I am looking for a indoor hobby to keep me busy during the winter and have started looking into CNC Routers. This might end up being part of the process to help me make up my mind but I was hoping some of you guys would be able to sway my opinion towards one machine over another. I am mainly looking at the 20" x 40" machines due to limited space in my garage but I'm not terribly excited about the 12" - 13" workable Y axis restriction. Once I understand more about the machine (and possibly find some more space) I could see myself wanting to expand the Y axis. For materials/projects, I really don't have any requirements but I do have some ideas for various wood and aluminum projects. I have been looking at the Sphinx 1050, Workbee 1050, and CBeamXL. I am leaning towards the Workbee because I do not need to account for extra space for the bed moving like the CBeam. The Gantry is shorter so It should be stiffer and I think it would be the least expensive to expand later down the road. I would only need to get 1 wider gantry extrusion, 2 bed extrusions, 1 lead screw and add extra bed support (under the spoil board). The Sphinx would require 2 lead screws, 2 bed extensions and 3 bed supports. I'm sure I am missing other things that's just from my initial glance. With all of that said, Should I consider the LEAD CNC and cut it down to fit my needs?
Learn tiling (pin registration) and that largely eliminates the need to upgrade. Search youtube for "cnc router tiling". You wouldn't be the first to do so...
