Thread: Shapeoko or similar cnc

Hi folks
i recently saw a video on you tube where someone was using a shapeoko cnc to do a curved inlay in a bandsaw box. In a nutshell I was wondering whether many members had used this machine or similar and most significantly, how difficult it was to assemble. I see there is the shapeoko 2 out of A company called Inventables
In the US and the eshapeoko which appears to be coming out of Europe but the 2 machines are very similar. My concern was that they come in a kit and there seems to be a lot of work involved in assembling including all the wiring of the various motors. I must admit I have no experience in electronics so the thought of doing all the wiring is a bit daunting. I see there are a number of companies selling a '3040' model cnc under various brand names bit it appears this is a generic model coming out of china and the build quality appears to be VERY inconsistent.
Basically, I really enjoy doing smaller items like bandsaw boxes, dovetail boxes and other smaller pieces and I particularly like doing decorative inlays. However, I prefer inlays that range from around 2 to 5 mm thick as I don't like working with veneers and that extra thickness give much better margin for error. The thing that appealed to be the most was the ability to do curved inlays. At present, using my router table set up, I am really limited to straight lines. In the you tube video (I think he was called the drunken woodworker) the user was able to cut out a decorative curved trench and then mill the exact inlay so it fitted perfectly . Researching cnc machines most were really out of my budget. I was really hoping to keep the cost under $1,500. There appears to be quite a few machines available under that price but some are also very small. I would really like one that could handle pieces around 600 by 400 mm but from all my research I suspect that might be a little too optimistic, at least one that is accurate. As you can appreciate, a high degree of accuracy and repeat ability are the keys to doing good inlay work.
i don't mind having a crack at assembling the unit if it appears that I don't need and PhD in electronics and engineering to do so. A lot of people have assembled their unit and while most say its a fairly decent task (20 to 30 hours work) as long as I can be confident that I will have an accurate and reliable machine in the end then I am happy to spend the money.
of course, any feedback on other machines available would also be greatly appreciated.
cheers