Your opinion please on 4 x 4 routers available in the UK

[Big_Al]

Dear collective brain,

I am looking for a commercial 4 x 4 router, available in the UK.

I intend to commercially fabricate small boats and leisure craft from ply and perhaps some prototyping work and misc projects as a sideline.

I will flip the plywood to cut both ends of the 8 x 4 sheet.

I have a very small 12 x 10 garage type workshop so an 8 x 4 cutting bed machine leaves me with no room for assembly. That's why I am focussing on a 4x4. I should also mention that I have 240v single phase domestic electrics.

My budget is around 6000 pounds.

Do you have any specific advice either on what to buy or what not to buy.

So, far I have looked at:

The routoutcnc Z90WXLSP but the belt drive and 'lightness' of the build worries me. Am I justified in having those concerns?

The Marchant dice 8x4 but this buyer beware thread concerns me. I would have to ask if he can provide a 4x4 version.

I have also looked at a 4x4 ShopBot PRStandard 48-48, but that is already at the top of my budget and shipping and import duties are likely to be ridiculous.

I have built two DIY routers before, my most successful a 600mmx600mm cutting area J-Gro variant. I am reluctant to build another machine with my limited construction abilities. I don't think I could build something that is of a robust commercial quality. My software tool-chain experience is Corel Draw > CamBam > EMC2. Mach 3 always looked like a sledgehammer to crack a nut to me. So I would have a preference for my purchase to be compatible with what I know.

Opinions please, good or bad.

Thanks

[Pplug]

I just finished a 4x4 build myself. I used steel tubes and a 12"x.5" aluminum extrusion for all the parts. I ordered all the linear bearings and ballscrews from china. The motor controller is a g540 that came in a kit with the steppers and powersupply.

All this and screws, wires, & switches for about $3000 usd.

I would build again in a heartbeat. The router has been extremely reliable, fast, and powerful. Building was the only way to get a router of the required size for our budget.

[Big_Al]

Nice work Pplug! What plans did you work to?

[Pplug]

The plans in my head!
I designed this monster admiring the old shopbot and mechmate designs. I then decided what materials would be easiest to work with. I originally designed the major parts in inventor just to check the feasibility. The guy I work with is real good laying a bead and he did all the welding for the table and mounting brackets for the VFD, power supply and G540. At home I had the resources to mill all the aluminum parts. I got to be pretty good at machining aluminum, you could actually see yourself in the cut parts!

I'l see if I cant post the inventor file in a 3d PDF.

[ghostman11]

hi all my first post here.
i am not a big poster on forums but i thought i would relay my experiance so far with Marchant Dice.
we are looking to buy a small A3 table top milling machine but dont know very much about them, so did the normal trawl through the world of google and found this site and a few others. origanaly i was tempted to go with a chineese machine but dont like the idea of speeding that kind of money and have the support etc so far away, so reluctantly discontinued the chineese idea.
we then came accross Marchant Dice, after haveing a bit of a look into them on here and other places i noticed the buyer beware thread, imediately the worry cells started fireing in the brain but after a while i thought no harm giving them a call as they are only 20 mins away from me.
this was on monday.
cut a long storey short this is a shortish version of the phone call

ME: hi i want a table top machine!

MD: ok hang i will get kevin the boss and he can sort out what you need.
kevin came on the line

ME: er hi i want a machine!!

MD: ok no problem what do you want it to do?

ME: er well i want it to er, well sorta i need a machine for doing pcb's and er stuff!

MDk would you like.................. and he gave me a list of options and choices infact spent alot of time asking goos questions even though i must have sounded like an imbacile.
upshot of it was i mentioned i didnt live far away. so quick as a flash he said tell you what pop over one day and we can show you some machines and what they do and you can decide if you actualy need or want a CNC.
he realy was most helpful. anyway the day was set for today (weds) and along we went this morning.

i went with a vague idea of what i wanted the machine to do but no idea of how it could be done. we were introduced to kevin who said great i have a couple of machines set up for you. he then spent a great deal of his time taking us all throught the steps of various things we wanted to do, he spent alot of time explaining what to some must be very very simple stuff.
In a word i was realy impressed with his knowledge and easy manner and willingness to help. even tho i said i wouldnt be buying a machine yet.
he also pointed out where we could save money.
so i mentioned the posts i had read that had not given the best impression, i was exspecting him to be a little defensive, instead he was upfront and simply said in the past we have got some things wrong and some people were unhappy but we have tried to learn by it and put things right. again i was impressed.
so upshot of it is i will be buying a machine and without doubt i will buy from merchant dice. i am very much happier after going and meeting them.
any way just thought i would post my experiance incase its of help to someone

regards jason

[Action-KAT]

There are a few good designs on here if you want to build yourself
some in a kit form or you could try
Exel-CNC
they do sell on ebay as well as a website
not used them but the build looks a lot like the designs on here
should be bang on budget.
they are using proven parts ie Gecko G540 ect
hope this helps