t own stock in the company but wish I could.
Pat
Would you buy again? YES, I did buy again, as have several others here.
To answer your questions:
The 1F is as close to a perfect machine as you will find, IMO. Their customer support is extremely responsive and helpful.
No. This is just my opinion though. My machine is a smaller version of the Machinist, so it would be overkill bordering on ridiculous on my machine. My first Machinist came with one, and it sat under my bench on a shelf, unused. Even on a larger machine, I think its actual effectiveness is very limited.
YES!
Yes, absolute confidence. On occasion, I machine parts for Xometry, and have full confidence that I can trust the machine’s location and repeatability to within +/- 0.001" [0.03mm]. But be advised: this realm of accuracy is fully dependent on how accurately the machine is set up.
I can’t offer much input here, as I’m using a custom controller (Centroid Acorn running their CNC12 software). I used this same setup on my previous 1F as well.
I do wish you the best of luck in your decision. I will say that you are fortunate to have landed in the right place. You will be buying a vastly better machine than anything else that’s available in this price range.
we decided to choose the Onefinity after a longer research and compared it to other offers. I am in Europe, that has more than one country that is considered the country of machine building and mechanical engineering (e.g. see here for the choice of spindle manufacturers alone), so we have the choice among a wide range of very high-quality CNCs in all price ranges, including many for self-assembly. We opted for the Onefinity despite additional shipping costs of over €600 from Canada for different reasons. I cannot come to a final judgement as the machine is not yet assembled with all the additional components I bought for the machine. Will keep the forum informed.
But what I can say already, I think is very important that you know exactly what you’re buying and that you know exactly what it’s going to be like when the machine arrives and what is left to do then, what you need to do to make it the machine you need. Because without having done that, I wouldn’t put the machine into service in the first place, and I find it very sad that some people didn’t think it was necessary and lost expensive wood blanks and bits and nerves.
What I bought in addition to the machine was more than three times the price of the machine. However, this is mainly because I want to use the machine professionally and need to be able to rely on it.
So I can only advise you to stay reading and explore the vast amount of information already there (by using the search function), here in the forum and possibly elsewhere, and follow for a longer while and find out what the users have encountered in the course of using the machine after it has arrived, what they have upgraded and improved, or what problems they encountered.
By the way, this forum was for about two and half a year (from July 2020 on) a forum exclusively for the Original X-35/X-50 Series with the buildbotics-derived CNC Controller.
It was only with announcement of 2022-11-22 and beginning delivery on 2023 end of March that this is also a forum for the users of the Elite Series with the Masso G3 Touch CNC Controller. While the main hardware of the models are identical, the Elite Series are offered only with the heavier Z-20 Z assembly (optional for Original Series), closed-loop stepper motors and X-50 rails on all machines.
I purchased the X-50 Woodworker for hobby/semi-professional use primarily because I believe they offer the best design with the best parts for the price (ball screw vs belt driven for example). Also, the ease of assembly and operation was also a huge plus. Having said that, I was a little disappointed to learn that 1F does not support 4th Axis (rotary) on their BB controller. That, coupled with the amazingly difficult time they have had stabilizing their software on the BB controller (honestly, I don’t think it is a HIGH priority with 1F since they have launched their Elite series) convinced me to upgrade to the Elite version.
I was very impressed that they put together an upgrade path to go from the X-50WW to an Elite WW with very clear video instructions on how to accomplish the upgrade. I have ordered the upgrade and expect it to be delivered in a couple of weeks.
I would suggest that you consider picking up a gently used BB system from someone on the forum who has purchased an Elite outright (or buy a new one if that is important to you) unless you know right out of the gate you need 4th Axis capability. This gives you a cheaper entry and what is still a great machine with the option to upgrade vs. buy new if/when you decide to go to the Elite line.
I’ve just set up my new Elite WW to run alongside my 2 year old X50 WW. I’ve been completely satisfied with OneFinity since the start, both in it’s build, controller, and support. The Masso and closed loop steppers are a huge improvement, and I’m getting a great comparison running identical carves on both machines.
I’m no engineer, and I know nothing about electronics or programming. I’d still be building houses and making cabinets if I hadn’t effectively crippled my hands over the years. I needed a CNC machine that a woodworker could understand and operate, that was dependable and gave me clean, high quality results. OneFinity has exceeded those expectations and completely impressed me. Their customer support, and the experts who graciously offer their expertise on this forum, have helped me improve my efficiency and solved every issue I’ve encountered.
Thank you! I have a pretty good handle of what I want to do with the CNC I want to do it now but my current CNC is too small. I am wanting to do a small side hustle and projects for friends and family. I travel weekly for my job, a job I do enjoy, and woodworking and CNC is a great distraction. There are time I bring my laptop and work on projects while in the hotel. lol
Thanks! Some good points I’ll compare the Elite. I think the 4th Axis is cool but I’m not 100% sure if I would use it, but now thanks to you I guess I’ll look into it lol
Thank you Justin…. Do you think the Elite is worth considering the cost difference?
Aiph5u
(Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))
12
Hey Kevin,
I did not mean what you intend to do with the machine, but what the machine suddenly surprisingly intends you to do, thereby preventing that you work with the machine, but stealing your time (and enriching your (possibly unwanted) experiences )
Or, if one day you find that your Z-axis moves up and down as it pleases and ruins your workpiece and your wasteboard (the Z plunge issue), you might find that it’s because the curly Z cable is, unlike real drag chain cables, no cable made for permanent motion in a CNC machine and one day starts with internal cable breaks exactly where a strain relief is missing, or you find the second cause, the susceptibility to EMI, because none of the stepper cables are shielded and the router as well the upgrade to a spindle and VFD are a heavy source for EMI, or you find the third possible cause, that connectors can make problems (see also here), which may be caused by the fact that you did not yet retrofit strain relief to your machine, which the machines unfortunately lack. In this case you may want to procure what is needed to make new cables yourself. The same applies if you want custom length cables which would be the case if you want to mount the controller further away, if you suddenly find out that the way you wanted to position machine and controller is impossible with the stock cables. Or better start with drag width chain computation while you’re at it in the first place. Okay, on the Elite, they finally have drag chains. But what if it suddenly does this? Also even if Elite has a spindle option now, the drag chain is only 30 mm wide, so no chance for a water-cooled spindle. They sell additional clamps for the coolant hoses because the drag chain is too small.
So what I meant is, you can find such things out before buying only by taking time to dive into the forum and reading the experiences others had and reported. Otherwise it may be that you must repeat every problem and every issue yourself (which I do not recommend).
Issues 1F related, there was freight damage when I received the machine, (several folks had this) , had to replace a motor, I had to add a resistor to this new motor, took a little to figure it out, same thing there were a few folks having this issue depending on what motors were supplied, not sure if this was 1F or Masso. Had small issue with thumb drive not being recognized, same thing again, several folks have this, I believe it is ongoing and Masso working on it. I plugged the drive into the internal port and use Masso Link to load all my files, much easier anyway for me, I am new to the Masso control and have stumbled on several issues that were my doing because I was not used to how the control worked, I have been using Mach 3 for 20 years and was pretty comfortable with it and using it in a non automated way, very basic.
I was looking at a Masso control for a lathe I made and after using the 1F with Masso I purchased the control direct from Masso and converted my lathe with it.
As far as 1F and this forum you can’t beat it.
I would not do anything different than I have.
Sorry for the rambling on .
Pat
Not for a first machine, especially for hobby/side hustle needs. The original X50 WW will do more than you’ll ever need. It excels at V carving for signage and inlays, pocket carving for bowl and tray making, and surfacing for cutting boards and such. It does do outstanding relief carving, as I’ve been doing for a year or so, now, but the Elite gives faster and higher quality results. Unless you need to process large sheet goods, or make 4’ signs, the Woodworker model will be plenty big. You can tile longer projects, if needed.
I’m trying to support myself with my product ideas, and realized that one machine wouldn’t be able to put out enough production to pay the bills. I researched using manufacturing-level dual head machinery, but the cost and size requirements don’t make sense at this initial stage. The Elite WW was the logical choice for me. I’m using a spindle for the first time, but the Makita on the older machine is still going strong.
Thank you! I think the WW size is good for me now, and I like I can upgrade in the future without having to plunk down for a whole machine when I want to expand.
“…how was your support?”
I never had to “push the red button” for support, but I have no reservations about doing so if needed. Based on what I’ve seen from others, I believe the support is top-notch.
“would you recommend the stiffy add on?”
Without question, and I think it should be included as a standard feature. If you’re just using a Makita router, you might be okay without it, but after upgrading to an 80mm spindle, I now understand why the extra “stiffness” would be necessary. Plus, more stiffness usually translates to better performance, right
“Are you still happy with your purchase?”
Absolutely, I am. Given the context of the title of this post, I would certainly purchase the product again. While it’s worth noting that there have been other machines that have emerged, some of which were developed in response to the 1F, and they might now be competitive, for the most part, IMO there still isn’t another product in this price and size category that offers such a robust, straightforward design, and the features it provides.
“Do you have confidence it will do what you want it to do?”
Yes, I do, at least so far.
“Any suggestions to make that transition ‘easier’?”
I started with UGS and a 3020 laptop machine as well. I still have it, but haven’t fired it up in quite a while. Although UGS has more features, the 1F interface is much easier to use, so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming, and I found it pretty straightforward.
Lots of great answers here but I’ll add my 2 cents. I own both a Shapeoko 3 and an X-50 Woodworker. I do light production work starting with the Shapeoko and moving into the Onefinity, and I wish the Onefinity existed back when I originally got my Shapeoko. The ballscrews make all the difference. I’ve cut my production cuts from 55 minutes down to below 20 and that includes a manual tool change.
Being able to run industry standard feeds and speeds without bogging down the machine or skipping steps / slipping belts is a dream.
I do CNC work for fun, and generally don’t calculate return on investment, but I’m sure I have if that’s something you’re worried about.
I love the design behind the machine as well. It’s so well designed, logically designed, that doing maintenance is a breeze. I think I could strip the thing and have it back together in no time now.
I originally just bought the machine but I think I’m going to invest in some other accessories like the QCW in the future, something I very much don’t need, but like supporting the company. That’s how much I’m impressed by the machine.
I’ve never needed support, luckily, but I have sent the team a few emails about purchasing and they seem to answer by the time I hit ‘send’. I think they have a time machine or something. Tremendous customer service, after market service, and from what I see on this forum, after support service as well.
