Evening Ladies and Gents,

I'm in need of some advice. I run a small but expanding woodworking business and have been looking at CNCs to purchase for the workshop.

We currently carry out a lot of repetitive sign making for signage companies (1000+ units cut on the table/panel saw) and do a small amount of custom work using my home built Shapeoko2 type CNC. The shapes that we cut by hand are simple squares, rectangles, circles etc. We cut a number of rectangles with rounded corners, these suck when they are done by hand lol. I know Im pointing out the obvious but if the order is only 500 units and they all need to have the corners sanded that's 2000 corners.....it turns into a long and repetitive day!

The main purpose of the machine would be to carry out production runs of the above cut outs, to cut down timber sheet goods and with the possibility of plastic or possibly aluminium but I'm not pushing that at the moment. Also to carry out custom signage work and general CNC router work.

I've been looking at the likes of Piranha and Stoney CNCs. They look amazing and are perfect for what I need but they also have a price tag to match.

Realistically if I put up £2000-£3000 would I be able to match these machines if I built it myself? I know I'm not going to get a tool changer or vacuum bed but if I could come close then it would be worth the time and cost saving. I am pretty handy and can work out most things so its not the build I'm concerned about even though it is a little daunting just trying to get the right parts to match up with each other.

Are there any build logs I should look at? I have been looking at this one recently which I think is pretty nifty http://www.embeddedtronics.com/cnc_gantry.html Any thoughts on it?

I'm thinking of going for 20mm hiwins, ally box frame, probably a chinese 2.2kw spindle and with a nice solid base/frame to bolt it all to. Other than that, I've not decided much.

I have 2 options in terms of size, either 1220 x 600 or 1220 x 1220. Depending on costings I'm all ears. If things take off further we are looking to get into a bigger unit and then look towards a 2440 x 1220 but that's a while off so I need to get an idea of what we can do at the moment.

It needs to be quick and accurate....time is money after all

Any help, pointers, build logs, guides etc to look at would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!

S