Difference between a $70K and $12k router.

[ger21]

Explain to me how you can justify that it's OK if your $12K purchase costs you an extra $58K ??? And I wouldn't buy a machine if the salesman told me I can expect a certain amount of down time. In a production environment most people can't afford ANY downtime. We do a lot of quick turnaround jobs. If our machine goes down, sometimes it can be impossible to get those jobs done on time. Maybe that's the part of the difference.
But in reality, for that price difference, you should be getting two VERY different machines. And I'd tend to think maintenance and repair would be a lot more on the more expensive machine.

[ViperTX]

Gerry, You answered your own question...you're a quick turn job shop with close to 100 percent utilization...you can't afford any downtime...on the other hand if you have a machine that is only used a small percentage of the time...it's costing you to sit idle and if you can have a less expensive and reliable machine perform the same task at a much lower cost then the idle billable hours are less costly. Also, if you have a sales rep tell you that a machine will never be down....run or get it in writing along with a downtime compensation clause (which shouldn't cost them anything...since the machine never goes down). We haven't even discussed the operator that is not cross-trained and only knows how to work with one underutized machine. So, it comes down to which machine will do the job, the cheapest, to spec. and when you need it done.

[tltaylor]

Down time is why we are looking at either a large $70-125k machine or several smaller units. The parts that these machines cut out are off line production, but due to Lean Management they act more like Just in Time/Online operations. We manufacture Hot tubs a little different than everyone else. A normal hot tub is just a formed shell with a buch of holes in it. If something new comes out next year you have to sell your tub to get it. In our tubs we form a shell with "jet pods" where the seats are. We then form Jet packs that we put the jets into. These jet packs are surrounded by water and conect into a universal feed pipe. The cnc machines not only trim our door panels, but trim and cut the holes in the jetpacks. Yes it can be done by hand, but the skill level goes sky high. Right now we are playing with a ticking time bomb only having one cnc to do everything. It has never been down for more than a day or two, but the company loses more money than I make in a year if it does. I like the idea of a number of smaller less expensive, but fully capable machines. Keep them all the same so that only one set of spare parts has to be kept on hand. Others here lean towards getting one more expensive machine. I just can't justify spending 50-100K more on one machine if you can get multiple $20K machines and have more check and balances in your line. I may be wrong.

Trent

[ger21]

Originally Posted by ViperTX on the other hand if you have a machine that is only used a small percentage of the time...it's costing you to sit idle and if you can have a less expensive and reliable machine perform the same task at a much lower cost then the idle billable hours are less costly. Also, if you have a sales rep tell you that a machine will never be down....run or get it in writing along with a downtime compensation clause (which shouldn't cost them anything...since the machine never goes down).

When comparing a 12K machine and a 70K machine, if the machine was only going to be used a small percentage of the time, it's a no-brainer to get the cheap one.

We have a point to point machining center at work. We shopped around for over a year before making a decision. I never met one salesman that new anything more about the machines or how they worked then was in the brochure. So I don't have much trust in salesman.

I know machines break down. With big money machines, service is always a strong selling point. But I don't want a salesman telling me to expect it to break down. I'd rather hear how reliable they are, not the opposite.