I started around 2pm Saturday afternoon and ended around 2am Sunday morning.
Packaging: The unit was shipped in two parcels. 1 large flat rectangular box weighing about 72lbs and then another large, but lighter 23lb box. The 72lb box contained the machine itself. The lighter box contained all the extras: spindle, debris extractor, milling bits, 3D print head, drag knife, hot wire foam cutter, etc.
The Stepcraft machine was well packed in the heavy box. The base plate and milling surface were attached to the bottom of a large styrofoam part holder. On the top all the pieces were neatly separated into sections. The foam gave way at one spot and there were some resulting scuffs on the y axis rails, but some 220 grid sandpaper took care of the burrs and got things smooth again. All in all, not quite a SAB goblin transmission and main rotor in terms of packaging and presentation in the box, but pretty close.
I started off by removing everything and putting it out on a secondary table.
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Check out the manual. Very nicely done. A couple spots ended up being a little tricky, but Stepcraft provides youtube videos in those spots to make things clear.
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And so the build begins. The manual is broken up into sections. Most of the first half is dedicated to building the Z axis assembly and the gantry assembly.
Here's a few shots of the z-axis sub assembly.
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Next were the motor and screw and then putting it and z-axis assembly together into the full toolholder assembly.
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Then came the gantry assembly. This got to be a bit of a pain in the butt. Both because I needed a larger work surface to assemble the whole thing and because I didn't cut some of the loom tubing as directed and ended up having to undo some looming and assembly to get at the section I needed to cut.
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With the gantry assembled next came the "table" and y-axis motor/drive assembly. I neglected to take pictures of that y-axis drive setup. You'll see the motor mounted at the rear of the machine, but that's about it. That motor drives a set of belt pulleys (very much like Goblin tail pulleys) which attach to the two long y-axis screws on either side of the machine.
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Next was installing the bottom plate. This was a bit of a pain. It had to slide into two small channels on the bottom of the side rails.
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Next was installing the gantry and doing gantry alignment. Alignment entailed manually manipulating the screws to get the front of the gantry (both sides) at the same distance from the front of the table. Then when it came time to put the drive belt on the back, you had to be sure not to change the position of the screws. Easier said than done. Of everything in the build, this is the part I expect I screwed up and will need to redo once I start running and testing it.
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Then came wiring. This was a pain in the arms. I didn't have a good way to prop the thing up on end so I ended up having to sit on the floor with the brains and wires above me. Damn screw terminal blocks! This was easily the least considered part of the build process and manual. I don't know if they could have done it another way, but it sucked. Again, I neglected to take pictures of this process. I was busy swearing and trying to keep my legs from falling asleep.
You'll notice the front plate and emergency shutoff switch is installed now, too.
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Lastly was installing the feet and the working surface. The feet are very hard rubber and attach with thin double sided adhesive gel pads (much thinner than the FBL unit gel adhesives). One foot ended up getting ripped off and, of course, it landed on the adhesive on the floor, ruining the adhesive. So I need to get something to use instead. I'd have preferred if the feet attached with screws instead. The working surface, didn't fit on the first go around. I ended up having to loosen the rails on front and back and space them out some more. I may reloosen and push the sides back together now that it is in there.
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Ideally (and the manual assumes, based on the way they do things) that you more or less have 360 degree access to the work area as you're building it. I did not, I was building on the desk that would house it when done, tucked up against the wall. So I ended up having to turn move and turn things around several times throughout the process. Toward the end when it was 72lbs and larger than the desk top... well it got aggravating. Back is a bit sore this morning.
And a quick final note. This is their large size model, 840mm. I didn't realize how large the machine would be. I could have gone with the 600mm version and been just fine. As it is, the machine just barely fits on the desk top and is cramped in the corner I have it in. I'll probably end up clearing out a different area, building a larger desk (or perhaps attaching a larger top to the current one) and moving the whole thing.
Next up will be installing software, powering it up and taking it for a spin.
