Looks really nice. And only 999 USD, sounds like a killer deal for a poorfag like me.
However it seems that the shipping to Finland costs 200USD and the import tax is gonna be around 300EUR. The only European vendor (that ships to Finland) is in Denmark and while the shipping is lower, they sell the Sparkfun version for 1600EUR and the customs will still bite me in the ass.
What options do I have? Can I bring the price down reasonably by sourcing as much parts as I can in my country? Is it even possible? They tout the project as "Open Source" but I'm having a hard time finding any information or guides on how to manage on my own let alone build the thing.
Or even better, does another CNC router of similar quality exist that's aimed at other markets than the US?
I just want to carve hardwood blocks and maybe acrylics.
If you don't mind a Chinese product with a slightly reduced engraving area, I have heard good things about the 3040 series of cnc machines.
http://www.amazon.com/CNCShop-Engraving-Machine-Engraver-Woodworking/dp/B012CFPL7M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463449114&sr=8-2&keywords=3040+cnc
It includes a spindle motor so that already makes it a better value than the shapeoko in that regard; the downside is that the electronics are dated, you need a true parallel port to control it or one of those usb to parallel motion controllers (generic usb to serial cables won't work) such as this one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-USB-CONTROLLER-UC100-for-Mach3-CNC-Controller-USB-to-Parallel-/271300225770
Or there are even instructions on how to replace the electronics with custom driver boards (which I would highly reccomend).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ew5xjIBWM
>>994433
Shapeoko 3 is no longer open source
A lot of their popularity came from being an open machine. You could buy more extrusion and make the machine gigantic if you wanted.
Now the 3rd iteration uses proprietary extrusion which defeats a large selling point of the older machines.
With that said, they will still be a good machine. Is it 1500 euro good?
Maybe not.
Im not sure of other options but I would keep looking. For 1500 euro you could built a much more stout machine from scratch.
>>994537
>>994578
Thanks for the insight.
The 3040 seems like the best bet, although it seems that I could build a Shapeoko2 and upgrade it to X-Carve for really cheap. Alas, it appears that Shapeoko2 has been made as hard as possible to get/build now that 3 is out.
The project manager seems to be in full damage control mode in the Sparkfun comments section and makes it sound like it totally is open guys but I can't help but to feel fishy.
I'll look into the 3040 but I have to check out the dropbox link before I bite the bullet
>>994671
Even if you ultimately decide to go with the shapeoko, I would highly suggest that you use the tinyg control board. It's cost is comparable to many CNC control boards and the features you get from it are incredible. Long story short it takes into account both the acceleration and deceleration of the axis to ensure ultra smooth motion. This is much more complex to configure than your standard grbl based motion controller mind you, but the jerk-free movement can mean a lot for accuracy of the final part.
https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG
I cringe seeing boards like the sparfun branded motor controller being sold at such a premium and still being based off an arduino.
>>994713
Not OP but you got me interested.
If I buy a tinyG, what else do I need to build my own CNC? Are there any guides? Obviously the board alone is useless
>>994718
There are a lot of kits and reference designs out there, truthfully though I have not kept up with them past the shapeoko since they seem to get expensive very quickly. I have never really looked at a roll your own solution since I don't have the mechanical experience for that. (EE student) I'm better at swapping out electronics and playing with control systems in existing machines and such.
I am currently scraping together cash to make a setup like the one I described earlier with the Chinese CNC controlled by the tinyg since that can be had at a reasonable price point. I've actually helped a friend convert one of those 3040 CNC machines to an arduino controlled setup with mild success. We were trying to get it wifi connected but it was a pita and we ended up using a computer with coolterm half the time to send gcode
I have built a shapeoke2 and x-carve at my job. they are largely unreliable and i dont recommend them, just buy steppers, spindle, controllers, and materials and build your own it will be more accurate and reliable.
>>995360
>just buy steppers, spindle, controllers, and materials and build your own it will be more accurate and reliable
Intriguing - I trust this is good advice but that's a super vague suggestion. Even if I bought steppers, a spindle and a controller (tinyG?) then what? I've never built anything substantial.
