Hello Aaron, it’s nice to see you again. You have absolutely no need to apologise to me… you have not done anything wrong. I had considered my position on the forum when I first joined and saw so many complaints that I began to wonder if I had made the right choice. My reasoning about my own contributions was this… that taking part and being active was a better way to bring about change than complaining about everything that was wrong/dumb or worse… for me to descend into just offering hypercritical abuse. It can be really easy to bring heat to a situation when one gets disappointed or fed up and I felt it was vital to bring light rather than heat.
What I have found especially difficult is the almost complete lack of engagement from the Snapmaker staff. The hiding behind English sounding names has really pulled my chain because it underlines this feeling that there was another layer of fog which had been inserted to keep the customers away from the staff. For example… @parachvte is in reality Chen Zheyong. I don’t know why the depersonalised name is used when he/she has a perfectly good family name and given name to use. For me this crazy name game just increases my sense that I am somehow dealing with fantasy people. It has been that way from my journey’s beginning with SM1. Shop staff 9my supplier) who were always unavailable and when they gave you a name (that never responded) it was just more of this secret service nonsense.
I believe that not facing an issue when it arises tends to make the issue far worse than it would have been, if it had it been attended to appropriately at the start. I suspect that some of what has happened to SM users may be put down to cultural (mis)perceptions, which team Snapmaker have been unwilling to address in the manner that is common to western business practices. In the first instance, as a customer, I expect to get what I paid for. The lack of truth surrounding Luban is incredible. The software is a major stumbling block and could have been written by someone just starting a career in computer programming.
Now that Fusion 360 is pulling the plug on some aspects of free use, the Snapmaker team will not be able to hide their own software failings by pointing users to Fusion 360. The CNC aspect of the machine software is so poor that it is clear that the principles of machine control which are fundamental to cartesian coordinate location have not been understood, let alone obeyed. Lightburn shows what the laser control ought to have been. Carbide Create, Carbide Motion and Meshcam demonstrate what the CNC aspect of Snapamaker should have encompassed and included. The 3D print aspect is not an area with which I am familiar but even I, as a non 3D print user, know that a print nozzle gouging shapes into the heated bed is wrong and it is so very clearly a manufacturer’s rather than a user’s issue.
The hardware is, by and large very well designed and executed. MySM1 is just a fancy doorstop if I want to use the CNC function. The CNC aspect was why I had bought the machine in the first place. The laser function is just usable but lacking in power and poorly implemented. The image handling in Luban is a joke that is in very poor taste. The lack of commitment to the user base is evident in poorly documented features and sales video presentations passed off as tuition videos. Topping it off has been the ridiculous radio silence from any company staff members for the last number of weeks.
My reason for wanting and getting a larger machine was to be able to achieve more and take on real projects, which SM1 is not designed to cope with. The build area of 90mm square is too small to be of any practical use. My new machine is the smallest model in the Carbide 3D Shapeoko 3 range and it offers me a build area of 406.4mm (16 inches) square. True 3D carving is what I most wanted to do and the machine is completely capable of that task. I have added a JTech 4.2W laser as well, which integrates nicely and can be easily applied and removed with a well designed magnetic mount. It also speaks to Lightburn really well because the hardware developer bothered to find the best software developer for laser work and they worked together to produce an outstanding package.
Snapmaker lost this sale to me (which should have been an A250 at least) by being completely unresponsive to every issue I have raised concerning Luban. I have spent around $2500 on my new Shapeoko 3 CNC machine, JTech laser, Trend router tooling and accommodating the new machine by making a new support structure for it. The support I have had pre-sale and now on the Carbide 3D forum has been outstanding. I wont say that there are no issues with the Shapeoko machines but when you see that the Carbide 3D staff are immediately on the case, you can feel confident that any issues will be resolved.
They also have a users gallery that demonstrates what people have achieved and it is awe- inspiring. One guy has machined aluminium parts for a car customisation business. That work is truly unbelievable and it shows that I have at the very least picked the right machine. Clamps were a real issue for me with SM1 and SM2 may also have clamp issues. I received my clamps that go into a threaded wasteboard. There is a choice to buy aluminium or stainless steel and the clamps have been beautifully designed. I chose stainless steel and was surprised to find that they take M6 or 1/4 inch bolts. I found out this fact because there were both sets of bolts of different lengths supplied with the clamps, along with the grub screws. The images are self explanatory and tell a much better story than I do…
I have come to the end of my hoping that team Snapmaker would start showing some commitment to their users. My sad conclusion is that they wont and so they don’t get any more of my money. I am writing off my previous expenditure with them and waving them goodbye. i hope all goes well for you Aaron and that you get what you need from your SM2.
Jeff