Jazz is definitely right, if you go for a Chinese 6040 make sure its a good one!

I bought a 6040z a year ago 1.5Kw water cooled spindle and the black box controller, I knew that I just wanted to carve Oak etc (no Metals). Following advice on here I immediately changed all of the wiring and added a UC100 USB interface to get as far away from the parallel port as I could for minimum money! I also changed the BOB for a cheap one off eBay (to allow control over the spindle speed and turning on and off) I had a random problem for a while where it would look like one of the axis was losing position! Fortunately I was advised on this forum to adjust the driver current and bingo the machine works really well!

Part time I have knocked £6k worth of signage business through it in just under 12 months - so I am a happy bunny!

Would I change anything, Yes if I had the time and space I might build a more custom machine that was faster and enabled me to carve tall projects at the end of the bed, but apart from that it does what it says on the tin.

Earle