Hi everyone, I, like many before me am interested into entering into the world of CNC woodworking.
I am a relatively new woodworker - started out as a small hobby about 3 years ago and have progressed to doing more and more projects for the house, for gifts, and for friends. Last year, I started making some children's toy and furniture pieces and began selling them locally and through some online outlets. I figured, if I could sell a couple of items a month, it would allow me to purchase new tools faster and saw it as a way to support the hobby. A year into it, I now see a need to use CNC machining to reduce the variability in the items I am selling and to make the manufacturing more efficient so I can meet the demand I am seeing and also create time to work on other projects that I have for the small business I created. I have a garage-based shop that I work out of when I'm home from work and not spending time with my wife and three kids under 4yo so there have been a lot of late-late nights with saws running - thankfully my kids sleep through all of it and my neighbors haven't complained yet. I consider myself very tech-savvy and have some experience doing CAD work with Solidworks and hope some of that experience will make my venture into CNC woodworking and use of the associated design software a little smoother.
Initial research was and has been overwhelming and I my "budget" or what I'm willing to invest in my first CNC machine has more than doubled in the several months I've been researching. I started off trying to find a used machine but had no luck there. Then I looked into 2x4 sized machines knowing that even that size wasn't large enough to hold a workpiece large enough for some of the items I currently sell. At that point, I was considering an Axiom Autoroute 8 that I learned about at Rockler. I have since moved to looking at 4x4 sized machines and I don't believe I can go any larger right now with the setup I have.
I am at a place where I am considering two options and maybe a distant third. I am looking seriously at a Laguna Tools Swift 4x4 machine and a CAMaster Stinger II SR-44. The very distant third (since I am considering the Laguna machine) is purchasing a similar machine from China and saving on costs and taking on the customer support risks associated with that move.
I have poured over forums and have heard a lot of things about the Laguna machines and I still feel comfortable moving in that direction. The CAMaster machine is one that I initially considered too far out of my price range especially if I wanted to add options such as the T-slot table and spindle. However, as my realization of what I need to do to equip myself for success and try to experience the least amount of frustration evolved, the CAMaster machine has come back into the picture.
I want to ask the CNC community here if there are other things I should consider when making this investment and if there is any helpful insight you could offer to someone in my position.
Thanks so much!
Tomi