Looking for the impossible? A cnc router for 1k? is it possible?

[JunkieHobbo]

@itsmillertime: I too was looking at the route of buying a machine for a +-£1000 and quickly realized that they really are not worth the Money especially if you want to use them to make some money. For a £1000 - £1500 you could build a really good machine. As JAZZCNC already mentioned, In the long run the cheap machines will cost you more money and will eat into the little profits that you already made. The benifits of the better DIY machine far out weigh the convenience of a Chinese machine especially if you are looking to make money with it.
My advice if you want to use the machine as a money maker, spend some time on the design or copy one, JAZZCNC has a great design! :whistling::naughty:

[HankMcSpank]

@itsmillertime: I too was looking at the route of buying a machine for a +-£1000 and quickly realized that they really are not worth the Money especially if you want to use them to make some money. For a £1000 - £1500 you could build a really good machine.

There's a degree of irony in that - for a start everyones time has value (even if you're unemployed, researching all this CNC melarkey takes time...and that time could be spent trying to generate revenue!). For a CNC novice, how long to collect all the info, order the parts from here there & everywhere & then assemble - yonks.

In all of that yonks, he could be using the pre-made machine to make money!

Don't get me wrong...some enjoy the chase (been there done that ...the jury is still out), for those where this a hobby, then the time is money argument is negated somewhat, but when you speak of making money, then I would strongly urge paying someone to make you one (like Jazz, Jonathan etc) or buying something like the 6040Z to get you up and running quickly. (it's not a *bad* spec - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-CNC-60...-/170683340109)

[JunkieHobbo]

There's a degree of irony in that - for a start everyones time has value (even if you're unemployed, researching all this CNC melarkey takes time...and that time could be spent trying to generate revenue!). For a CNC novice, how long to collect all the info, order the parts from here there & everywhere & then assemble - yonks.

In all of that yonks, he could be using the pre-made machine to make money!

Don't get me wrong...some enjoy the chase (been there done that ...the jury is still out), for those where this a hobby, then the time is money argument is negated somewhat, but when you speak of making money, then I would strongly urge paying someone to make you one (like Jazz, Jonathan etc) or buying something like the 6040Z to get you up and running quickly. (it's not a *bad* spec - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-CNC-60...-/170683340109)

I agree 100% with your view, my view is more on the Hobbiyist side where you make some side cash in your spare time and time spent in the "chase" is not really calculated as money. Also if it was for making money a better machine would be able to give better results and potentially be even faster and cheaper in the long run and also give better return over time. Then again I am a newbie still and learning alot.

I am also a firm believer that you get what you pay for.

[JAZZCNC]

There's a degree of irony in that - for a start everyones time has value (even if you're unemployed, researching all this CNC melarkey takes time...and that time could be spent trying to generate revenue!). For a CNC novice, how long to collect all the info, order the parts from here there & everywhere & then assemble - yonks.

In all of that yonks, he could be using the pre-made machine to make money!

Sorry hank got to disagree and here's why.!! . . . It's not like it was a few years ago where information was sparse and components unknown so too risky to chance, it doesn't get much easier than it is these days of all-in-one packages and G540 plug n play type arrangements.
All the information needed to build a perfectly good CNC machine is here on this forum and can be glean'd within a few nights searching. Also there's enough folks like me or Jonathan etc who could point someone in a rush to the right way to do it and where to buy the components and what's needed.

Me personally I'm more than prepared to help someone either via email, PM or my preferred ancient method "The telephone" with how to go about it, I often do this with people.
Obviously if they are in a rush then they will have to accept my interpritation's and ideas to what makes a good machine, but equaly I'm more than happy to discuss/advise on there interpritation and help put together a plan of attack.!! I could tell them all that's needed to build and where to get it and the pits falls to watch out for while building all within a, phone call.!! (All be it longone or maybe 2 short.!!)

So basicly some one new and in a rush with the time to build could be armed with the right info and pointing in the right direction within a day or two and within a just over week have all the components in hand ready to go and if equiped with the correct tools and skills using off the shelf materials have a within the month a working decent quality machine.!

To me the argument about prebuilt and cutting quickly so therefore earning quicker would hold up well with any decent quality machine but these are far from it and they wouldn't IMO stand business type production runs where they need to be running constant thru the day to earn there keep because they would die very quickly.

In this enviroment the down time alone would cost more more than the extra to buy a decent machine or justify any extra time it takes to build your own. Not to mention the damage it would do to the business Rep letting customers down.?? . . . . Imo buying one of these 6040 machines to run a business from would be commercial suicide and domed to failure before getting off the ground. .