After doing some research, I was set to purchase the Shapeoko Pro XXL until I came across people discussing the 1F. The ease of setup was the first thing that excited me. The rigidity and lack of belts put it over the top. Since then, I’ve discovered the Longmill. The setup isn’t nearly as easy, but the rigidity and lack of belts have me intrigued. The fact that it’s also much less expensive is the only reason I haven’t pulled the trigger on the 1F yet. I’m not concerned about shipping delays right now with the 1F vs getting the Longmill in a couple of weeks. I’ll be pretty busy until mid-August anyhow.
I’m hoping someone here has enough experience or insight into the Onefinity to help me make my final decision.
I’m very excited about making a purchase soon. Thank in advance for any help!
I’ve posted the same thing in the Onefinity customer forums trying to get as much insight as possible. Other than the ease of setup, is there anything else that sets Onefinity above Longmill that I’m just not seeing? Where is Longmill a better option? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
@mhuntoon Welcome to the group, Michael. I bet that it’s a better group than the Onefinity one.
Seriously, I have no experience with the OneFinity machine, so I can’t really give you a good comparison. I just went on their site and the woodworker mill looks like a very good piece of kit. I like many of its features. For me, when I chose the LongMill, budget had to be a very big consideration. Comparing the LongMill to the Onefinity is a bit like comparing apples and oranges in that regard. The Onefinity is approaching twice the cost of the LongMill. There are some excellent benefits to be had by spending the extra money. I believe that the LongMill gives excellent value for the price. I have no doubt the Onefinity does, too.
I don’t imagine that this has helped you a lot, and others may well join in the conversation. Good luck with whatever machine you choose.
I too have compared the two. I went with the longmill as I think that its simplicity is a huge benefit. there isnt anything on the machine that cant be easily and cheaply replaced. I purchased a full kit of spares from v wheels to stepper motors and linear guides for less than $200. I havent needed any of them yet but if anything ever fails i will be up and running that day as everything is so easy to work on.
Also the lack of homing and limit switches or stall homing is just one less thing to worry about. before most jobs run the y axis into the end stops to ensure they are square and they almost always are. then just zero wherever i need to for my project. I follow the 1F forums also and i see many people struggling with the homing and general interface stuff that i have never run into with the longmill. The 1F is no doubt a sturdy machine but in the hobby market most people are never going to realise that potential anyways. I run my Longmill fairly hard and its more than capable for anything that i need it to do.
I was in same boat and pulled trigger on Longmill… I can’t comment as to which is right for you, nor do I have use experience with either. My Longmill 30x48 is scheduled to be ready Early Jan.
The reason I went with Longmill was overall cost, and the assembly… I typically want easy assembly, but after watching reviews I feel assembling machine from ground up will give me a solid understanding for maintenance and repairs, as needed.
One thing to remember when comparing cost, the 1F doesn’t require a PC or similar to run, it can be done through the touchscreen. So figure that into your cost, for me I already had a laptop that I can dedicate to it.
When I bought in Sep/Oct 21 my options were the same, neither machine had 48" back then, and I bought a 30x30 LongMill mainly because the cost difference. Between the machine and this community I have never really thought of Onefinity since. I’m obviously biased now and hopefully you buy a LongMill and become biased too.
I have not yet bought mine, but I have debated over a number of different choices and will order from Sienci. All the other options have significant downsides and this seems to be the best balance.
1f has higher overall purchase cost and for what I would be doing, any improvement in stability would be negligable and really academic. One thing also to look at is the expense of the add ons. They are significantly more expensive as well and these are really peer to peer items. For someone getting started, like myself, I couldn’t justify the expense for the marginal gain.
MPCNC while enticing, was too much of a project much like PrintNC. I seriously looked at those and really just wanted to get to the cnc’ing and reduce the build process and variation.
I also like openbuilds but didn’t like the limited z-axis height and it was more expense for really nothing additional.
In the end, after looking at all the above plus numerous other popular options, I keep coming back. I also really like the story of these young brilliant guys and the fact they source a lot of it locally. I am American but hey I also pull for Canada.
I used the Longmill MK1 30x30 for over 2 years and I learned a lot from using it. The main issue with it is it’s lack of rigidity, but if you don’t intend to due complex 3D or detailed inlays it does work well.
On the plus side, I was able to resell my Longmill for just $50 less then I paid for it.
When I wanted to upgrade to a 48" model, had Scienci opted to replace the V-wheels and lead screws with linear rails and ball screws I would have definitely opted for their MK2 upgrade. ($1,769) Since I didn’t get the MK2, I don’t know if the new rails improved it’s rigidity.
I went with the 1F X50 Journeyman (48"x32") ($2,350) and have found the machine to be rock solid, simple and easy to setup. However, DO NOT get the Buildbotics controller!! Being stand alone didn’t turn out to be a benefit in that I had to use my computer anyway to run it since the monitor is difficult to use. The operating system on the Buildbotics lacks basic functions like setting and saving work offsets (G54-G59). Stopping a job requires restarting and resetting everything.
Of course, 1F’s answer to this is it’s Elite version which upgrades the Buildbotics to the Masso 3G controller which is a premium controller and geared toward industrial CNC’s and you’re looking at a $1400 cost for it. ($3,650 for the 48"x32")
I’m currently looking to convert my 1F to using the Scienci controller ($149) with gSender which will only require installing limit switching (a kit 1F does not provide), but it’s not hard to do.
I like Scienci Labs, their support is fantastic so you need to also consider that when deciding which CNC to buy.
