[Gdeaver]

I purchased a bare bones X-Carve 500mm last December for the team. Several of the parts and electronics were purchased separately. Total cost to put the machine in service about 690.00$. A stock X-carve will cut 6061-T6. However, it is not acceptable from a precision and speed perspective. The main problem is x and z axis torsional stiffness. I modded the x axis maker slide with a 40 x 4 500 mm Al plate to tie the 2 maker slides together. The torsional problem did not go away until I replaced the Delrin wheels with metal wheels. The machine can now cut with reasonable speed and precision, but not like a 12000$ commercial unit. It has been a great addition to the team and made many parts on our 2 robots. I should mention that about 1/2 the parts cut were 7075. With all the mods 7075 is not a problem. Stock it is. Looking back I could have built a better machine for the same money. However designing a machine from scratch takes allot of knowledge that I did not have last December. Be careful of the eBay Chinese stuff. Some of it is good and some terrible. Yes, a sub 1000$ router can be a great addition to a team. One thing I should note is that 1 requirement for our router was that it had to be portable. We do not have room for a permanent set up. The 500mm x-carve fits this requirement.