Your thoughts on the AR1200 from Machinery & Electrical

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Franco, I think that you are mistaken when you say that you cannot get an industrial machine for £6K. If you can find the space and have access to a 3ph supply the older industrial machines represent fantastic value for money IMO. Chances are that if you do buy such a machine it will come with a CAD/CAM system, tool holders and probably an automatic tool changer. I bought an old (1999) SCM 120 on ebay (not-working) had to spend some time and money (still ended up within your budget) and although it is a bit old, I think it is a fantastic machine, very heavy duty and hopefully will last for many years to come. You do of course need space and a 3phase supply, but it may even be worth considering renting a small unit if it is for commercial use. Good luck with whatever you decide. G.

Agree with Geoffrey but you also have to be careful because you can easily run into trouble with machines that use dedicated bespoke software or hardware that is difficult to replace or very limiting in what can be done regards software, esp when it comes to 3D work.
In this instance then you nearly always have to convert the machine to run on modern hardware and controllers so you can use modern software and keep machine running. This does require a pretty high level of experience and intimate knowledge of control software setup, esp if the machine is equiped with numatic's and automatic tool changers etc.! . . . . . Not something I'd recommend for someone with only operating experience or newbie to CNC.

[Franco]

Hi GEOFFREY. Oh I completely understand that you can get a used machine for under £6k but I'm a little concerned with some aspects of this such as JAZZCNC mentioned. I realise I'm going to get less for my money by buying a new machine but at least I should be able to get up and running fairly quickly with it and it will (hopefully) have some form of warranty/support. Once I have my own machine I should hopefully be able to get to grips and understand the hardware side of things more and a second larger used machine could well be an option in the future.

For now, I only have a garage to work from with a 230v supply. I'm hoping to move to a bigger place within the next three to five years and hopefully build a larger workshop but for now this is all I have. I really don't want to wait much longer though and I really would like to start developing some products this year. Just for reference, this is an (old) photo of my garage/work shop. It's not quite so tidy at the moment however



If anyone does have any suggestions for new machines then I would love to hear them. From what I've read Marchant Dices machines are not too good and neither are Stoney CNCs. The only other ones I've really seen are the [Heiz T-1400/105] and the [EXEL CNC SL1314 Pro] although I'm not sure what they are like and both are probably going to be over budget by the time everything is accounted for.