Anyone familiar with this machine?

I think you will be money ahead to buy that one, then think about building your next one. That way you have a chance to play with one and see the kind of things you will need to do. Heck you never know, it may just serve you well.

building a machine from scratch is no small feat. No matter what the internet says, you just will not get one built for less then $150 that does more then just move (poorly at that)

my suggestion: you have a 1600 budget. buy the machine and have 700 left for drives, electronics, and spindle. Now I agree the Geckos are top shelf, but depending on the stepper size thay may be overkill. (according to gecko)

I would find some cheap step drives, not to be purchased before having the motors in hand. That way you have more left for spindle and other unknown things. Besides, your next machine may be servo's, then you need different drives and them sweet geckos are sitting in the corner.

I do appreciate that.

And its too hot to leave the house...

150 !? I'm thinking 1600 isn't gonna buy the screws and rails. for a real machine.

Someone asked how many guitar bodies am I gonna cut with it. The answer is "Definately one". If it looks doable and I can get quality output, you'll see me selling guitar body blanks on eBay..

So far in Texas I only see machines for 30 thousand bucks. I'm still looking, and I dont know anyone in the business.

I was poking fun at some of the claims made by folks on the net. $150 will just barely get you 3 NEMA 23 steppers with drives. I LOVE the posts on sites where the poster has "built" a machine for less then $100. Then you read the thread and low and behold? the machine is made with 2x4's and drawer slides recovered from an old desmk at the office. and of course the motors cam out of the printers he had stock piled in the garage. so the money spent was for some wire and hardware that he didn't happen to have.

I have been building special purpose built machines for 18+ years. anything from paper re-rollers to 18 seat motion bases weighing 20,000 pounds. 1 thing I understand is making things slide. Even with a work history of building machines, I have been building 1 for me for the last year. yes it has taken this long. Could I have put more time in it and been done sooner? I sure I could have, but all the same I have been at it at least once a week on average.

So buy it if it looks good to you. If it has some weak points, fix them. Learn along the way and HAVE FUN!!! I have posted as have others things we see as potentional issues. But the reality is we can do that for every machine you link. Heck, I can point out issues with my VMC's at work yet they run every day and make parts that I can sell. This machine is not bad, just keep in mind it is not a $40,000 router made to run 20 hours a day every day. It is a $1000 tabletop router made to run for you a couple hours or more a week. You prolly can't throw a 1/2 router bit in and make percision cuts, but you should be able to rough it in and come back and do some sweet 3D stuff to clean it up. And when you do, the price will be a non-issue to you.

Now having said all that, please try to verify the z travel will be enough or you will be so terriblely dissappointed on the first "job"

Something you might look into if your goal is to do this for very low cost,,,
I have seen some CMM machines with dead controls for sale on eBay and Craigslist for $300.
I have never looked into the construction of them but some are made by very good companies that would possibly go overkill on parts.

schmidtmotorworks wrote:

I have seen some CMM machines with dead controls for sale on eBay and Craigslist for $300.
I have never looked into the construction of them but some are made by very good companies that would possibly go overkill on parts.

Very fresh example, I wish I could buy...
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200633372676

My goal WAS very low cost. I'm starting to realize the dif between a hobby machine I can't really afford, and a professional machine that can perform enough work to pay for itself, its care, feeding, electricity.
I'm going to keep dropping dollars into the piggy bank while I keep reading these forums. Who knows? I just might find someone with an old router that needs a website... which is what I do for money.

Please note: Although no board code and smiley buttons are shown, they are still unused in this post.

Not sure a CMM would make a good machine. Seems to me they ride on air, they have no friction, but also no ability to transfer cutting forces.