Seek advice on which small quality router to buy/build ...

[evalon]

Hi JAZZCNC & paulus.v,

Thank you both for replying ... Some comments below ...

@paulus.v: Honestly I'm a bit unsure of how to reply to your post ... I reckon what you write may be good advice, however, wonder if you are joking or my English is just not good enough to understand what you are saying about levitating .. ?? "If you still are under 500£, which I really doubt, add some aluminium or steel as the other components cannot levitate. ..." Anyway, as I wrote in #1 I am looking either for a "known good" buy or build because I am mainly interested in using the router and I don't have time to design & build one from scratch.

@JAZZCNC: I appreciate your comment, and just for the record I do strive to listen to what people write as a feedback. And (edit) I have no doubt that people here are competent ...

However, mainly coming from the electronics world, I know that components that are not the latest component type may typically be bought at a fraction (can be 1/5th or even lower) of their original price. Often these components are as good, sometimes even better, or not much worse than the latest components. To me buying such components makes sense both from an economical & environmental point of view: They are not just wasted but may be put to good use. I reckon that something similar may be the case with CNC router components: That maybe a close-to-"the new best" machine/components etc. may be bought at a somewhat lower price and isn't just not used/discarded. It may also be a good second hand deal (and to me it's actually important that a buy/sell is fair both ways), a group buy/crowdfunding (where I reckon the individual components gets somewhat lower priced) or the like.

Second, reading a bit into CNC machine design (here I do mean a bit but nevertheless) "precision & accuracy" seem to be key words. I also note that some controllers are considered "good, fine, excellent", e.g. the G540 I think it's called, whereas typically the Chinese controllers are not well regarded. A comment here: I reckon one of the key aspects of a controller is that it is capable of precisely steering (or controlling) the step motor (including all the weight and moving parts) to be at any particular position at any given time. This again may be a consequence of No. of steps (or micro-steps), torque, ability to "stop", the mass of the moving system etc. ... Something which in my experience - again coming from the electronics world - may require a very solid/rigid/boosted power supply so that when mass/weight is really to be moved, or stopped, the controller is actually capable of supplying e.g. the current needed. Something which in some cases can be obtained through modifying a component. No doubt there are other factors as well and a design may of course be subpar - something which modifications cannot really change.

Third, I'm new to CNC, and would like to start up without investing what to me is quite some (£2000), while still being able to learn ... Something which for me is most, most easily done when I have the object of learning close by. This also means that if I start saving to buy a £2000 CNC I may not be able to start learning for some months which I'd rather avoid, if possible.

Thus my reason to write in #1 that what I may be looking for

(may e.g. comprise a just reasonable spindle & controllers for a start - but a router structure that is worth improving upon)

... And with this in mind I'd like to stress that I'm actually not considering this

and don't even set off down the cheap route because it NEVER works.!

... but rather to build/buy a machine at a (i.e. to me) sensible price that allows me to start learning and then subsequently - as I hopefully go along - allows me to upgrade because the basis is fine/upgrade is possible.

If - with the above in mind - a router still is not available at a £500 price point (even with the messed up GBP ) then so be it ... But I'd prefer to keep the option open. And I would appreciate suggestions as to where to look ... To this end I think I'll also post in the WTB section of the forum.

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers

Jesper