Hi,

I am hoping some of you guys with more knowledge and experience than I have with CNC machines will point out any details I'm missing about these two machines. Both are extremely nice and I doubt I'll be disappointed in either, but it's a huge purchase and I want to make the right choice.

My use of the machine will be purely hobby wood working. No business stuff so productivity isn't a significant issue. My son may be using it occasionally for some aluminum parts for robotics, but mostly it will be used for woodworking.

Price is less than $200 apart on my two choices below with identical software and spindles. Looking at them:


The Stinger SR-23:
25x36" cutting area with gantry overhang on side.7" under gantry with 9" Z-travel. (This is with their 2" gantrylift)
Options it would include are:
a laser cross hair for xy zero'ing
a Z-touch plate for Z zero'ing
a 2nd mounted Z touch plate for tool length checking aftertool changes.
a 1.7KV spindle
a pneumatic counterbalance.


The Shop Sabre 23
30 x 40" cutting area with gantry overhang on side.5" under gantry with 6 1/2" Z-travel
Options it would include are
A mounted Z touch off switch for tool length checking aftertool changes.
The same 1.7 KV spindle


CAMaster Pros I see:
1) Z-touch plate included at the price point.
2) XY alignent Laser
3) 2" more room under Gantry.


Shop Sabre Pros I see:
1) 5 inches wider and 4" longer
2) A Mitsubishi VFD for the spindle vs maybe a Delta VFD.(Both are likely equivalent to me)
3) 25mm rails. (I'm not sure what the CAMaster has on theStinger 1's. They use 25mm on every other line.)
4) Might be slightly more rigid.

I don't think having a steel gantry crossbar will really make a huge difference in rigidity on these machines. The Stinger 1's gantry is only 36" long or so between the uprights, and since aluminum actually cost more, I don't think they used it instead of steel as a cost saver. I also think the vertical supports on the Stinger have a moreimpressive design to them with some perpendicular pieces, and those parts look like they're aluminum on both machines.
I really think this is a wash, but would like to know what you think.


On the gantry height, I don't know if adding 2 inches to the Stinger's gantry supports will decrease rigidity significantly. If it won't harm rigidity, it seems like a nice option.

One difference I notice that favors the ShopSaber, at least I I think it does, is not needing a pneumatic counterbalance for the 1.7KV spindle. If it's because the ShopSabre has stronger motors, not having to run my compressor whenever the machine is on would be an advantage for the ShopSabre. The ShopSabre uses 2500ounce/inch motors. I don't know what CAMaster uses.

I don't know if the ShopSabre having all ball screws mattersto me. Rack/Pinion is good enough for machines 10x the price of the ShopSabre23, so I think that's just a design choice.

The Mitsubishi VFD may be a small advantage forShopSabre. If you know about this, please tell me why that would be. (Edit: Never mind, both use Mitsubishi VFDs)

I think the two touch plates of the Camaster beats the single tool height measure switch on the ShopSabre. It's convenient.

(Edit: ShopSabre uses 25mm rails. CAMaster has 15mm rails on the Stinger 1. Gerry commented that both are adequate, below.)


So given all of the above, what would you choose, or what did you choose? The people I've dealt with a both companies seem very nice. I will admit, I feel like ShopSabre copied a lot of their 23's design from the CAMaster Stinger. ShopSabre also tries to hard sell theirs saying it is clearly better because of XYZ. I don't admire that type of marketing, but even if I think they copied a lot of the 23's design, if they also improved on the design, so be it. I just want to be sure I understand the pros and cons of each before I choose, and your input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Update: Both machines use Mitsubishi VFDs.