[MakeItRight]

I'm still on the hunt for a CNC router machine. Looking at flatbed designs in either 4 x 8 or 5 x 10 configurations. There must be literally hundreds of manufacturers around the world. I've looked at Chinese, USA, Canadian, German, Turkey and Italian built machines. I see advantages to all the choices as well as the not so good. We mainly build cabinetry utilizing a lot of sheet goods and hardwoods. We have even imported containers of cabinets from overseas. Our dream is to once again build most everything locally in house. Here is the US It has been tough though with all the regulations deemed against the small business guy.

As far as the middle of the road CNC routers go, I have been gravitating towards something like the ShopSabre Pro Series but find it on the lighter built side of things like say a CaMaster and EZRouter etc.. Don't get me wrong here if you own one of these brands, I believe that quality is still there, but not completely sold on a light weight machine. If anyone can provide good reasons to buy or not to buy a ShopSabre or not, please share. I'm doing my own due diligence but have not found out a whole lot of information on these machines to keep my appetite wet. Of course the factory believes I should buy their machine.

I'm really kind of nervous on buying a new machine with this up and down economy. I would like to know if owners are really keeping their machine busy or if it's slowing down. I currently use another shop in my area for sheet nesting jobs. They seem to keep their Thermwood pretty busy but also most equipment in their shop is paid for keeping with low overhead.

New and used machines I've checked out are as follows: NewCNC (Chinese), AXYZ (Canadian), Thermwood (USA), Biesse (German), Weeke (German), CLN (USA), AES Inova (Turkey), CaMaster (USA), BossRouters and EZRouter (USA), Laguna (Chinese), ShopSabre (USA). Multi-Cam (USA) OMNI Selexx, as well as others.

I definitely like the quality of the Biesse, Weeke, Thermwood etc., but then again I don't want to go into serious debt with all the uncertainties out there. Some of the new manufacturers are good at trying to stop you from buying used. Some are better about it then others.

[ger21]

You're asking questions that only you can answer. It doesn't really matter if other people keep their machine busy, if you don't have the work yourself.

Also, the nature of your business will dictate how much machine you can afford.
We have a 5x12 Morbidelli in out shop. I'd estimate that it's running maybe 25%-30% of the time. And it easily pays for itself. A big CNC can do the work of 2-4 people using several different machines.
We don't need to keep the machine busy. We need it to do the work that we purchased it for.

I'm really kind of nervous on buying a new machine with this up and down economy.

I guess that depends on what you do, and where you are located. We've been pretty busy here for quite a few years now, with no sign of things slowing down.

[MakeItRight]

I know what you are saying and agree. I'm usually pretty optimistic and all. We are located in the Kansas City area and in has been up in down here. There are guys that seem to be plenty busy depending on what they are doing, and there are plenty of people struggling working two jobs etc.. The housing market had become robust for the past 24 months but now seems to be tapering off quite a bit. The commercial contractors I know working on medical centers and Walmarts are happy. I would say the 18 months prior to June of this year we were doing 8-10 times the current volume. I know we will have to diversify and create a better marketing scheme of sorts.

[ger21]

The commercial contractors I know working on medical centers

That's mostly what we do.