Hello guys im a new member from the uk and looking for advise

hello guys my name is daz . im from doncaster . south yorkshire . and i run a small company that specialises in making soft play equipment .
im looking into getting a cnc cutting machine , but as funds are extremely limited thought about buying a good used machine or buliding one . ,
we need one with a drag knife settup and vac yable approx 10ft x 5ft . to cut rolls of pvc . similar to bouncy castle material . so need advice on where to start . i know nothing about these machines so any help would be great ... in an ideal world if i had stupid amounts of money i would love a zund . but in the real world im a small company with just myself and my mrs struggling to make a living . at the moment we are hand cutting our pvc and its very time consuming , but with a machine it would make our lives much easier and maybe we could push forwards and actually make a reasonable living .. the shapes we cut are mainly circles , rectangles and squares so nothing complicated . .
well thanks for reading and allowing me to join this group and hopefully i can learn all about these machines and the best way forward ,, thanks in advance daz

Hi Daz,

Welcome. I'm just up road from you about 10 miles away in hemsworth.

Don't let those covers and Fancy Swiss gimicks fool you. Peel away those covers and the basic machine is just the same has we build.
The custom cutting heads and Bespoke software are what your paying for with a Zund but with a little imagination then anything they do we can do.

Tangential Drag knife is easy to do and probably better option for you than a plain drag knife. Vac bed is a little harder or should say potentialy more expensive thing to do depending on the materials and shapes/sizes etc.

The basic machine is easy enough to design/build but at this size it needs to be done right has the bigger they are the harder to get accurate and the more critical the selection of components to build it with.
So with this said let me warn you New builders who start with such a large first build often fail or are disapointed with the end results. Often leading to a MK2 version after wasting money learning on Mk1.!! . . . So my point being don't go rushing into building one without plenty of research and learning.

I'll glady help steer you away from trouble on this and I'll PM you my number if you fancy a chat.

Good luck.!

Hi JAZZCNC . thanks for the reply . really appreciate the advice .... i deffo need a vac table to hold down the material so it dont move or slip when been cut .. i did think of trying to buy a kit and goin from there . although to be fair i dont know about these things so dont actually know where to start . all i know is my rolls of pvc are 1500mm wide so i would need a roller on one end to put the roll on and then pull it over the bed turn on the vac and press go . all sounds easy yet know its not gonna be like that for real ... i did ask merchant dice about it some time ago and they said for a 5ft x 10ft cut with a knife and a roller on the end was gonna be 13k... so after i picked myself back up off the floor i thought ok now what do i do . lol ... i have much to learn . will call ya at some point for a chat .. regards Daz

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Originally Posted by charlieallshapes

i did ask merchant dice about it some time ago and they said for a 5ft x 10ft cut with a knife and a roller on the end was gonna be 13k...

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Ermmmm I'll save my reply towards this for the phone other wise I'll be in trouble again. . .:devilish:

Your needs with PVC and Thin knife cuts won't be too much of a problem really. There'll be hardly any loss of vacuum so won't need high Vacuum.
I've had involvement in a much larger machine that cuts rubber sheet for inflatable products, Life Boats, air bags etc using such system that just uses industrial Vacuum cleaners for hold down. (Like Henry's) and it works fine.

It can be that easy you just push Go and won't need to cost the earth. But it can be just has easy to buy the wrong stuff and make life harder or more costly than needed so do ring me for chat before buying or commiting to any thing.