Help needed! Is this machine good?

[shapebuster]

Hello everyone, and thank you for your time. I need your opinion of a CnC Machine.

At the moment i am building a Cowork space with a FabLab and Hackerspace, here in Lisbon, Portugal, and amongst other machines i want to have a Cnc Router, for working with plastics and wood, etc.

I would like to have a machine big enough to make digital fabrication possible, im an Architect, but this is were my contribute will be done in the space. I have worked for 7 years with a Gravograph IS8000XP, building Architecture models



prototypes and even my own 4x4 Expedition truck

.

Now i want something bigger, to do works were digital fabrication and machining plays a role on the projects. Therefore i was searching for a machine with something around this size: 2.5m x 1.2m x 0.2m (98inches x 47inches x 7 inches), but i dont no a great thing about the machine itself, i just now how to work with them!
I though about getting one from China (mainly because of the prices) but i heard about a Spanish manufacturer of cnc's, and I need to know your opinion regarding the construction and the potential of the machine.
This machine its being sold used for 6000€ (8000USD), but i expect to negotiate it around 5000€.






It was built and sold in June 2011, it as the following features:
. Work Area of 2.1mx1.3mx0.1m
. Travel speed 15meters x min
. In aluminum and steel.
. Slotted aluminum table
. 300N engine torque NEMA23
. Axes X, Y Offset toothed belt. Spindle axis Z anti-backlash.
. Computer included with the Software milling VCarve Pro and Aspire programs.
. Control system using DSP (digital signal processor)
. Suction chip.
. Industrial hoover system.
. Many tools

With this information and images, what can you say about the machine?
What should be done to improve it?

All your help is appreciated!

Thank you again

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[saibabamachines]

According to Pictures you have put here, machine is looking in good condition. very sharp in work. Keep it up

[Tkamsker]

machine looks nice did you see it in action ? And spain is close to your location so give it a go

[saibabamachines]

Nice machines. Profitable investment. Keep it up.

[jbaz]

I don't have as much experience with CNC routers but at a time I had a lead on work for one that I wanted to dual purpose for plasma cutting also, so I was doing a lot of research on the offerings and building one myself. I'm not familiar with enough with the latest commercial offerings to tell you what machine is best. But if you are so inclined, especially since it sounds like this is for a hacker space, you may want to consider building one with the group. Depending the design and experience of your members you may end up with something substantially better than what you can buy for the same price, or even for much less. If nothing else it would not hurt to look at the various DIY designs to know what styles are performing best to help identify what you would like in a machine. The wiring is super simple, the components can be bought reasonable as packages, so all you really need to do is pick a bed/gantry design and build it.

But if you're buying a commercial product that does not already have a large enough following to gather the info from user reports and videos the best thing you can do is send the seller a part that is typical of the work you do and ask for a video showing the speed and accuracy of it creating that part. It all comes down to reliability (the machine stays running without needing repaired all the time), the speed and the accuracy. You won't really know about reliability on obscure brand until you buy it. Just make sure it isn't using proprietary stuff and you'll be able to fix anything on this type of machine very cheaply.

[hanermo]

It looks ok, but alu is a crap material for machine tools.
For a router, with belts, its probably ok.

If it works, once, its likely it will keep working.
However, the control and sw may be good, bad or intermediate.

I suggest its probably weakish, not too accurate, not too rigid, and the step sizes and transmissions are probably about 3-4/10.
This may not matter, and the price is ok at 5-6k.
You wont get a lot better, for anything semi-new.

Im in barcelona, if its near I can go take a look.
Best,
h-