I saw the machine on Sunday. The owners of the machine were very helpful and well informed. It was a real pleasurable 2 hours I spent with them. They had a setup ready to run for me, sample to show, and lots of ideas to talk about.
The Motiontek router/engraver is very nice for the money. Solid cast iron base, linear bearings on all ways and ball screws throughout. The spindle ran smooth and quiet. One element that may be a long term concern is the ball screw mounting on the z axis. It looked like the screw was supported by the motor alone. I could not feel or see any play in this area, so I my concerns may be unfounded. One other element is the size of the stepper motors. They look quite small for the size of the machine, I think around 300in/lb hold rating. I was told that the max cutter they have used is 1/4" with a cutting depth of 1/4" and it had no issues in birch plywood.
Here are some pictures of the router/engraver and a sample cut.
This machine had the pendent control which looked to function very well. It was pointed out to me that there are a couple drawbacks for my application is the inability to change tools or alter cutting or rapid speeds in the program. If tool changes were needed a separate tool path would have to be generated. The PC and Mach 3 configuration of the system would take care of these issues.
Overall I was very impressed.
Thanks for your time Dieter or Ryan, we will be in touch. |