How we check a supplier

Who are we actually buying from

We establish whether the seller manufactures the machine or resells it, how long the business registration has existed, and whether the address is a factory or an office. Trading companies are not a problem in themselves — many are good — but you should know which you are dealing with, because it decides who can answer a technical question.

Where a seller will not answer that, we report that they would not, rather than filling the gap with an assumption.

Which machine is actually in the box

• The current revision, and whether the listing photographs match it.
• Frame material and section, confirmed in writing rather than inferred from a picture.
• Screws and rails, by type and size.
• Spindle make, power, cooling and collet system, with the VFD model.
• Controller and firmware, and what software it works with.
• Crated weight — which we cross-check against the freight quote, because those two numbers agreeing is itself a verification.

Test cuts

For anything metal-capable we recommend a test cut in your material before shipping: your alloy, a stated cutter, recorded RPM, feed and depth of cut, and the finished part measured and photographed.

It is the only evidence that settles the question a specification cannot. It costs a little and it is cheaper than a machine on a ship that cannot do the job.

What we label and how

• Verified — we saw it, measured it or have it in writing from the manufacturer.
• Supplier states — the seller told us, and we are passing it on as their claim rather than ours.
• Unconfirmed — we asked and did not get a straight answer.

What we will not do

We will not describe a trading company as a factory, present a supplier claim as a measurement, or imply a compliance file exists when we have not seen one.

Where the honest answer is that a machine will not do what you want, we say so before quoting rather than after delivering.