Hello everyone. :wave:
I thought I would start a thread to document my experiences with choosing/buying my first CNC router for woodworking.
The first thing I should say is that woodworking is a hobby I've had for many years but I'm new to the world of CNC. I've therefore been researching CNC routers for a few months now trying to find what machine would offer decent performance/longevity without being prohibitively expensive (given this is just a hobby). In case anyone else is in a similar situation, this was my thought process - although I've been going around in circles a fair bit!
Ox CNC/X-Carve
My first thought was to build the Ooznest version of the Mark Carew Openbuilds Ox CNC. Ooznest is based in the UK where I live and the kit looks comprehensive, relatively inexpensive and fairly straightforward to build. Rightly or wrongly, I was put off by the use of timing belts rather than lead- or ball-screws, and the use of V-slot plus polycarb wheels, which I could see becoming contaminated with chips and leading to premature wear/loss of accuracy. I was also a bit worried about how it would cope with hardwoods given the relatively light construction and use of a router rather than a spindle. I had similar concerns with the X-Carve, although I have no doubt that these machines have their place, given the fairly low price point.
Stepcraft 2
The Stepcraft 2 router looks to improve on the Ox/X-Carve design by using linear profile railing and lead-screws. I was very tempted by this for a while but again I was worried about the machine's longevity and durability, and how a relatively low-power router would cope with larger hardwood cutting jobs. I'd read a few times that you should 'buy/build your second machine first' or more generally 'buy cheap, buy twice', and as tempting as the above machines were given their price, I could see myself upgrading before too long or spending more time on CNC maintenance than on actual woodworking. Which bring me on to...
Self-building
I toyed with this idea for a while but I don't have steel fabrication equipment/skills and I could therefore see a lot of time being spent making something which might not ultimately deliver the accuracy/performance that I had in mind. I think that if you've got the skills and the time then this is probably the best way to get a decent machine at a decent price, but unfortunately it wasn't for me.
CNC Step High-Z T-series
This looks pretty well engineered and the UK distributor couldn't have been more helpful, but I was slightly deterred by the unsupported round rails and the relatively light construction. Maybe I'm being unfair, but I couldn't see it coping well with the usage I had in mind and the price was fairly high too. That said, it looked well constructed and I have no doubt that out of the box it would work perfectly. I also liked the fact that it used WINPCNC - which I'd read good things about, and ball-screws ... and coming from Germany, the electronics and general quality control would no doubt be solid. I did read that someone had to ship the whole unit back to Germany for repair of the ball-screws though - sounds expensive.
World of CNC/Marchant Dice Ltd
On paper, their A1 machine looks well specified (Hiwin rails, ball-screws) and they're based in the UK like me, but unfortunately I'd read too many negative comments about their customer service, and the price was too high.
Cau Cau
I was really tempted by the Kompas H 1000GS and Jan Dudas at Cau Cau was very quick and helpful at responding to my queries, but (a) I just can't find enough feedback on the machine; and (b) that particular machine uses supported round rails (understandable at the price point, but I'd read enough to convince me that linear rails would give me less hassle in the long run). Cau Cau sell a more expensive F-series machine with Hiwin rails but for hobby use I just can't justify the cost at this stage, unfortunately.
OmioCNC
Again, the Omio X8-2200L looks like a very well-specified machine (HG20 linear rails, ball-screws, 2.2kW spindle, ball-screws) and good value for money. Because the weight is lower (because of the aluminium construction - like the MDL A1 and CNC Step Hi-Z), getting it shipped to the UK from China would have been easier/cheaper/quicker too. I'd read some very positive things about the Omio machines, however, I've also read a few horror stories about their customer service and a few people have ended up with what appear to be fairly poorly constructed machines. I tried to get in touch with Omio (3 times...) to ask some questions but I didn't receive a reply, so I had to cross them off the list.
AccTek
As with Omio, I'd read largely positive comments about AccTek. There were some forum posts I'd seen where a couple of machines looked carelessly built, but the majority of the comments about AccTek were positive and the customer service seemed very good. The machine I'm interested in is the AKG6090 which is a 'bench-top' machine but it does weigh over 200kg! The specifications are...
1. Working area: 600*900*150 mm
2. Cast Iron body
3. T-Slot table
4. Mach3 control system
5. 1.5 KW water cooling spindle
6. X Y Taiwan TBI ball screw transmission
7. Z axis Taiwan TBI ball screw transmission
8. Taiwan CSK square rails
9. Nema23 stepper motor and Leadshine drivers
10. Fuling inverter
11. Limited switches
12. Tool sensor
So far, the customer service from Mr Jack Song at AccTek has been excellent. I've never imported anything this size/cost from China to the UK but Jack has been great at answering my questions.
If anyone has any thoughts on the above, I'd be keen to hear from you. This is a sizeable outlay for me, given that it's a hobby, and I don't want to get it wrong.
I'm intending to follow this up to share my experience of importing (assuming I go with AccTek ) and of course I'll post my experiences when I do finally get my hands on the machine.
Sorry for the long post but thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who posts on these forums. Without people sharing their experiences, I'd be a whole lot less informed.
Chris