Quote Originally Posted by Boyan Silyavski View Post
It has at least one ton of metal, probably around 1.5-2. My machine has mere 750kg which cost me here around 1000euro. Also i had to weld much more as i coudnt obtain nor manipulate at home that kind of steel profile they are using, which is enormous. That said its obviously better to use large steel profiles, machines and means to manipulate them, to have space to store and larger machine sou you can machine the rail surfaces.

All rails are Hiwin so thats also not cheap.


As i said, not a Ferrarri / i like to think about my machine like that true or not/ but pretty damn good.
Well according to the listing, the net weight is 1500kg.
Looking at the photos, to me the metal doesn't look that thick, so at most I'd guess the basic metal work is somewhere around 1000kg. Having just had a quick look at bulk steel costs, the price guides I can find are in the region of 3-500USD per tonne/ton.

As you mention, the big problem is handling the large sections. If you have the capabilities, and buy enough steel to get it at near market prices, the cost of building multiples of this size of machine is far less than what most people would think. Once you've worked out any teething issues with the manufacturing process, it's as simple as cut, weld, paint, assemble.

Plus if you don't have to worry too much about support, that's part of the cost you can greatly reduce.