High-Z S400 from 2008, gift horse or old nag?

[magicniner]

Rusty rails and old PCs need replacing, then you need to get the thing running which could involve more new hardware and possibly software too.
It's not worth more than the second hand value of the parts once stripped, as that's what you'll end up with if you can't make it work properly.

- Nick

[JAZZCNC]

Give it a Miss your buying trouble

[danglastscratch]

Rusty is going a bit far for describing the rails. There wasn't any red-brown rust, just the spider-web black lines showing where corrosion had started.

I have got the machine for another two weeks at least, so will see what I can coax from it but I am coming around to your way of thinking, that it could be more trouble than its worth, or that it will still be worth more to its current owner than it will be to me.

There are a limited number of things that I have wanted to do on a CNC for a long time, but they are still a limited number, and I am not sure that I would ever manage to do enough to make it pay any significant contribution to its own cost. Simply working on it and the CAD/CAM is somewhat addictive, and I have a long list of other build projects that I should be working on....like turning the stack of 3m joists that have decorated one side of my dining room for nearly three years into a carpenters work bench! When Lucan07 suggested building a better machine, I thought about that pile of timber and the relative complexity of bolting a bench together vs construction of a precision power tool + wiring a computer interface. LOL!

I am still enthusiastic about CNC and its hard to keep reining that in to think about such a tool purchase in a rational manner. Thanks for helping!!!!!

[lucan07]

My build totalled less than £1000 at full price from online suppliers I did grab a few bargains along the way I have spent under £800, I am currently using MDF Base 75mm thick top as an alternative to carrying almost half a ton of steel and cast iron upstairs (The base I designed my router for stored for later use). If materials brought cut to size from somewhere like Ali Warehouse or using Extrusion as many do there is little need for machining plenty of drilling and tapping, although a chop saw with fine tooth tungsten blade cuts aluminium reasonably well. Have been machining Aluminium as easy as on my converted Mini Mill as for the wiring and PC interface is quite simple plenty of documentation and help available in forums.