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Here’s a little mini rant… Don’t get me wrong, I think what Inventables has done for us all is amazing and wonderful. There was a time not too very long ago when the idea of a CNC machine in the home was just too far out there. But I do think they need to take slightly better care of their existing customers and not just new customers buying their first machine. Last year I bought (I think) all of the parts I needed to upgrade to the 1000mm machine. Due to a health issue, I lost most of the rest of the year to recovery time, and the parts all sat in a box in the shop. Now that I’m working on putting it all together, I’m finding that there are a bunch of newer upgrade parts that look really good, and like something I’d want to have on my machine only to find that they are not offered for sale (separate from buying a whole new machine). The standard answer seems to be “we hope to make those available sometime in the future”. Shouldn’t it be “here are the part numbers and prices and we’ll ship those right out”? Instead we end up with parts that don’t match the current drawings, part numbers that don’t otherwise exist, having to search out the older instructions, etc… Please Inventables, if you come up with something that people might want, make it available to all current customers, not just new ones. Keep us happy, and we’ll continue as customers. Make us unhappy, and we will tend to look elsewhere.
@WilliamARieselbach Hi Will, which upgrade do you currently have and what are you looking to upgrade to - also what size machine do you have? I will take a look and see if I can help you out in anyway. thx, Phil
I upgraded to more or less the current 1000mm setup. It’s not just one thing in particular, more like a bunch of little things… spacers with a part number that doesn’t exist, gantry plates that don’t have published holes, drag chain parts that aren’t for sale, etc… I’m sure there’s more, but I’m stuck waiting on spacers that I tracked down to a different part number with a different measurement system.
I just made the brackets for the new style drag chain based on the design dimensions on the PDF for the new style. Could not be happier with the results, I made mine out of acrylic first then made some out of aluminium for strength after I leaned on one side while tightening some clamps on the waste board and broke the acrylic one. Made the top bracket out of aluminium but just bent it into an angle and drilled some holes in the right place. I can share the files for the brackets that hold the 20X20 extrusion across the back if you need.
The spacers I mentioned are not there - but the other part number came up in a reply to a question very similar to mine. But we shouldn’t have to sift through 10 parts and convert measurement systems to find it. I can find only a couple of listed parts for the drag chains, but not the parts that actually hold the extrusion. There is a missing terminal block, but on the question about that there was a reply with a McMaster part number. I remember a couple of others I had looked for, but not specifically what they were as I managed to find a similar part elsewhere. But if I’m looking through the instructions and trying to find parts, and copying and pasting part numbers into search, I should never find a blank (not found) page or a list of part numbers that end before they get to the one I just pasted.
I upgraded mine. I ended up having to call to order parts not listed. It was very frustrating till I got the right person at inventables and they took care of me.
I agree that we could have done a better job here with making the key upgrades more easily available to existing customers. We offered some things like the wide MakerSlide, Z-Probe, side board, etc right out of the gate, have since made some available like the spacers but we still have not done anything with certain other ones like the connectorized motors with permanently affixed pulleys/connectorized cable harnesses, drag chain kits, etc. I can bring this back in front of our product team for further consideration. Our CS and product teams have been discussing this topic quite a bit since we launched the new version of X-Carve. Of the upgrades left that we haven’t made available as individual items which one or two do you think would be most useful to the X-Carve user community?
For me, I would think the drag chain kits. Cable harnesses with connectors might be important to some, but part of the magic of these machines is the skill learning, and soldering connectors is part of that. And yes, I may be a total nerd/geek, but I think that part is the fun part.
But on the spacers, in the instructions, the measurements of the spacers are in mm, and the actual part number that can be ordered is in imperial. I admit I’ve been highly stressed the last few weeks by outside things, but my brain reached it’s limit on converting measurements that did not come out exact… Maybe that could be fixed?
I would certainly want the drag chain kit for a 1000mm machine, and hopefully before I get to that part of the build. If I could, I’d order it right now.
I don’t have the same problem as you gentle people have. But I can say that while I’m still putting my X Carve 1000 together, there have been several times I have run into issues. I have also done some other modifications such as @PhilJohnson’s new aluminum waste board and linear Z Axis out of the gate. And whenever I have had a problem, I call Inventables support. I have spoken to Paul and Mo several times, and have received nothing but top notch help, from getting extra parts to understanding how they go together.
Here’s an example. Look at the date, the part is still not available. There is another answer in there that gives a McMaster part # for it, which is good, but…
Hi,
We actually do not sell this part individually at the moment, but we will have it for sale in a few weeks.
Answered by Sam Alaimo Inventables on Aug 26, 2015
or
Seven months ago?
Hi Luke, if you’re referring to the bracket that we are including with the new kits (those shipped after Sept 1st) we don’t have those for individual sale yet, but we hope to in the coming months. If you need a replacement or anything else please get in touch with us through the support center. Thanks, -Griffin.
Answered by Griffin Dennis Inventables on Nov 14, 2016
Let’s see, the first one is for the 10 space terminal block, the second was for the drag chain kit I believe. There was another answer on a question that specifically said they wanted to take care of new customers first.
Again, don’t get me wrong, Inventables has created a wonderful machine… not all that long ago, the idea of a CNC in the home was insane. And in general, their customer service is wonderful. I received a bad bearing, and had a new one the next day. And my last order was here in a day. But if you make a change for the better, make it possible for people who want to upgrade to get it. If you concentrate solely on new customers, you lose the existing ones who may have been with you for awhile. I’ll figure something out and make it if I have to, but why should I have to re-invent the wheel, or buy a whole new, current machine just to get an upgrade because they don’t want to sell it?
Not yet. I have it in hand, but I’m taking my time building the X Carve. I only work on it a couple of hours a day. I’ve got it all put together and am in the middle of wiring it up. There are parts of the directions that are not very clear and I have had to call Inventables multiple times to straighten out my thinking.
