Gday mates, I was looking up prices for CNC machines for me and a buddy to split but they are way more expensive than we thought theyd be. $50,000?? Is that a correct price? I assume alot of people borrow machines to save money but I thought it would be a little more convenient to just get our own. And also, the Shapers Australia machine seems like a sweet piece of metal but I’ve heard SHape 3d is good as well, what do you guys think?
CNC machines come in all ways shapes and forms. If you want a really nice one with software something like $50-60k is ballpark. That wouldn’t be very cost effective for a single shaper - you’d need quite a few shapers to make it pay off.
You can get a shopbot plus shaped3b turnkey system for something more like $15k, this is something cost-feasible for a 1-2 person operation. This is a lot lower tech, a CNC router solution, but you can finish the board just fine.