Hello to all,

I'm an electronic hardware designer by trade, but love mechanical stuff, and like the idea of in-house tools for making rapid prototypes and playing!
I started looking for a machine for PCB milling, but then thought it would be good to have a machine for also making aluminium front panels & enclosures... and other stuff in the future.

Have seen many posts about the bad electronics in the Chinese 6040 machines, but it seems thay have updated the electroincs on the new model X6-1500. This is the YOOCNC agent:
CNC X6-1500GT ROUTER ENGRAVER DRILLING AND MILLING MACHINE - carving-cnc.com

Have also looked at the German High-Z S-720:
CNC Router, xyz Tables, routers, engravers, engraving. 3d cnc machining, low cost and high quality

So now am trying to decide between a Chinese or German machine. Not surprisingly there's quite a difference in price ;)

X6-1500
£1200 (plus I guess will need to pay VAT as import duty)
580x380x60mm stroke
1.5kW water cooled spindle
4th axis for £200

High-Z S-720
£2300 (includes VAT)
720x420x110mm stroke
1kW Kress air cooled spindle (I think, plus it's not clear if it is included)
4th axis for ???

I'm thinking the Chinese way looks good, but has anyone had expereince with the new X6-1500?
Is there something I'm missing in this comparison, or other points I should consider?
I quite liked the videos on the German site showing machining big chunks of aliminium!
Any help on which machine I should consider, or any other machines I should look at, would be greatly appreciated!!

I recently built a Felix 2.0 3D printer from kit, and considered adding a spindle, but it's a fragile beast and would not be suitable for aluminium. So, I'm also open to the option of building a machine from a kit or from parts if such a thing exists... Again, any pointers appreciated!!

Thanks to all,

Cheers, Ken