Quote Originally Posted by Strike CNC View Post
this particular CNC router was originally a 1200x1200 for this client he then chose to up grade to the enclosure as well as the hiwin profile rails on the 1 axis, we did recommend the hiwin rails on all axis & pointed out they are far superior on all axis as opposed to the standard supported bearings in a ideal world we would only recommend hiwin rails on all axis but this is ultimately the customers decision weather to go for the upgrade or not & we have to supply the customer with what they want.
I would also like to add that you did upgrade the base axis to hiwin rails at cost(£240) simply because I couldn't afford it otherwise and you wanted these rails in place as the machine size pretty much needed them. A real shame I couldn't stretch my budget a little further to get the other 2 axis done as well. Hat's off to you for doing this. I've since looked at the prices of hiwin rails and bearings blocks and they're not cheap.

that said as long as the Z axis rails are not long unsupported shaft for the Z axis is acceptable many of our competitors use unsupported rails on the X & Y which to us is not acceptable.
I think it'll be fine. I have a Bosch GCM10SD Mitre Saw that slides on about 35cm of unsupported rails. Its extremely accurate and the only thing that moves during a cut is blade deflection. With the cnc, as long as I keep to sensible speeds and materials that the machine was designed for I can't see any problems.

This particular machines gantry is our standard range & has heavy gauge 30x180 gantry back support, the upright gantry is heavy gauge 40 series we only use heavy gauge extrusion on all our products including all bases & mini models this gives a more rigid & robust design, the Z axis back plate as well as the front Z plate bearing our logo is solid plate.i do hear your criticism about the supports but once you see the machines in person you get to see just how rigid they are we have been told pictures do not give our machines any justice
Would have been great if I could have moved up to something like a couple of 80x80mm beams for the gantry and 40x200 for the uprights but as always my budget was the limiting factor. Its good to know you used the heavy gauge of extrusion rather than the light or even the eco version that have progressively more and more voids in the cross section.

Again I've got a great base and enclosure so DIY'ing a machine in the future and just bolting it down on the base is a possibility. Something like the Fine Line Automation FLA300 kit or cncrouterparts CRP4848 for example. This isn't something I'd do for at least a year or two however but the option is there if I ever felt the need for higher feedrates or harder materials.

Also the cost of the enclosure was 600.00 this is VERY cheap as we use lexan polycarb (some of the highest quality in the business) this plastic will not break infact you can tie it in a knot bend it even stamp on it & it will not break the cost also includes the larger base for the CNC as the standard machine base was 1400x1400 with the enclosure the base had to be 1850x1750 so included all the materials to make the larger base so this was a very cheap upgrade for enclosure, yes you can make one cheaper out of wood if you go down the DIY route but we are a business & a wooden enclosure may not fit in with the overall look of the machine. This client payed £4460.00 for this model & we thought it was a very good price
I can't argue with the price. You gave a few bits for free or at cost. And I'm pretty sure you lost money on the enclosure if you factor the labour. Price is always subjective but its what your happy to pay that matters and at £4.5k I'm happy. I looked around at the alternatives and the only way you can beat that is by DIY'ing and that's assuming your competent enough to pull it off to the same standard (I'm not!) and you also don't mind spending a good number of hours building (I don't have the time either).

Anyway the machine will arrive within the next few hours and I'll post some photo's.