Hey everyone, I've been using my CNCrouterparts (24x48) machine for about 4 years now and I've really reached its limitations for my needs. I've been looking for months between various machines and need some advice on what would be the best machine to upgrade to. My 3 "groups" of machines I've been looking at are, new chinese import- roc-tech/omni (~$10-30K depending US dealer vs from factory), used commercial axyz/multicam (~$10-20K), or
While this is another "advice on machine thread" I am not really looking for advice on specs and hardware but more for support and which machine would be the best transition. I'm very familiar with mach 3 as Ive been using it for 4+ years on the cnc router and about a year with my cnc plasma. I've been using vetric cut2d and sheetcam for my plasma.
New Chinese import-(~$10-30K depending US dealer vs from factory)
It seems like most of these will come with a syntec controller of sort. While I'm not familiar with these, there looks like there is enough videos and support (from the community) that it wouldn't be a problem to learn or figure out if I run into issues. Freight makes me a bit uneasy as well as getting a "custom table with my own specs' but there seem to be a few dealers in the US with tables already here that can be demo'd however there is a premium for it. The main brands I'm looking at are of the Roc-tech or Omni brand. These 5x10 models have pretty much all the bells ans whistles- ATC, Vacuum table, pop up ins, etc.
Used Axyz/Multicam- (~$10-20K)
I've been a little biased to axyz tables (not sure why) and is kind of my first choice- It seems to be one of the big plays in the sign industry along with multicam. While not terribly important, it always made me curious why AXYZ didn't have a sub-forum on this forum, are they not common enough or for some other reason? That worried me about "community support" While looking at A vs B vs C Machine threads, multicam always seemed to come up as a popular favorite as well which is why I'm considering them as well. Both of these machines seem like they accept vetric as a CAM software so I'm not too worried about the transition on these either. However, have any of you found it to be a nuisance that the controllers just load and cut files vs the computer based controllers like mach 3 where you can edit and cut from the same console?
Used High End Industrial Machines Weeke, Biesse, Busellato, Onsrud, etc. (~$20-30K)
Most of the ones I'm looking at are older 2004-2014 range, and this is only falls in my price range if I can find one for the right price (I have seen numerous end within this range at auctions) BUT the support scares me- It seems like if I don't buy direct almost none of them want to provide support even if it is their machine. And some companies charge just to take your phone call which is absurd to me.. Also most of them seem like they use their own software and some may be proprietary which worries me. However, machine for machine, these seem like the best for the money. Some of these machines come with their own computer however they dont look like the support usb comm so I'm not sure you would load files if they are designed on another PC..
95% of my work consist on cutting aluminum sheet. If anyone can give some advice or steer me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!