Hi, a newbie here. This looks like a good place to ask questions and get some knowedgeable answers. I'm looking to buy a cnc router without spending an arm or leg or both. I'm willing to do the motors and controller part, but want a good mechanics setup. I keep seeing units for sale on ebay and would appreciate any input. There are currently 3 there for sale. ! looks to be too lighweight but there is 2 others out of aluminum that look half decent. Looking at the lenghts of cut of the units, I'm not sure how much , if any flexing I might get. I'm planing to mostly cut wood, hopefully images in wood and use a small spindle like a dremmel or rotozip. Any help is appreciated.
Depends on what you want it for. If your looking for a turn-key hobby machine that is table-top then you might try Liberty ($2000) or if you want a real shop machine then try the PRT96 at ShopBot ($7000).
Most of the guys on this particular board build from scratch. You can build one for as cheap as $100 from plans at CrankOrgan or you can spend [Infinity]. I really think you are probably looking for CrankOrgan's The Seventh Sojourn. A couple of middle of the road "plans" can be found at Machine Tool Camp and DataCut.
The size of the machine has allot to do with price. On Ebay you can pick up 12" by 12" machines for less than $1000. But if you want 4' by 8' then it will probably be more like $10,000 (although I did see a ShopBot there once that sold for around 6K).
One to keep your eye on is CNCKits . Although it is vaporware at the moment he may finish and start selling them at any time. The description looks interesting. It is a mechanicals only kit that may have promiss. Or, it may never be finished or sold.
So far, I have found no cheap and easy way to get into cnc routing. You either spend a bunch of money to buy one off-the-shelf, or you spend a little money for parts and work long and hard to make it work (small cheap machine), or you spend a bunch of money and work long and hard (excellent machine that rivals or surpasses the professionals).
Since you wish to use something like a Dremal to do mainly images I would suggest the CrankOrgan links above. It might make a nice small machine for doing hobby work like that. But if you have the money then the Liberty machine would be most excellent!
I hope this helps....
P.S. I have no experience what-so-ever with cnc routing. LOL. I've just been researching these past few weeks because I want to build a large machine like the ShopBot.
That Liberty looks interesting but all I can see is the picture. There is no specs or anything with it. Can't buy anything only on a picture! Is that new out there? I never heard of it before.
You really have to call them to get any info. Their website hasn't been changed in a year. I don't think they are too internet savvy. ;-)
You would probably hear a better spiel on the phone anyway.