# Advice on deciding a CNC machine



## Shafeen

Hi all,

First of all let me tell that the subject woodworking is alien to me. I've got an opportunity through a friend to manufacture wooden handle for a type of umbrella. One piece is 35 mm in diameter and 570 mm in length. The othe piece is overall 35 mm diameter ( top part will be 10-15 mm) and 220 mm in length. The quantity required per month is between 7000-10000 pieces.

Since the subject is new and the qty is so high I started looking into CNC lathe machines. I looked into Chinese machines and found CosenCNC (www.chinawoodlathe.com) to be a company who were able to convince me. But last week coincidentally I got to know about the Legacy CNC Artisan and further search on the subject I found stinger.

My primary purpose is turning big qty. Machining and carving going to be my near future objectives. My budget is new or used $5000-7500.

Now what I want to know is has anyone used Chinese lathe machines (specifically CosenCNC) ? If yes what is the brand and how would you rate it?

Secondly are the American machines I mentioned above capable of turning big qty(10000) ? The Chinese I was told will turn around 400 handles in 8 Hr shift. What will be the output I can expect (based on my size requirement) from it?

will I be able to make holes in that handle with these machines ? 14 mm drill bit 140 mm hole.

Any reliable place to buy used ones ?

I'm sorry to post such a big text. Since the general rule is buy your second machine first, I thought if my first purpose is served with the American machines there won't be any need for a second machine.

Cheers,

Shafeen


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## JAAune

Don't get the Chinese ones if you're counting on the machine to run production for you. If it breaks down who's going to give you technical support and ship you parts? You can't afford to be down for more than a couple days when an order is on the line.

I'm doing large production runs on a homemade machine and a Cammaster Stinger is far stronger than mine. Because I can troubleshoot and fix my own machine it works for me. Since you are asking these questions, it's probably safe to guess you won't be able to do your own troubleshooting. In that case, I highly recommend looking into the Stingers.

Good used machines are hard to find. They are on Craigslist but you have to do your due diligence when making a decision. If buying used, get the serial number and call the manufacturer to confirm you can still get parts and service.


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## Underdog

For that kind of production turning, I'd definitely go with a CNC Lathe. You might even go with a commercial copy lathe and use a pattern.
Unless you buy two of the Asian machines that are exactly identical, (so you have a backup) I would shy away from them. I've been bit pretty hard by the problem JAAune describes above.

I'm not sure a CNC router with a rotary axis will be as fast (or as robust) as you need to make those kind of production numbers.

I'm not even sure the Legacy will do what you need. I'd certainly give them a call though, because Legacy tends to do things a little bit different than CNC router manufacturers.


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## bonesbr549

you may want to consider subbing it out for this run. I bought a CNC machine back in March. Had been looking for years. It's a bit of a learning curve unless you already know this stuff it will take time. If turnings all you want to do then get a lathe. If you want to look to do more than that like cutting parts, signs, releifs etc, you want a cnc with a 4th axis.

BTW, I love my CNC routerparts cnc kit. I'm just now getting to move to the 4th axis. Good luck. I'd get something that you can get to someoone to support it. There's a lot to it, and being able to ask the vendor questions is a big key IMO.

Good luck.


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## Shafeen

Well thank you for the inputs. But still unable to make a decision. Being a novice as suggested, it's always good to go with companies who has customer service reputation. Surely there is vlery little chance for CS with chinese manufacturers. Unless a user recommends. Till now hardly anyone has spoken about the CosenCNC brand.

On the other hand the reputed companies should have the necessary capability on their machines to meet the requirement. hmm.

In the mean time could any one suggest a CNC lathe machine from reputed CS service offering company from America or Europe less than $9000 price please?

Thank you.


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## difalkner

Take a look here and you may get some ideas - CNC Wood Lathes


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## nikolas123

More than 3000 3D models for CNC machine tools of any complexity. 
Wholesale and Retail. 
Very attractive price. 
[email protected]


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## Ger21

> I ve got an opportunity through a friend to manufacture wooden handle for a type of umbrella. One piece is 35 mm in diameter and 570 mm in length. The other piece is overall 35 mm diameter ( top part will be 10-15 mm) and 220 mm in length. The quantity required per month is between 7000-10000 pieces.


For lathe type work, you need a lathe, and not a cnc router with a rotary axis like a Legacy. A lathe will be many times faster.

First thing I would do is make sure you have a guaranteed contract to do the work before moving forward.
I've seen many people jump into a job like this, only to find out that the job falls through, and you have a machine with no work.

At 7000/month, you need to make at least 40/hour, working a 40 hour week. This does not include all the time you need to spend in acquiring and prepping the material.

That's 1:30 seconds to load the part, make it, and unload it.
I don't know how complicated the part is, but I don't think that you can make them that fast.
Watch some cnc wood lathe videos on Youtube, and see how long it takes to make parts on them. And note that almost every video you find is a chinese machine.



> My budget is new or used $5000-7500.


Imo, you're budget is far too low to purchase equipment that's capable of doing this job. If you can really make ans sell 7000 parts/month, then you should be making enough money to easily pay for much more equipment, that is more capable of doing the work.

You need to do a LOT of research into CNC wood lathes and the software to program and run them before jumping into this.
CNC wood lathes are really a rather specialized tool, and I've really only seen maybe 2-3 in 15 years of reading CNC forums. I'm not sure if there are anyone other than Chinese companies making them, unless you get a custom built machine.


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## Shafeen

Hi Ger21,

Your points are exactly valid. For my budget only Chinese machines only available . Since I've my share of concerns about their products and after sales services I had a look onto the American ones which are not heavily priced.

I'm doing research as much as possible . But coming to a conclusion is the primary issue. Coz very little reviews in fact no reviews for the brand CosenCNC Chinese machine where i had a detailed discussion .

May be I have to take s risk and go with the instincts.


> ?


Cheers


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