It should be obvious from the advertizing brochures from many of the CNC machine factories that many of them produce units that are variations on the same pattern. The available options, build materials, colours may be different, but the designs are standardized. In searching for a machine you should check on sites like Alibaba on their record of countries to which they have exported. In North America, ask for UL/CSA certificates (with the correct UL numbers - check the UL searchable directory) and photos of UL/CSA parts and wiring (the UL # will be easy to find using Google and should be company specific. Ask the UL if you have doubts, they will do a field inspection out of the Taiwan office). Ask if the factory has both electrical and mechanical engineers on site and where did they obtained their training. If you get an excuse or avoidance, then they do not have such people. Can their parts store find parts with UL/CSA certification (readily available on English and Chinese market places), if not they are used to selling in the domestic market and to countries accepting CE certification. Beware fake CE marks! CE is not a safety mark but a certification of a design process. What additional wiring standards do they follow for export to your country. NEC, CEC, IEC, British, German codes. Check these online or be prepared to rewire the machine yourself. If they want to trade internationally, the factory must know simple things like the wiring colour codes (recently added to this forum) for your country. This is their responsibility not yours. If they fail to comply, complain to the Chinese embassy and suggest that the factory cease exports and focus of their domestic market.

Does the factory know how to connect your components to their components. Can they follow simple circuit diagrams and English instructions, including those from the manufacturer? Can they give correct technical answers to questions that you ask, or just avoidances limiting their liability? If all of the above questions are not answered satisfactorily, the chances are that you are not dealing with a true manufacturer, but an assembly plant that uses untrained labour to assemble machines to a design pattern.

Do they offer a refund on parts that must be replaced and returned to the factory? Those parts that you have paid for cannot be sold or given away by law, but must be recycled locally at a loss. Did you put penalty clauses in the contract to ensure that the machine built to your specification is built and delivered on time. The first month should be at 5% interest, the following months at 2%/mo on the total cost of the machine. Any changes must be agreed to in writing.

The sales person may claim good proficiency in English and an understanding of the technology of such machines. Sadly, most Chinese sales staff do not speak English and have little technical understanding. They use translation software to obtain a general message, Even though they say that they understand, the sales person my come back to you with many questions on separate occasions about the same topic. Be prepared to make drawings to help your explanations. Look for the 'story board' that I posted on this forum to keep track of changes made by both parties after the initial RFQ. If you send any pdf files, they should not be image files as their translation software may not have the ability to do character recognition. Save ALL correspondence. Lastly, make sure that you are getting the machine that you want, not the machine that they want to sell you.

Finally, the factory may not tell you many things that you need to know about how they build the machine. Forget the boasts about quality and construction materials and focus on the format/configuration of the machine, the control box and the table. You must ask very specific questions of them to make sure that you get the machine that you agree to buy.