Replaces a standard 3018 love it

Great little machine. Having CNC knowledge makes this machine a breeze to run. After finding some programs online to design and post programs I have found this unit useful. It isn't very rigid, but that's where lighter cuts come in.

Small, but no toy and very professional.
Be sure to lubricate it correctly.

I had a few problems with the control board in the beginning, but the seller was quick to fix the problem by shipping a replacement.

Don't buy this if you really don't know what you're getting into.

I'll grant that if you take your time, exhibit some foresight, and pay attention to detail, this will assemble into a very sturdy and capable little machine. Understand that it is SMALL, with a work envelope only about 6"x12"x2". That's about the size of one low shoe. Understand, too, that you might be brickwalled by the CAM used to control it from your PC; there aren't very many inexpensive or free options out there, the most popular being Candle(BRBL) 1.1.7... which absolutely refuses to run on any computer I own (and I own a LOT of computers). Next best candidate is LinuxCNC, which also also refuses to run on any Linux machine I own. I'm experimenting with UGS, and it looks promising. Fortunately, you can also use nearly any CAM to generate gcode and transfer it to the CNC router with a MicroSD card, using the tiny "offline controller" to make it run.

Speaking of which...you should be aware that the "offline controller" is tiny. It's much smaller than you think it should be. The little screen, for example, is only about 1" diagonal and the overall size is only about the same as one deck of playing cards. You can use a Fresnel lens to magnify the display, though, and later you can add a much larger scale offline controller.

You will find that this little machine really begs to be upgraded in many regards. You'll want to change out the solid motor-to-screw couplings early on to flexible couplings, and replace the linear bearings with polymer ones, and absolutely add dual limit switches to every axis. You should really consider replacing the spindle motor with a larger one, say 500W, which will require a larger spindle mount to match... and you might want a taller Z axis gantry and spindle carrier system... but that latter is much lower priority than the rest.

It's a neat little machine for the price. It's not a drop-in, idiotproof machine but it's also not a complete turd. You might get lucky and be able to run Candle (or something like it) on your computer, which will make your life easier. Just don't expect much. After all, it's not very expensive.

Do I regret having bought one? No. It'll give me lots of tinkering time, which I prize. I'd rather have bought this than a prebuilt shoo-in machine that costs ten times as much money.