Hey CNCZone,

Thank you in advance for taking the time to look at this thread - and I apologize if I didn't post it in the right place, assistance from a moderator would be greatly appreciated.

I'm purchasing a 6090 primarily for aluminum and a little bit of steel. I've reached out to about 30-40 vendors on Alibaba and have narrowed down CNCs to around $1,900-$2,000 FOB. My primary consideration for the unit are:

* 25mm TBI (or similar) ball screws on all axis
* HIWIN (or similar) 20mm square guide rails
* I want a cast iron bed, gantry and Y-axis (non-welded)
* With a cabinet and a water tray/table/sink
* Z travel of 200mm

I don't care that much about electronics because I want to install my own steppers, drivers, controller (600oz.in. steppers from Vince, corvetteguy50, paired with a G540 and an ethernet smoothstepper) and I will source a VFD / spindle locally. I want them to do the wiring so that I can just plug and play my own electric components and I am asking them to wire it just like they would for a ncstudio controller.

The machines in question generally look like this: https://s.alicdn.com/@sc04/kf/A2f619...pg_960x960.jpg

Since this is my first CNC machine, I would really appreciate your input if you've gone through this process before - any answers to the following questions would be SUPER appreciated:

1. What else should I look into when purchasing?
2. Are there any additional useful accessories I could source from China given that I'm already going to pay somewhere around $1,000 for shipping?
3. What other considerations should I care about from a machine construction/feature perspective?
4. Is it going to be a pain to go through the customs process?
5. I'm close to the port of Detroit - should I go pick it up myself? Should I get a local freight company for last mile delivery?
6. It might be overkill to go for a 2510 ball screw on the Z axis... but will it detract from accuracy? My understanding is that I will just be able to get more speed out of Z by going with a larger diameter ball screw.

Any other tips/tricks/advice that comes to mind?

Thanks in advance, sorry for the long-winded post, but it's a large investment for me and your collective knowledge might help me from making a mistake along the way.