[lindquist]

Hello. This is my first post here at CNC zone, I hope you can help me with my decision making.

I'm looking to buy a fairly cheap CNC router / engraver for simple PCB prototyping. I don't have a large budget and for now it's really only for hobby/study use.

Besides PCBs I'd like to be able to create casings and such for the projects I create.

I've been looking around and there are a lot of cheap Made-in-China CNC engraver machines on Ebay. Now since I don't really have any experience, I'm finding it very difficult to figure out if these machines will do what I want, and also if I should just forget about them and find something elsewhere.

To give some examples of the machines I've looked at, I found that searching Ebay for "CNC engraver machine" gives some results like:

3020:
CNC 3020 ROUTER ENGRAVER DRILLING / MILLING MACHINE e7 | eBay

Another one:
CNC Router / Engraver Machine,PCB's,engraving | eBay

Finally, TS2518B:
CNC ROUTER ENGRAVER MACHINE PCB'S,ROUTING & DRILLING f6 | eBay

Now... The first seems to be fairly sturdy. The second is a bit of a mix, and the third (to me) looks fairly good. It seems to me that I might be happier with the spindle motor on the 2nd and 3rd.

But I really don't know...

Does anyone here have experience with these machines? Maybe seen one? Maybe own one?

I've had a hard time finding information about them outside of ebay.

The main importance for me is to be able to route boards using SMD components. If I can get down to 10mil (0.254mm) detail that will probably be sufficient for me. Most of the components I need to use have at least 0.5 mm spacing between pins. Also I don't want it to take up too much space. I need to have it on my desk in a smallish apartment. 25x18cm is adequate as the 2nd and 3rd have. Z depth will not matter too much either. 3-4 cm is enough for what I plan.

I hope to hear some suggestions before I go and spend a $1000 on one of these things. As it is now, I'm kinda leaning towards the 2nd, it seems to have a sturdy build, and comes with the more powerful spindle like the 3rd, but I really have no experience or anything to base that on. So please help me :-)

Regards,
Tomas

[lindquist]

Of course, I'm also very interested in being pointed towards alternatives. As said, but budget is around 1000 USD.

[eaglezsoar]

See this link: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...p_machine.html

You would need to add motors, power supply, electronics but you should be able to buy the machine and accessories for around your budget.