Hello all! First, I'm sorry if this has already been asked or if it's not the correct place. Second, I'm totally a noob to the CNC world. Please take it easy with me So, I need to make some handcraft projects and I need a CNC to cut the wood. It will be only to cut wood and the maximum size, for now, is 50cmx50cm. (but i wouldn't mind to have a bigger machine) I've been looking and searching, but the more I search more doubts I have! I found the CNC from ratrig.com, they are from Portugal, like me and they have excellent support. The issue is the price. They are very expensive. I also found openbuilds workbee, lead CNC, Queenbeen PRO... I'm lost! Anyone here can give me some instructions and guidelines? Please ask me anything you need to support me. Thanks for your time. Best Regards,
The beauty of open source designs and components is that anyone can manufacture them. The downside is, you don't have a consistent quality level. Usually with these unaffiliated vendors, by the time you've fixed the potential issues and bought the stuff it should have come with in the first place, you've spent all the money you saved on it. As always, it's the good-fast-cheap triangle. Assuming- and we've seen some heartache on here over the years when people took the risk anyway- that you're not gonna compromise on "good", you've gotta figure out whether you want "fast" or "cheap". Not that DIY is all that cheap- you're not getting out for less than $800 no matter what you do- and it does require you to have some machine design skills, but again you can buy parts as you can, spread the cost out, and avoid buying things you'd upgrade later anyway (eg wheels->rails). Something like a LEAD1010, you drop it all in one go, but it's ready to assemble- you can literally be cutting parts a week later.
