Thread: any small cnc routers for sale in Aust

Moonos,

I'm sure someone else here would have better suggestions but first things first would be to know what kind of budget you are looking for and what kind of accuracy you wish to achieve as well as how often it will be used. If your budget is medium to large there are a few commercial machines available in Australia from proper engraving companies (Roland, gravograph etc) for small applications. For a small to medium budget you can get some machines like a sherline or mini proxxon etc or even a proper mill and they can be/are converted (not sure of workable size on these small machines though). Or finally for a small budget you could possibly build one if you are good with tools and have some inginuity(even readily available actuators could make for a simple build). You could be in luck as someone here might look to sell an old homemade cnc they built but im not sure what the chances are of that.

Anyway like i said im sure someone will probably chime in with something a little better but this will give you an idea. The more you can narrow it down the more we can help you out.

Daniel

There was a guy down in Melbourne selling a MDF kit that would suit your needs but I'm not sure if he is still selling them. See this thread for details. It would cost about $1500 to get the kit plus a controller and steppers.

There is a smaller machine available from Brisbane but that only has 200mm x150mm.

There was also another small one on ebay from Taiwan but there doesn't seem to be any for sale from the seller at the moment.

There could be some more around that I'm not aware of.

Failing that, you may get lucky to pick up a second hand one when someone upgrades.

Or your last option is to perhaps build one yourself. You can get plenty of advice here from the gurus.

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

[quote=John H;907729]

There is a smaller machine available from Brisbane but that only has 200mm x150mm.

quote]

This one looks great for starters. I want my first one to be simply turn key and go. 200x150 would be ok. If anyone has a second hand one under $2K and wants to sell, drop me a line. I am looking for accuracy for engraving, but dont need X andY axis bigger than 300mm, and the Z axis only needs to be 50mm approx.

I really want a laser cutter for polycarbonate similar to http://www.epiloglaser.com/zing_laser.htm but would like to play around with a cheaper cnc router to get me started and familiar.

Later on I plan to build a 600x1200 to be used for timber which won't need quite such high accuracy and will stockpile bits as they come available.

Confused everyone yet. Basically I am keen but have limited funds and time for my first machine.

.

Let us know how you go as we would be interested in some pics and feedback on whatever machine you go with.

I know of one for sale it Perth. This will probably be a problem for you and the owner.
I built it and it has not seen a lot of work. My BIL brought it off me for $1,500 and a year later brought a second machine (larger) off me as well. He is hooked on CNC and makes trophies for his Bird Club.
I am guessing he would want $1,500 for it as it was under priced when I sold it to him. I didn't recover my cost of parts. It has quality parts - all THK actuators and rails which are the top brand in linear motion. This means it has proper ballscrews and ball bearing races. This might not mean much to you but it a huge step above the machines you have been looking at. Machine is all aluminum and has a new variable speed AEG die grinder as a spindle which would not have seen much work at all.
If you were building today a driver board and the motors would set you back over $600, Die Grinder another $260 so you can see the machine itself is only $640 so it is quite cheap as far as CNC machines go.
I am including a link to the build thread but as I said above it has a die grinder as per photo below - it was tidied up after that photo.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f170/cnc-router-dc-spindle-37945
I think he would prefer a buyer in Perth but if you are interested then I will ask him. Freight might kill the sale.