Xcarve

[Desertboy]

Zooming into the metal work on the eBay bargain machine I must say and this is being 100% honest

My wife can weld better than that

And i am being serious. Look at the welds under the box section.

And looking at the other machines he has for sale they look just as lashed together

I stand by it being an abandoned project

And the clincher for me

Every description sayes

"all cnc are bench tested with multiple profiles any alterations in setting will effect running operations and we will not be held responsible"

It has alarms bells for me

But i have no idea what the parts are worth.

I am well aware the Xcarve is not a brilliant deal on parts alone but they appear to have first class support which could be worth every penny.

Welding is poor if I bought this I would have to reweld lol and my welding is like your wifes. But real slides, ballscrews, mach3 license with PC & real stepper drivers, decent PSU for the motors are the value here.

Have you checked out Shapeoko's yet? A friend of mine bought one and rates it much better than an xcarve and in the same price range.

Not seen a shapeoko but having spent some time on this forum I would now never buy (More likely build) anything that did not have Hiwin style rails and ballscrews or R&P in a zero backlash setup but you'll find most people on here want to make money from their CNC.

[magicniner]

So we're comparing Shonky with Very Shonky and saying that merely Shonky is therefore worth buying for thousands and then repairing to correct basic engineering shortcomings, which the contraptor (I can't call it manufacture) was too inexperienced/ignorant/inadequate or more likely simply not arsed to address?
Come on, Reality Check Time! I wouldn't give tuppence and a balloon for any of them :D

[Desertboy]

So we're comparing Shonky with Very Shonky and saying that merely Shonky is therefore worth buying for thousands and then repairing to correct basic engineering shortcomings, which the contraptor (I can't call it manufacture) was too inexperienced/ignorant/inadequate or more likely simply not arsed to address?
Come on, Reality Check Time! I wouldn't give tuppence and a balloon for any of them :D

Ha ha ha, there was a nail and Magicniner hit it on the head ;)

[thinfourth]

So how much should i be spending and what should i build

And how long will it take to build?

[Desertboy]

So how much should i be spending and what should i build

And how long will it take to build?

What size Travel do you want?

What woods do you want to process?

[thinfourth]

What size Travel do you want?

What woods do you want to process?

This machine some birch ply, some pine and MDF

And size

Well it has to fit in the 1mtr square area in the corner of the shed

And i want to have a play with hanging the plasma cutter off it.


It will be a toy not a business

If this machine is good then machine 2 will be something that can take full sized sheets of plywood and then some.

[Diysurgeon]

As I have said before I have the Xcarve which I bought a few years ago off eBay. As a starter machine for a hobbiest I have been pleased with it. If you look on the inventables forum you can see some of the impressive things people have made. Using has given me an insight to gcodes and using CNC machines. Given it is not a professional machine it has been good value for me. I also have bought recently a boxford A3HSRi. Got this second hand from a school, hardly used but a very robust semi professional machine. New cost around £12k! I got it for £600 and it was only 6 years old and had little use.

If you are starting out and on a limited budget the Xcarve IMHO is a good starter machine. I should add that I don't use these machines professionally, only as a hobby making signs and personalised gifts.

[thinfourth]

Welding is poor if I bought this I would have to reweld lol and my welding is like your wifes. But real slides, ballscrews, mach3 license with PC & real stepper drivers, decent PSU for the motors are the value here.

So i should buy that machine and replace the frame, the slides, the ball screws, the computer, the steppers, the power supply.

Mmmmmmm

Not the best start as a first machine

Have you checked out Shapeoko's yet? A friend of mine bought one and rates it much better than an xcarve and in the same price range.

Not seen a shapeoko but having spent some time on this forum I would now never buy (More likely build) anything that did not have Hiwin style rails and ballscrews or R&P in a zero backlash setup but you'll find most people on here want to make money from their CNC.

Not had a deep look at the Shapeoko yet.

Not too sure what the support is like and i want to find a UK seller that can offer what is basically a turnkey kit.

I have vaguely tempted by the chinesium ones on fleabay but they look like garbage and i guess you get a chinglish manual at best.