My wife and I took a detour through Cartersville, GA today on our way home from the family farm. We met sales manager Jim Haga and got him to give us a tour of the Camaster shop. The place is much cleaner and nicer than I expected. It turns out that they get all the nasty welding and painting of the framework done at another shop that specializes in this type of fabrication. They only do the precision machining and final assembly there. This makes for a very clean efficient business. All in all, I was very impressed with their operation and I have seen several similar shops when I worked as a manufacturing engineer in the automotive industry.
Their products are also quite impressive. I was particularly interested in the Stinger I model and did a lot of reading and video watching on this unit prior to our visit. The photos, videos and specifications just don't do it justice. Even though it only has a 2' X 3' cutting area, it is made to the same industrial standards as their big machines. If anything, I would say the unit is actually over built for its intended purpose. The welding, machining and paint job were just beautiful.
In the end, I just ordered a base model Stinger I on the spot. I have been going back and forth for 6 months now on which unit to buy and this little field trip convinced me. I would recommend that anyone who is close enough and is looking to buy a first class CNC router of any size, contact Camaster and arrange for a tour. Jim Haga is knowledgeable and easy going and there is no heavy handed sales pitch. It was a very enjoyable experience.