Re: Importing a machine from China or the us
I self imported a 6090 from China directly some years back, it was a very stressful and expensive time, but I ended up with a machine that was mechanically and electronically superb, at a cost of around 1/3 to 1/4 of what local suppliers charged, for the exact same machine! Several years on, I couldn't be happier with the machine, it's 300kgs of reliable grunt!
Shipping, taxes, and port fees are very high, and unless you go through a broker, who adds $400-$500 on top at least, delays and extra charges can ensue unless you rreally know what your doing and have contacts.
If I had to do it again, now that I understand the process a bit better, I wouldn't hesitate. The key is to deal with a reputable company that at the very least seems to care about their image, demand build photos and videos along every step of the build process as I did, pre-sort out a good economical broker, and get the paperwork lined up so there's no surprises.
It can be daunting, but it's really not as frightening as you'd think. The only other thing I'd caution, is not all 6090's from the various sellers are made equal, I've seen several where for example the gantry is made of very thin aluminium section, which of course will cause flex when machining. Also, a good VFD, and drivers is crucial.
So far as support goes, I took the attitude that so long as the machine is mechanically sound, then any fault that occurs will simply be a driver replacement, or VFD replacement, etc, simply exchangeable items.
cheers, Ian
It's rumoured that everytime someone buys a TB6560 based board, an engineer cries!