Hello from David of Wolfram Slides

[Wolfram Slides]

Yes, I've had it for about a year now.

And I've been using it a lot more than I expected, though almost all in cutting foam, paper and card (I use the Donek D4 dragknife and a Stepcraft vinyl cutter).

I have also cut wood and MDF (using Stepcraft's 500 watt HF spindle and the Kress 1050 FME-1). I have not tried cutting aluminium with it, but have no reason to think it wouldn't work, within its limits of course.

For the money, I feel it was a good option. It is supplied in kit form, and while the build largely went smoothly, even though I am quite experienced at building stuff there were a few glitches. Support from Rory of StoneyCNC was superb, and utterly invaluable throughout the process - if you're buying in the UK or EU I would buy from them without question. Nothing too major, though, and the machine has been up and running nicely since then.

The only thing I've found is that some play does work its way in over time, and it needs periodic maintenance (probably every 30-40 hours of operation) to tighten things up to correct it. Once you're used to it, not too much of a problem. But in general the Stepcraft has performed well - it's reasonably accurate, easy to use and maintain, and has done the job I bought it for brilliantly. However, it really is for light use - it would not perform as a production machine, working continuously all day every day...
I would say that, as a previous CNC beginner, it has been taught me some good lessons:

1. Be prepared to pay for good software - probably as much, or more, as you paid for the machine. It will save you hours of frustration and get you better results much more quickly. I use SheetCam, UCCNC and various CAD or 2D artwork design software software depending on the task at hand.

2. The things I thought were exclusively important (programmable resolution, backlash) are not the be-all and end-all. IMO the most important thing would be that the machine is absolutely square, and the bed is absolutely flat (obviously this ideal is never actually achieved, but I spend much more time worrying about this than the backlash or resolution).

3. Think about workholding. I very quickly got a basic vacuum clamping system going, which again saved me huge amount of time. Again, budget this in when thinking about your machine.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
David