Hi,
I am hoping some of you guys with more knowledge and experience than I have with CNC machines, could point out any benefits to one option over the other, that I'm not seeing. Also any thoughts on my assessments.
My use of the machine will be purely hobby wood working. My son may be using it occasionally for some aluminum parts for robotics, but mostly it will be used for woodworking.
Price is less than $200 apart on my two choices below with identical software.
Stinger SR-23
25x36" cutting area with gantry overhang on side. 7" under gantry with 9" Z-travel. (This is with their 2" gantry lift)
Options it would include are:
a laser cross hair for xy zero'ing
a Z-touch plate for Z zero'ing
a 2nd mounted Z touch plate for tool length checking after tool changes.
a 1.7KV spindle
a pneumatic counterbalance.
The Shop Sabre 23
30 x 40" cutting area with gantry overhang on side. 5" under gantry with 6 1/2" Z-travel
A mounted Z touch off switch for tool length checking after tool changes.
1.7 KV spindle
CAMaster Pros I see:
1) Z-touch plate included at the price point.
2) Laser
3) More room under Gantry.
Shop Sabre Pros I see:
1) 5 inches wider and 4" longer
2) A Mitsubishi VFD for the spindle vs maybe a Delta VFD. (Both are likely equivalent to me)
3) 25mm rails. (I'm not sure what the CAMaster has on the Stinger 1's. They use 25mm on every other line.)
I don't care about the ShopSabre having a steel gantry cross bar. The Stinger 1's gantry will be plenty stiff at that length and aluminum actually cost more. Also, the vertical supports on the Stinger have a more impressive design to them with some perpendicular pieces. So let's ignore the material difference there.
I don't know if adding 2 inches to the Stinger's gantry height will decrease rigidity significantly. If it won't harm rigidity, the gantry height vs the surface area are a wash to me.
I think not needing a counterbalance for the 1.7KV spindle is an advantage for the ShopSabre because I won't need to run my compressor. I assume it means they have a stronger stepper motor. The ShopSabre uses 2500 ounce/inch motors. I don't know what CAMaster uses.
I don't know if the ShopSabre having all ball screws matters to me.
I think the Mitsubishi VFD may be a small advantage for ShopSabre.
I think the two touch plates of the Camaster beats the single tool height measure on the ShopSabre for convenience, but it's a small advantage.
The ShopSabre definitely has 25mm rails. I'm not sure what the CAMaster has on the Stinger 1. Camaster uses 25mm on every other line. I suspect ShopSabre doesn't want to have to stock a smaller size rail, but that may be a small advantage for them.
So which of the features do you guys think favor one machine over the other, and which seem most important to you? Both companies seem very nice. I will admit, I feel like ShopSabre copied a lot of their 23's design from the CAMaster Stinger's. I don't admire that, but if you think they copied and also improved on the design, I'd like an honest opinion on that. And if you know of any complaints or flaws in either design, I'd like to know about that too.
Thanks for your advice!
Todd
PS) I've been a member for a while, but this may be my first post. If it isn't, it's my first in a long time.