Advice on New Robocutters X4

[alphabeta77]

Ok, as there doesn't appear to be any plans/direction around here, I figure I might as well do it myself as I go along, so will look to build a bit of a wiki of my research as I go to avoid anyone having to stumble around looking for stuff.

I'll compile a list below in what I'm perceiving is the order of quality (ie top is the most basic, bottom is best). I can flesh out with prices, and more variables as I find them.

Feel free to correct/add on etc as I update - only thing I want to avoid is sounding like a 1960s UK Car manufacturer (ie oh these Japanese cars are terrible with their low quality parts, cars are much more reliable with solid steel chassis etc etc) - cost and convenience need to be real-world balancers to cost. Of course we could get cheaper houses, cars etc if we built them ourselves, but convenience is important also.



Shapeoko 1:
Basic and entry level CNC for simple work. Open source plans means there have been many other designs that have used this as a starting point and forked other designs off this.
Difficult to source now.
Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - no


Shapeoko 2:
Upgrade to the original. Aiming to improve reliability and accuracy.
Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - no

eShapeoko:
A fork of the Shapeoko design - designed to strengthen and improve the original design. Broadly equivalent to the Shapeoko 2. Still relatively entry level, but some reasonable wood carving achieved with it.
Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - no

Shapeoko 3:
Much more sturdy design, but price point increased also.
Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - no

Robocutters-X4:
Another entry level one - whilst can be bought up to several metres in size, likely to have rigidity issues at this size, so probably best kept to around 1m by 1m.
Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - some

X-Carve:
This appears to be a reasonable entry level CNC setup - Keith Fenner appears to have had a reasonable time with it:
http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/9217-...-2-Video/page2
Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - some

MyCNC Custom Build!
I guess the quality and reliability of your output here depends on your skill, design and probably some luck.
No recommended designs available, so you need to design yourself or reverse-engineer/side build from other people's designs.
Likewise no build plans or kits, so you'll need to pick through carefully. Every chance end quality could be much better, but likewise no benefit of mass production (ie testing, iterative improvement etc)
Plans available - No (except from picking through/hybridising multiple plans from forums)
Kits available - No
Prebuilt - No (unless JazzCNC is feeling bored....!)


OxCNC:
Appears an upgrade to the X-Carve/Shapeoko. Much more rigid build in comparison. Many folk seem to upgrade their Shapeoko 1/2 or X-carve to this.
http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/9278-...d-please/page2
Some decent work done with these too, see their community:
https://plus.google.com/communities/...28951643236736

Plans available - yes
Kits available - yes
Prebuilt - no