7 CNC Routers Later: Why This One?

[@donaldamlaw1266]

Well you made me feel better about my purchase last week. Bought a OneFinety with a spindle as a retirement gift to myself. Bought it for a side hustle and to up my wood working skills.

[@cutting-it-close]

Awesome!! Looking to make some vacation money?

[@chrishayes5755]

I'm gonna go with the altmill over the onefinity. it looks way more rigid which is important since I'm working almost exclusively with metal. still the onefinity is a beast of a machine and is very tempting to buy.

[@caluman69]

Just ordered mine too. Can't wait until December

[@chrishayes5755]

@@caluman69 Grats! I'm going from shapeoko 3 xxl to altmill.. like going from a honda civic to a nsx lol.

[@michaelbeckwith977]

Proud owner of a Onefinity elite foreman with a PWNCNC spindle… and now a PWNCNC ATC kit on the way. Here’s what they don’t tell you though when you’re looking at the ‘affordability’ of the so called hobbyist CNC: the base price is just that, the base price… as is. If you really want to achieve the full capability, by the time you buy spindle / ATC, cooling system, bits / tool holders, table, software/ computer, spoil board with t track or whatever hold down system (now they’re hawking Airweights vacuum table systems for up to $1500), dust collection setup…. You’re getting up towards that $15000 anyway.

[@builtbybittle]

For me, this is actually a feature and not a bug. I bought my original woodworker in 2020 and upgraded to a 48" bar a couple years later. I just ordered the Elite Foreman with an 80mm spindle holder, but I'll start out running it with a 60mm router and spindle bushing. I'm going to skip buying a regular 80mm spindle and go straight to an ATC spindle after I've done 2-4 jobs to cover it and gotten used to the Masso controller. I can't spend $10-15k out the gate, but I can easily upgrade my way as it makes money for me. Not saying I wouldn't love to just buy a machine "fully loaded" at the start, but since I'm new to CNC this has also helped me develop my skills and knowledge at a manageable pace as well. If I had started out with too complicated of a machine, I probably would have given up after trying to "eat the whole elephant" all at once. I do largely agree with your comment through, if someone already knows their way around CNC and has the means, going straight to something like a Phantom or Shop Sabre would make the most sense.

[@25cobrabyte]

Couldn't agree more on the lack of in-depth information available on using Masso.

[@stlwoodworking]

One thing I have started paying attention to is how dust collection can be ran to the spindle and also Z capacity.

[@briandye179]

Agree on documentation and Masso tutorials. I've had to watch various tubers to navigate through the interface.

[@RobSandstromDesigns]

Good points to review. I think these are all good insights. Still haven't gotten additional CNCs for my use.

[@ashleehouse5204]

Great info! Thanks for sharing. All those tidbits of experience are incredibly insightful.

[@jimmer411]

There is a ton of info over at Masso on setting it up and their forums are extremely helpful. Cant fault onefinity for that one.

[@trokt2]

As a guy just totally starting out who's just building up his shop, I came to the same conclusion. I picked this cnc router too after many hours of research. Maybe there are better european brands available for a Slovenian like me, but no one is making videos about them on youtube.

[@cutting-it-close]

Agreed, at some point just get one, embrace that you’ll have to learn from others and go after it. You can have the best machine in the world, but if you can’t click go, then it doesn’t matter.

[@OnefinityCNC]

Great video! Working on a detailed Masso video walkthrough now!

[@anthonyegner1382]

Customer support is number one for me

[@tpsooner7816]

Really appreciate this video!! Very relatable!

[@cutting-it-close]

Awesome! This new CNC should help whenever I do projects as well. Thank you for all of the comments, really appreciate it

[@TunaSoda]

It seems illogical to me to not want linear rails at this point

[@emostorm7]

1f has rails, that are linear, and linear bearings, so I think these are actually considered linear rails. I'm confused what you're trying to say.

[@TheMacleod2770]

Basically, there is no support throughout the rail. Proper linear guides have support throughout the span. Like on my Shopsabre 23. Smaller cut area but rigid as it gets.

[@emostorm7]

I'm interested to see what you do with this machine. It's been tested at 1250 IPM 1/4 inch deep in hardwood. So it can handle good bit ;)

[@theebalz]

The Masso learning curve is definitely a concern. As the 1F evolves it seems to be more daunting to learn and keep up from a brand new beginner standpoint. Especially if you're also just learning Vcarve at the same time.

[@carlslater7492]

I have the Elite Foreman with an ATC ISO-30 spindle from CNC Depot. It is a whole lot closer to Shop Sabre then it is a stock router OneFinity. My machine is a bit more expensive than the ISO-20s, but I would rather cry only once. As far as CAD packages are concerned 30% VCarvePro and 70% FreeCad.

[@louisfbrooks]

I have had the Foreman for about six months and have a few hundred hours on it making products to sell. I really like the CNC for the price point but I do have a few comments. If you are going to be running it in a serious business application you need the spindle, we went with PWNCNC 220 water cooled spindle. Once you add in the spindle kit, the dust collection and other odds and ends expect to be in around $8K for the setup. Still a great deal but there are a lot of extra costs when you are first starting up. The Masso controller is really nice but I don't think it is business quality. We have had to go in and resolder connections and replace the USB slot on ours. The connectors that are supplied with the unit are not well secured and break easily. The last is dust control which is a constant problem. While I really like the PWNCNC spindle, their dust control components are a not ideal. (Infinity should really offer better dust control as an option) Also the Randy Roman components that are offered through Infinty are not worth the money.

[@broncosfan-dk1uj]

100% agree about the software comment. Vcarve pro/aspire is as good as it gets. I’ve played a lot with enroute and it’s not even close to as good as vectric software. People laugh at me for using vectric but I just tell them sorry I like to get files ready in three steps instead of six steps lol

[@caluman69]

Did you look at the altmill? I know they are only pre-order but someone brought them up to me and I decided to order one.

[@cutting-it-close]

I did, not a bad machine, hate waiting 6months, want to start making money with it as fast as possible. In 6 months there is a lot of opportunity lost.

[@caluman69]

@@cutting-it-close makes sense. Thanks for the content!

[@mikeamescreations]

Is the PWNCNC spindle and Dust Collection part of the Onefinity package? ...because that's like $2K worth of upgrades. I run a Longmill MK2 48x30 for half the price. Upgraded to 80mm water cooled spindle, plus the dust collection, and still spent less than you. The only thing I can't do is half sheets of plywood, but I rarely need to.

[@Z-add]

The spindle doesn't come with onefinity nor is supported by them. You will have to get support from pwncnc.

[@mexicancustard7714]

Agree with everything you said. I would add the WIFI connection and Masso connection software to the list of complaints. I've never been able to get the software to see the machine on the network but I know others that haven't had a problem. The software side is so basic there isn't a way to diagnose the issue if you have one. Second, the external USB connection is a failure point. There are many complaints on the forums about a bad USB connection. This is fixed by replacing the external USB adapter with better hardware. That being said I love my Journeyman and the Masso controller. I wouldn't change my decision to go with Onefinity if I had to do it over.

[@OnefinityCNC]

There's been a software fix for much better connectivity, so update to the latest firmware and update to the latest masso connect.

[@emostorm7]

Lot of talk about the altmill, and it looks great, but at the end of the day, still aluminum, still takes a long time to assemble, and imho, i just think steel is the way to go.

[@madbomber40]

Thanks I m very interested om one

[@thefilthelement]

#8 not belt driven, I can't tell you how fast continually adjusting the belt got old I can't imagine how Laguna sells a 2'x4' table for $15k when they sell a 4'x8' with vacuum table for $20k

[@cutting-it-close]

Yeah it’s pretty crazy, the old IQ that I have is belt driven, but I never had to touch them in 10 years, guess I got lucky with it!

[@bigdogmn73]

Huge favor to ask...could you do that demo like you did on your shopsabre cnc where you used a roughing cut to cut out that tray with your 1/2 roughing bit? I'm extremely curious to compare the two and see how bad the onefinity does with it.

[@carlslater7492]

I have an Elite Foreman with a 3HP CNC Depot spindle (iso-30 with ATC) ... HP is seldom an issue, especially with wood products

[@matthewcleveland577]

Surely someone can write you a post to run vcarve on your onsrud.

[@cutting-it-close]

They tried, They couldn’t do it for a dual head

[@PiercesPerfectPieces]

All anyone needs to know about CNCs to get started is knowing the difference between an 1.0000 inch & a .0001 tenth. Plus your X Y Z B C A axis. Vertical & Horizontal axis & orientation is different though. And as far as rigidity goes there’s only so much ANY CNC is going make/cut/do without a coolant system (granted yes I know you’re referring to woodworking with a bench top CNC). Forced air is okay, but your still limited no matter the size or "rigidity" cause a forced air spindle (no matter the machine) isn’t gonna cut any HT 17-4, cast iron, diamond (not for long at all anyways) etc etc. The easiest materials to machine is aluminum, brass & delrin (& wood) & then it just goes up from there. Bronze isn’t to bad either. Then again I’m a washed up CNC reject so what would I even know!?! NOTHING!! 🥴🫠

[@paulhaugen9151]

I tried the link to the waitlist but it just took me to the workshop. Is the link not working out an I not finding the waitlist link

[@cutting-it-close]

I also just added it on the website as well.

[@cutting-it-close]

Checking back in to see if it worked for you!

[@popshobbydungeon]

The On Finity is too complicated for a new user Whereas the Shapeoko is so plug and play and carbide 3d has a program that if you wreck anything within the first 30 days they will over night you a new one including bits ....................Shapeoko for the win