Hey all,
I’m an RC car designer working with a couple companies, as well as personal projects, and I’m looking to pick up a desktop CNC for prototyping.
I’ve done a pretty decent deep dive on these machines already, so I’m aware of the limitations, especially when it comes to aluminum. I’m totally fine with slower cycle times there. Most of what I’d be cutting would be carbon fiber, nylon, and other plastics, with occasional aluminum parts. its seems the age of "desktop cnc" is in that inbetween stage of what the 3d printers where back in late 2010s era, where they were good enough when you knew what you were doing.
Right now I’ve been looking at Makera Z1, HiMill D1S, Some of the Sainsmart / Genmitsu style machines
I’ve also watched a bunch of videos on the Makera Z1, and it honestly looks super user friendly compared to a lot of the others, which is definitely appealing. I’m not opposed to going the “cheaper machine + upgrades” route either (like grabbing a Genmitsu and immediately upgrading spindle, rigidity, etc). I’m not afraid to tinker, but ideally don't want to go much passed like tramming and first setup quirks.
For background I use SolidWorks daily (that’s my job), I'm very comfortable with CAD, I am a heavy 3D printer, currently using that for prototyping and then out sourcing anything that needs to be metal.
Budget wise I’d like to stay around $1500 or less. Tolerance wise, I’d ideally like to be in the ±0.05mm–0.1mm range for parts. I’m curious how realistic that actually is on machines in this category, especially for repeatability across multiple parts.
A few things I’m trying to get a better feel for:
If you needed to make ~10 prototypes of a part (like a shock tower or similar plate part), what machine would you actually want to own? Not just “can it do it,” but what wouldn’t drive you insane after a few iterations.
How painful is CAM to learn coming from SolidWorks or from 3d print slicers? Would you recommend just going straight into Fusion 360 CAM, or something else?
For those who’ve used machines like the Z1 / D1S / 4030-style routers, do you outgrow them quickly? I’ve seen mixed opinions on whether the “all-in-one” enclosed machines are worth it vs more open/upgradeable setups.
From what I’ve gathered so far Z1 seems super polished and easy to use, D1S looks better on paper but less proven, Genmitsu-style machines seem more moddable but more work
Curious what you guys would do in my position. What would you buy, and why?