luddite no longer! an into..

Morning!

I have been a luddite for far too may years with our small cnc at work, watching others spend seemingly ages making parts that I thought I could do quicker (but never better!). I was wrong. Making parts on a CNC is amazing and I have joined ranks with my colleaugues to persuade our bosses to purchase a bigger and more efficient machine. This would make a big impact on our work... we're a charity that makes specialised equipment for children and young people with severe disabilities.

Gary (my colleaugue) tells me that top of his consideration list are Denford Compact 1000 pro, Roland MDX 540s and Charly Robot 4U... any thoughts about these? We use Inventor software. We are building a case to share with donors to expalin why purchasing such a machine will make a big difference to our quality and output and thereby benefit our clients.

I look forward to sharing our progress with you
Regards

Considerations that would be on my list would be if you need to purchase a support contract with these? if not then you are better off buying from China as these use mostly off the shelf parts and you are not tied to the maker. It's ok to have a more efficient machine but does increased output need to be top of the agenda, if not then you might as well stick to what you have or upgrade its parts. Consider your future output and what will be needed further down the line. Most charities tend to be a one time only offer when they decide to spend so make the right choice?