Saw a CNC router at a cabinet shop in Tulsa that made me rethink my whole setup

I was in Tulsa last week picking up some plywood and the shop owner showed me this old 3 axis router he's been running since 2012. It cut a dovetail joint in like 45 seconds flat and the finish was way smoother than what I get on my machine. Has anyone else been surprised by how much life you can squeeze out of older gear with good maintenance?

2 comments

2 Comments

reeselewis27d ago

2012 was a decade before everyone started slapping VFDs and closed loop steppers on everything, so that machine was probably built like a tank. Most of the "new" hobby stuff under 5k flexes like a wet noodle compared to an old commercial router that was designed to run 8 hours a day. Newer isn't always better when the old iron was overbuilt from the start.

fiona73726d ago

Speaking of old iron, I just took delivery of a 1998 Techno LC 4896 last month, and the thing weighs over 2,000 pounds compared to the aluminum extrusion frames on everything today. What really surprised me @reeselewis was that the original owner only used it for cutting circuit boards, so the ballscrews are still perfectly tight with zero backlash. I had to replace the old stepper drivers with modern ones, but the spindle alone is this beefy 3HP Colombo that sounds totally different from these little water cooled jobs everyone runs now. Are you running any old commercial iron, or sticking with newer machines?