Any affordable cnc's?

[Brad Ports]

Dan, Maybe Chuck didn't say it in a way that you felt was useful but he has a point. On the engravers forum we have all heard of the horror stories of the chinese lasers especially in parts and service. I'm sure the chinese can make the same product that you do for much less but is it as good? Most likely not.

When I bought my laser, I looked at most and decided that only a US made laser was for me. I have not regretted that decision at all. I am currently looking at CNC routers and my purchase as well will be US made. If we don't support our own manufacturers then there won't be anybody that is able to purchase what we sell. I know that my products would not sell well in China because most of the population doesn't make enough to purchase them. Do we really want to get to that point here.

I look for value not only price and because I don't have really deep pockets I have to get the most bang for my buck. I am leaning towards purchasing a ShopBot because I have heard great things about their customer service as well as their products. One of the major things that is turning me towards them is the lack of used ShopBots on the market and how quickly they sell when one pops up. I know that this is a big decision for most of us and requires a leap of faith.

[Gene Crain]

affordable cnc...

bought this one used from bot forum $3500, late 90's machine that had a few upgrades, shipping to our shop here in mexico $2000, all said and done look at the product this vintage shopbot can produce for a initial investment of $5500



plantasymaderas punto com

[Mike Heidrick]

Gene, Are there any mexican CNC machine companies? At the range of 1-2 man shop sized machines, mostly I just here about a few vendors in the US and CA and the imported chinese ones.

[james mcgrew]

TNT.jpgfenderaa.jpg

camaster has recently delivered this machine to the fender guitar company in mexico just north of gene, i got a chuckle out of mikes comments about the "toys" as these machines are replacing the 250.000 - 500.000 $ big iron and obsolete cnc machines in many factorys. i spend a good bit of my week teaching new and older cabinetshops the initial install and training for operation, on the other hand i get 2 + auction notices a day for large shops that each have at least one big iron cnc going for peanuts on the dollar. if i had a market i would buy em and resell them yet at this point they barely bring the metal weight value at the scrap yard.

[Mike Heidrick]

From the look of that picture the cobra was the toy there too. Dont kid yourself, a I dont think SCMI, Multicam, Thermwood, Komo, etc have anything to worry about with the Cobra line LOL. Just a matter of folks right sizing.

[james mcgrew]

IMG_3221.jpgPICT0078.jpgCM_0044.jpgPICT0893.jpgbiggg-1.jpgIMG_3221.jpgPICT0078.jpgCM_0044.jpgPICT0893.jpgbiggg-1.jpg

mike, komo is bankrupt and out of business, the others had to skip the major trade shows for the last two years and are only beginning to trickle back in to the vegas show, i work with the shops of the size who use these things, the rate of business failure for larger shops is staggering right now, you are right that there will be a need for the larger iron machinery (hopefully we see the full reinvention of american manufacturing) yet with companys like camaster producing 30-50 units a month at this point in our recovery (and about 1/2 of that cobras) i certainly would not keep a blind eye to this size and weight of machine. as well scmi, muticam and thermwood have had to introduce samller machines at price points to compete with this market. i can truley appreciate you build log on the joes cnc machine, i have met joe and with his personality you can only imagine the kindness his builders feel toward him for producing these files for fellows like you, i guess i outa note as well i have a harley and sitting next to my camaster there is a great resemblance to our love of american manufacturing and love for true craftsmanship

have you ever seen a camaster?

on another note, i never got the impression the original post was looking for a machine like the camaster or the shop bot, and had no intention of swaying that. is there a reason you pulled these fine machines into this mix?

[Mike Heidrick]

Thanks for the nice comment on my Joes machine. I hear you on american pride.

As to why I brought them up - I thought the stinger might be affordable for a purchasable solution.

Do you compare cammasters to big iron CNCs?

Komo go bankrupt since Dec 2010??


December 13, 2010

Dear Valued KOMO Customer:

KOMO is pleased and excited to announce that the manufacturing and assembly of KOMO machines is being relocated to the Lakewood, New Jersey, USA facility. The transition from the PMC Tech Center in Nanjing, China to the corporate headquarters facility in Lakewood, New Jersey is scheduled for completion April 1, 2011. KOMO machines will once again be “Proudly made in the USA”.

Last year at this time, KOMO Machine announced that it was moving its corporate headquarters from a leased facility in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota to Lakewood, New Jersey. The New Jersey facility is located on the parent company owned 10 acre campus-like setting with two buildings totaling 100,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space. The 25,000 square foot building on this site currently houses the KOMO USA service parts distribution center. This facility also contains, the KOMO machine operations training and demonstration center as well as the KOMO administrative and sales offices. The KOMO machine assembly will move into a 75,000 square foot manufacturing facility located on the same site. The new manufacturing facility has plenty of space for future expansion.

This latest move will provide KOMO with the added capability of providing faster delivery of machines and service parts. It will also make our USA Sales, Engineering and Service personnel more accessible to the factory floor and KOMO customer machines being built. This all translates to greater machine build flexibility, faster service, improved delivery time and added attention to quality.

KOMO has a rich history of designing and building superior quality high speed wood and metal working CNC machining centers. We are committed to providing 24/7 service to our customers by making available an experienced staff of technicians located throughout the United States. To support your machine purchase, KOMO is building an extensive spare parts inventory that is maintained, stored and distributed from our Lakewood, New Jersey facility.

Our experienced and knowledgeable sales team is available to assist you in determining the correct KOMO machine that will solve your CNC machining needs. Please contact us at
1-800-255-5670.

Thank you for your continued support and confidence in KOMO Machine products.


Mike Kolibas
President

[james mcgrew]

well the reinvigoration of komo, they moved to china then announced the closure last summer ( this was an announcement and widely discussed on another commercial forum) this move or reopening is news to me and i consider it good news, komo set a standard for good cnc machines yet $$$$ i have many a friend who has the vr 508. (guess china was not such a good move after all!)

camaster cut its teeth as a big iron company in the late 90's and was sold to the fellows who eventually and thru some new and additional owners became what we know as camaster today, they built a big iron machine last fall yet the cobra has proven it self to be a great machine for the small to medium size cabinet shop as well as other trades. when one sees the industial nature of the cobra machines is apparent where it comes from. will we see the end of big iron, no and i hope not. but the market like everything else is changing. would i compare camaster cobra to big iron, no yet i would rather have 4 of them to one big iron !!

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

A lot of the machines you call big iron are more specialized. For instance, the Morbidelli we have at work is almost useless for 3D work, as it's proprietary control starts to choke when you get over 50,000 lines of code. But for cutting sheet goods, it can probably outrun two Camasters, especially if there's a lot of line boring.

I think a lot of the reason you see so many big machines going for pennies on the dollar, is that they have a shorter lifespan, probably 10 years max. At that point, repair costs can start to get very high. Especially if you need to replace a proprietary control. At my last job, about two years ago, the cost to update the control on our Schelling beam saw was about $12K, basically just to update from a DOS control to a Windows control.

[Mick A Martin]

The one thing that stands out with CAMaster is the ability to customize your machine, if you want a 30" x 90" machine CAMaster will build it to your specifications.

Mick