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Advice needed please
Hi everyone.
Found myself bidding on a used cnc machine over the weekend. Mine was the winning bid until a couple of hours to go, machine was removed from the auction. After a few expletives I thought maybe I’ve dodged a potential bullet here, I know nothing about these machines, & don’t have a warranty or engineer to call on when things go wrong. Looks like I have to dust off my bank book & buy a new one.
My question is this: What should I buy with about 20 grand (max)? Finding huge difference in prices & don’t want to buy rubbish or pay over the odds for a badge. Incidentally we outsource a fair bit of this & the reason I want to do in house is because it’s a bit of a ball ache to have to wait for our supplier to respond with prices & I can’t estimate as one day he’s really cheap, next day he wants me to pay his mortgage. Your opinions will be very welcome. -
14 Replies
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HI Kevin,
for £20 K you are not going to get much in the way of a brand new CNC router, perhaps one of the ones that Radical sell, I think their Piranha’s come in at that sort of cost. I’m not sure how good (or bad) they are though.My inclination would be to go for a mainstream brand and buy a second user AXYZ, Tekcel or similar which you would get for that sort of money. These are usually available refurbished by the manufacturer and typically come with 6 – 12 months warranty. We bought our 4008 about 8 years ago for £15 K and touch wood – so far it hasn’t let us down
cheers Martin -
Thanks Martin, I’d guessed I wasn’t going to get whistles or bells for the budget. Essentially, if I can get a decent cut on dibond & acrylic I’d be happy. Spoke with AXYZ & was told I need to increase my budget to 50 grand. If I had 50 grand I’d be on a beach somewhere
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Have you considered building your own? They’re actually not that complicated and there are plenty of resources available out there to help you. Best of all, by building it yourself you will be an expert at maintaining it.
Here’s a good starting point:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Mac … ur+own+cnc -
Hi Phil. I did notice that you have written a guide on building your own cnc. I’d love to have a go but to be honest, I’m not brave enough to invest the time or money in a diy build. I’ll leave that to clever people, I’m just a sign monkey
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Hi Kevin. I think AXYZ were trying to sell you a new one…
Ask them what they have in the way of refurbished ones. Also what is in the pipe-line. ie they may have sold but not delivered a new one to someone who is part-exchanging. Is worth pursuing as that s probably your best chance of getting something reliable for your budget. -
Thanks for the input all, will try AXYZ in the morning
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Give Julian a call at Complete CNC solutions I believe they now have an entry level machine that may fit your budget. I know when we bought our router a couple of years ago it was close to 60k but Julian mentioned they had a smaller one at a third of the price. Worth a shot!
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Thanks for the contact James, will give them a call
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Worth looking at all options
The three main criteria need to be bed size, minimum 1500 wide and 2500 long (wish we had bought one that took 3 metre sheets now as is a pain to route 3 metre long trays) you must have is a vacuum, preferably with zoning so you can turn areas on and off. Lastly an automated system for measuring the Z axis (tool length and substrate thickness)
All the rest – multi-tool changing etc etc are niceties you can live without to keep cost down. Getting these within your budget may require you to look at a second user machine… -
Very valid points, I was on the fence regarding 8 x 4 or 10 x 5, think the last comment confirmed we should be looking for the latter, I know we’d end up regretting buying a smaller one. Thanks for the advice.
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KBS Signs in Exeter are selling one. Not sure of the bed size but it’s in full working order
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Check this company out.
We bought a second hand one of these machines and we have had it over 2 years and it’s never let us down.
Cuts everything you require in signage. We have done millions of CNC signage work on it.
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Thanks for some of the suggestions guys I am literally in the same position and on the market for a CNC router myself.
Was bidding other day on a piranha on the eBay but turned out to be a hacked account. There was a AXYZ 6010 not long ended but I’m guessing that was fake as well as it sold for 5k and buyer ignored my request for a viewing.
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Those routoutcnc prices are damn good. I’ve got a brother in the U.K. may just have him take a look at one for me not getting those prices in the us
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