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Was reading this with interest, since one of the big drawbacks to me is the proprietary nature of the machine, and the limitations of the software. I wouldn't mind so much paying the price of the software, if it were closer in ability to it's nearest competitor, or it were usable on another machine.
I keep wondering where you are located Eric?
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I am located in the Dayton, Ohio area.
For certain projects, Designer can be a quick easy solution. That's why I want to keep an actual CW in my shop. Then there are times that I want to do something that either isn't part of the LHR software I own or they don't offer it at all. Then I have to try to trick the CW into doing what I want...but if it does something other than it is intended to do, it won't have the logic to do it correctly even if the end result is the same. I have the software to do what I want to do CORRECTLY and then I have these machines that are physically able to do it, but they can't talk to each other. Inevitably, I will need some form of CNC router that can perform the tasks that the CW's software won't allow.
One discussion that had happened here was closed loop vs. open loop. As nice as closed loop is to have and that it is already on the CW, I think LHR's competitors at this level of machine are predominantly using open loop systems successfully.
Now a note on my new "broken" CW. I cleaned a little clump of sawdust from a used and supposedly broken machine and it is running flawless. I will probably double the total use it has had by the end of the week. My other model C, which I bought new from LHR and cost quite a lot more practically needed a complete tear down and overhaul when I pulled it from the box. If the broken down machine was what LHR sent me to begin with I would have so much more respect for their quality. I had it up and running minutes after unpacking it. To say the least, the first one was not like that.