Which CNC to buy. Shop Sabre or CAMaster

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

To save money, some manufacturers will use Mach 3 controller. This is just a PC operating through a native port (parallel I beleive). WinCNC on the other hand has a dedicated card inside the PC. If you use your PC for anything other than cutting while the machine is operating, I'd go with WinCNC. Obviously, WinCNC is more expensive, probably by several hundred dollars.

Just a little clarification. WinCNC with hardware is $1100 more than Mach3 using the parallel port. You can easily spend $1500 more on WinCNC to do things that Mach3 can do stock, like Probing, Tooolchange, and Tangential knife support.

And there are multiple hardware pulse generators available for Mach3, which basically make it very similar to WinCNC in operation. These range in price from under $100 to about $1000. The most popular are under $250.

[james mcgrew]

mach 3 is an accepted controller with many seats in the market being used as well !!,,,, wincnc is standard on the CAMaster because of the owner to owner support capabilitys, well stablized operation and company support.

[Rich Fennessey]

Gerry, thanks for clarifying. Good information - I didn't know about the pulse generators that are available for Mach3.

[Shawn Morley]

Ok Guys,
I made the decision, I went with a ShopSabre 4814, 5x10 table with vacuum hold down. 12HP HSD spindle with ATC, I also added the 4th axis. There's a lot of good machines out there, the decision came down to ShopSabre and CAMaster, I know I wouldn't have gone wrong with either one. In the end I liked having all ball screw axis on the ShopSabre and keeping the purchase in state and just down the road.

Now for the software. I plan to purchase Aspire, it seems like a great software with a lot of additional support here at The Creek. I am still doing research on which cad/cam software to go with, offer up some opinions if you got'em. Currently I am looking into Routercad and KCDW.

Sure am excited, I have 4-5 weeks to completely revamp the shop while still keeping up with work, should be fun and interesting.

Thanks for all the input and advice along the way.

[Gary Campbell]

Shawn...
Aspire is as good as you can get for under $5K in the CAD/CAM market. For cabinet production there are 2 distinct elements. Design/Sales and design/cutting. Very few if any under $20K do both well. To save money many users will use a different program for each which adds to the learning curve.

Make sure that you have a nested based cutting program that supports the joinery that you wish to incorporate into your casework. Labels and customizable hardware patterns are a must if doing runs of multiple cabinets. You might want to look at Cabinet Parts Pro.

[Rich Fennessey]

12 HP Spindle - wow, that is some serious chip making. Sounds like you got everything you could get. I'm assuming you probably have 3 phase power for this. Have fun with that, careful you don't cut your table in half with that monster spindle.

[Shawn Morley]

I went with the 12hp because it wasn't much to upgrade the spindle, so it only made sense to do so. I do have three phase however it is ran through a converter. I'm talking with Excel right now to determine the costs of running three phase to the shop, sure would be nice to get rid of the noise of the converter.

I ordered RouterCad Monday evening, showed up today and I'm looking forward to start learning that. I will probably order Aspire as well, it seems that is the preferred choice around here. Few more weeks and I should have the machine, can't wait.

[Robert Rodgers]

Shawn,

Preferences

now that you have the ShopSabre, how do you feel about the machine. I am planning on purchasing one in March of this year. I'm seriousley thinking the Sabre. I have looked at the Cobra, Techno, and the Warthog. They all will do the same thing, I just want another opinion.

[Shawn Morley]

Hi Robert,
Sorry, I didn't see your post until today. So far I am happy with the machine, the only thing I wish I would have done different is to go a little larger with the vacuum or maybe do two vacuums. For most applications the vacuum is more than sufficient, sometimes when I am doing very small dovetail drawer parts it has a problem holding them.

ShopSabre has been great to work with, the times I have had to call there tech support they have been very helpful. If you have any specific questions let me know, I'd be happy to chat with you anytime.

Shawn