5 x 10 CNC's with upgrade possibility to auto tool changer

[Matthew Joseph Rogers]

Thanks bill for your pessimism. TLDR: 18k+1k to ship. 2K tariff and port, pickup and no rigging needed. Easy English tech support and easy setup according to other owners.

The price of my machine was $18k (but I said he could get a full ATC machine for 15k with different options) . A bit less than $1k to ship to the port in NJ. The invoice is written for less than full price do tariff and fees should be $2k. I can pickup the machine with a trailer at the port for time and gas. And I have a friends construction company next door with a telehandler that will unload and put the machine through my shop door. No riggers needed to move the last 10’ with my gantry and pallet jacks. 3800#.

Setup is a few hours as the machine is complex assembled apart from some covers. There are wires to hook up, vacuum pumps to place, dust collection. But that is for any machine.

I am already talking to the English speaking tech support team who are great and other owners of this company’s machines in the US. I can reach them on WhatsApp or phone. So it is no harder than reaching US based support. I can’t even get my local power company on the phone for weeks, but I can get a Chinese tech support guy to send me specific pictures and directions in a couple of hours!

Control software is already setup (LNC WM2200) and test cuts have been made on my machine at the factory, unless you mean installing Aspire which is done.

So there. Bill being Bill.

[Matthew Joseph Rogers]

7K or roughly 30% above actual cost just to get it to you? Do you have a link to share of the manufacturer?

I paid 1600 to have mine delivered across the country from Minnesota and 250 for a forklift. Seemed reasonable for an insanely robust, heavy steel frame and gantry.

The manufacturer is StyleCNC. They have a youtube channel that you can see. Bill will probably have a fit if I post a direct link, but I bought a STM1530C model. Search their name and that model and it has a nice spec page that also has videos.

[Michael Burnside]

The advantage to the 5x10 is the ability to use the wider material when that's appropriate and some commercial work does indeed benefit from the 10' length.

Oh, I'm not disputing 5x10 > 4x8, that's not an easy argument to make. Bigger is better and all that. The only real downside is gantry width, but if you buy a Camaster or Shopsabre it's non-issue as their gantry construction leaves zero flex. If it were aluminum, I'm not so sure I would say 5x10 is better, but that's my opinion of course. The 5x10 would interest me if I use a lot of 5x5 BB and I want to do production work otherwise 4x8 is more than sufficient and I can save a little money as well as realestate in my shop.

[Jim Becker]

No disagreement. I honestly do wish my 4x4 was either 5x5 or 4x8, but alas, the latter would not have fit in my old shop, so I passed on it. Sad because it would have only incremented the cost by about $3K for an additional 4 feet; a small fraction of the total cost of the machine.

[Dave Roock]

Thanks bill for your pessimism. TLDR: 18k+1k to ship. 2K tariff and port, pickup and no rigging needed. Easy English tech support and easy setup according to other owners.

The price of my machine was $18k (but I said he could get a full ATC machine for 15k with different options) . A bit less than $1k to ship to the port in NJ. The invoice is written for less than full price do tariff and fees should be $2k. I can pickup the machine with a trailer at the port for time and gas. And I have a friends construction company next door with a telehandler that will unload and put the machine through my shop door. No riggers needed to move the last 10’ with my gantry and pallet jacks. 3800#.

Setup is a few hours as the machine is complex assembled apart from some covers. There are wires to hook up, vacuum pumps to place, dust collection. But that is for any machine.

I am already talking to the English speaking tech support team who are great and other owners of this company’s machines in the US. I can reach them on WhatsApp or phone. So it is no harder than reaching US based support. I can’t even get my local power company on the phone for weeks, but I can get a Chinese tech support guy to send me specific pictures and directions in a couple of hours!

Control software is already setup (LNC WM2200) and test cuts have been made on my machine at the factory, unless you mean installing Aspire which is done.

So there. Bill being Bill.

You also need a Customs Broker to import that item. Extra costs will amaze you.

[Bill George]

I fail to see why Insults of other users are allowed on this forum? We can not make a comment about someone purchasing from China directly without being subjected to grade school level insults. So most all of this persons posts are those type, its getting out of hand. A person can buy all he wants from China, but there are differences in quality and support not being discussed intelligently here.

[Matthew Joseph Rogers]

You also need a Customs Broker to import that item. Extra costs will amaze you.

Port costs just came in and are $968. Not too bad and quite what I expected. Customs fees are next and are expected to be another $1000, with perhaps $500 for the customs broker team. I am still well within my $25k budget. And they are not amazing me at all.

[Dave Roock]

Port costs just came in and are $968. Not too bad and quite what I expected. Customs fees are next and are expected to be another $1000, with perhaps $500 for the customs broker team. I am still well within my $25k budget. And they are not amazing me at all.

Next will be the warehouse & loading fees from the Customs bonded warehouse where you item will be arriving. You can calculate your Customs duties from the declared value on your Commercial Invoice - the Harmonized code for your item will set the duty rate. Followed by freight costs to get the item to your home. If you have a neighbor with a telehandler forklift, you will save some money. Freight companies charge extra for Residential deliveries.

[Kevin Jenness]

Port costs just came in and are $968. Not too bad and quite what I expected. Customs fees are next and are expected to be another $1000, with perhaps $500 for the customs broker team. I am still well within my $25k budget. And they are not amazing me at all.

It sounds like a great deal if the machine is as advertised and the support is there. Check back in and post a review after setting it up and running it for a while.

[Will Blick]

Matt, sorry for the backlash this forum often delivers without due cause.
I am curious how you are progressing, and in the end, can you try to describe the savings you realized dealing direct with the China maker, vs. a competitive USA product of similar capability. For newbies into CNC, most would consider this a risky move if support is required.... maybe you can comment on that as well, thx in advance for your input!

[Matthew Joseph Rogers]

Matt, sorry for the backlash this forum often delivers without due cause.
I am curious how you are progressing, and in the end, can you try to describe the savings you realized dealing direct with the China maker, vs. a competitive USA product of similar capability. For newbies into CNC, most would consider this a risky move if support is required.... maybe you can comment on that as well, thx in advance for your input!

I have largely quit this forum, but I am happy to respond.
My Chinese CNC machine has been working great so far. I have been modifying it here and there to fit my needs. Mostly small stuff. It cuts stuff at up to 800 IPM, and engraves and does 3D topo carvings. I had zero issues with Alibaba, importing, or shipping. I used a customs broker through my freight contacts and it cost me just $100 to file the papers, customs was cheap too.

Service has been wonderful. I have a WhatsApp chat with the salesperson and engineer and he answers question in a few hours, mostly because of time difference. Just a few days ago I was wondering why I could not get more than 18000 RPM out of the spindle, and the engineer tech showed me where that setting lives in the controller so I could change it to the 24000 max rpm of the spindle. I have not needed them to replace any parts, so I can't say what that process would be like, but the machine is non-proprietary so most everything is off the shelf and largely available on Amazon (sensors, contactors, relays, transformers, etc.). I would have to have a failure of the controller, servos, servopacks, or spindle to really need them to handle parts replacement.

I really like the LNC controller. It is very powerful and easy to change settings, access the parameters and macros, load files, measure tools, and even adjust spindle speed and feed rates in real time during the run of a cut. If you hear something running too fast, you can slow it down, or speed it up. The only issue I have had is that I nearly stalled the spindle using a spoilboard cutter on one program and I feel like there should be a safety for that to pause the program before the spindle slows to a stop. There probably is, but I have not gotten around to asking or investigating that further. There are plenty of internal breakers as well as the VFD settings, so it's not a danger, but I don't want to stall it out and cause undue damage to the spindle one day. There are some internal programming files that I would love to be able to modify, but that is too complicated for me now.

I modified the dust collection shoe to fit a larger spoilboard cutter and increase its airflow - it was just some cut and paste style sheetmetal work, i.e. ugly but works).

I added some clear vinyl strips along the spindle enclosure and back of the gantry (like those flaps that hang in a doorway) that act as dust shields and help slow down or stop an flying chips or broken cutters. I just attached them with strong magnets left over from a previous job.

I ungraded some of the wires in the cabinet to larger size. The cabinet is well laid out and everything is labeled and easy to access, so I just took one wire out, and replaced it with a larger size to limit any voltage drop. This was not strictly necessary, but I wanted to be sure that I was getting peak performance.

I have been workin on getting the dust collection blast gate and the compressed air input on solenoid valves so that they will automatically operate when the machine turns on.

Overall, I got a machine that is largely comparable with a ShopSabre 5'x10' machine with vacuum bed and ATC, new for $20k. The cheap vacuum pumps are no good for holding parts, but I hooked them up to a small cyclone dust bin and they function as a bomber (but waste of money) shop vac - like imagine a true 240v 10hp shop vac (not peak hp, but actual). I won a nice used 25 hp liquid ring vac pump at auction (15,000 hours young) and that is wonderful and needed nothing, not even oil to run.

Still happy to talk to people that want to call. This takes too long to type out everything. Just send me a message. It was a risk, or at least a perceived risk. However, I bought it with Alibaba Trade Assurance, paid $130 for a third party inspection of my machine, and on a credit card with fraud protection.

[Will Blick]

Matt, thx soo much for such an informative update. That sure is impressive....
I will contract you direct with some additional questions to avoid the typing....
thx again for sharing your experience despite the unfair treatment. 99% of us USA ww's would not have the courage to follow through with what you did, maybe now it will reduce to 97%
I will be in touch shortly....

[Michael Burnside]

Any pictures? Do you recall the total weight of the machine?

[Matthew Joseph Rogers]

3800 pounds listed shipping weight.

[Michael Burnside]

Sounds like a sizable machine. When you can, post some pictures!