I think you are about as plain and accurate as possible Craig.

I would also like to point out that your statement..... "but as soon as you want to customise your machine the effort required goes up dramatically" is true for almost any I know of if customizing is even an option.

  Just take a look at the feature request thread!!!!  90% of that thread is people wanting Mach 4 to do something special.  But also, 90% of that can be accomplished with using the tools that are already provided with Mach 4!

Steve

Hello Steve.
I agree with your post. I'd say its fair. It addresses that 90% you mentioned.
I'd be in that other 10% ... maybe the lower 50% of it. (you can probably tell   )  
Picture the guy with a homemade lathe made from surplus pallets, plywood, allthread and one E-Stop button.
I wouldn't expect him to have to do anything internally in order to have the program run as described.
Might sound a bit picky, but these little thing can really discourage and intimidate the lesser educated of us tinkerers. And they appear to be adding up.
I'm ok with it, I can muddle through with the help of the forum and you guys. I'll buy it.
 I've learned to expect the unexpected. Just sayin'.

If there was a button in my new self-driving car that said "Take me to Church", I wouldn't expect it to deliver me to the whorehouse.

Russ

Hi Russ,
I wasn't aware that the destinations differed....LOL

Craig

This discussion reminds me of a conversation I had with a customer who bought one of the robotic greenhouse watering/spraying machines that I used to build.  He calls up all pissed off because the machine crashed into the end wall, got the boom all twisted up in the motorized vent louvers, and continued spraying water damaging a lot of plants.  I asked him what the machine said, because our machines had voice synthesizers and would tell you exactly what the problem was.  I asked did it say "Collision, Boom twisted' or anything like that?  He said no and I thought about it for a moment.  Then I said "YOU were driving, you had it in manual and weren't watching it. Why didn't you run it in auto?"  He "Oh I haven't had time to learn how to do that!"  I hung up on him.

Two months later he comes into my booth at a trade show and says "Well, that was embarassing!"  I said "You mean the part where all you had to do was flip the switch to auto and press start and the machine tells you how to enter a speed so it knows how much water to apply then does what you ask with no crashes?"  He says "Yeah that part too."  So this machine was capable of doing useful work right out of the box despite the fact it was extremely programmable for those who were interested.

If there was a button in my new self-driving car that said "Take me to Church", I wouldn't expect it to deliver me to the whorehouse. Smiley

I wouldn't expect it to but if you ever get one that does just that let me know. I want it. It is obviously capable of reading minds. 

Steve,

-.  -.--  ...-- .--.  ,  yep,  I certainly know about other hobby costs.  That's one of the things that all hobbies have, namely, cost.

Cost is just a matter of degree one wants to expend on his hobby and everybody is different. What is expensive to one person is peanuts  to another. The farmers barn is sided and roofed with Al but the house siding is in shambles.  I know folks who spend more on an accurate gun / sniper rifle than some pay for a car. Heck, some youngsters  spend more on one mag wheel for their junk car than  the cost to convert to Mach4. The neighbor bought a $3k planer for his wood working hobby and the bird houses he makes are not exactly flying off the shelves in his shop. All depends on what one wants and once you decide you have to pay for it.

COST- if your going to convert to Mach4  one will need a license, most likely an external motion device  and maybe a
          breakout board  .....so $500 to play in the new arena.
          If one does not want to spend $500 then don't upgrade to Mach 4. Period!
          Only the individual can rationalize it out.
  
I like to think of Mach4 similar to what an undertaker once told me ............... there is time and we are patient, but, sooner or later you all come to us, maybe not me, but the  services will be needed!

So much for COST.

RICH

 

Hi Russ,
I wasn't aware that the destinations differed....LOL

Craig

Well, there ya go. Just like Mach4, that would probably be perfect  ......  for some users. 
I stand corrected.
Nevermind 

Quote

If there was a button in my new self-driving car that said "Take me to Church", I wouldn't expect it to deliver me to the whorehouse. Smiley

I wouldn't expect it to but if you ever get one that does just that let me know. I want it. It is obviously capable of reading minds. 

You're probably right Brett.  I had the preacher with me. 

Rich,

-.  -.--  ...-- .--. , .-- - ----- -.-  I'm sure you do know about hobby costs!  $500 to play in the ham world is chump.  And I'm also sure you know that we are super nerds, right? 

I use my CNC machine to help build solid state amplifiers.  Check out my QRZ page to see it.  The copper heat spreader has the MOSFET holes machined into it.  And of course, the case was CNC'd as well.   CNC and ham radio go well together.  I use my little desk CNC machine to make PCBs on occasion. 

People that are just in the CNC hobby are lucky and don't have to take tests and get licensed. 

Steve

You're probably right Brett.  I had the preacher with me.   

I got to go on that one.