Let me start by saying how excited I was to purchase my first CNC machine. The options are endless with being able to design by computer and cut accurately by my machine.
My SO3 arrived on time and was fairly straight forward to assemble. The first couple months of operation went well and I was very happy with my purchase. Then one day when running an adaptive clearing toolpath on some 8/4 walnut the machine suddenly cut .365" deeper than it should have and immediately ruined my workpiece. I thought it was a fluke and after re-milling and glueing up another blank, tried to run the operation again. This time it went about 25% further through the toolpath and all the sudden plunged deep yet again. Beyond frustrating. Since then I have continued to struggle with, and attempt to correct, EMI issues. I’ve spent countless hours and $ spent fiddling around with USB cables, routers, cable routing, grounding of machine and router, anti-static dust hoses, installing dedicated circuits, different usb ports, software updates, etc…
After all my fussing around I am still having EMI (electromagnetic interference) problems. I have come to believe that this is not due to operator negligence or inexperience but simply due to a design flaw in the machine itself. Simply put, the SO3 was a very unwise investment. I put too much time and money into trying to correct something that should have been corrected before this machine was ever put on the market by carbide3D. Shame on the company for putting such a problem prone product on the market and expecting their customers to spend countless hours and dollars trying to find solutions.
I recommend that all CNC users look to other brands before settling on a carbide3D product.