What we buy
Machines, tooling and the parts that make them work
We buy desktop CNC machines and everything around them from 1688, Taobao and the factories behind them. This page is about scope: what each category actually demands of a buyer, and the orders we decline.
The categories
These are not shelves in a shop. They are grouped by what goes wrong, because that is what decides how an order has to be run.
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CNC routers that cut aluminium
A machine that cuts aluminium and a machine that cuts wood can look identical in a photograph and differ by a factor of ten in stiffness. Aluminium does not forgive a flexible frame: the cutter deflects, the chip reloads, and the end mill snaps.
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Desktop CNC routers
Desktop CNC is not one category. It runs from a 200-dollar aluminium-extrusion kit that engraves plastic to a 300kg benchtop mill that takes a real cut in steel, and the names on the listings do not tell them apart.
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CNC router kits
A kit is not a discounted machine. It is a box of parts whose final accuracy depends on how well you square, shim and tune it — which is genuinely satisfying, and genuinely a weekend.
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CNC router spindles
The spindle is the single upgrade that changes what a desktop machine can cut, and it is also the component whose specification is most often decorative.
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CNC cutters and end mills
The cutter is the cheapest part of the machine and the one that decides most of the result. It is also where a desktop machine most often fails: the wrong geometry in aluminium will weld chips to the flutes and break the tool in seconds.
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Hobby CNC routers
At the hobby end, price tracks rigidity almost linearly, and rigidity decides everything else. Knowing which band you are buying into saves a lot of disappointment.
What each one really demands
| Category | The thing that fails | What settles it before the money moves |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop routers | A frame that flexes under the cut the buyer bought it for — invisible in every listing photograph | Frame material and section, crated weight cross-checked against the freight quote, screw and rail type, and a test cut in your material |
| Benchtop mills | Envelope and Z clearance quoted as table size, so the part does not fit under the head with a tool in it | Travel with workholding in place, clearance under the gantry or head, spindle taper, and the electrical supply it expects |
| Machine kits | A packing list that is shorter than the photographs imply, and documentation behind a dead link | The itemised packing list before purchase, the actual build instructions in a language you read, and upgrades folded into the order rather than fitted later |
| Spindles | A rated power figure measured where you will never run, and a VFD nobody configured | Torque at your working RPM, runout measured at a stated distance, collet system, mount diameter, and the VFD parameters written down |
| Cutters | Batch-to-batch variation, and a shank diameter that does not match the collet you own | A measured sample before the quantity: diameter, runout and edge quality, with geometry and coating chosen for the material rather than the price |
| Hobby machines | An upgrade path that does not exist, because the frame is the limit and no part fixes a frame | An honest band assignment, including when your material needs a class above your budget, and which upgrades must be decided at purchase |
Outside the categories
The six above are where we have done the most work, not a fence. Linear rails, ballscrews, couplers, stepper and servo kits, controllers and breakout boards, rotary fourth axes, vices and fixture plates, enclosures, dust extraction and mist coolant, laser and plasma add-ons — all of it runs through the same process. What changes is which checks apply, and we establish that before quoting rather than after.
What we turn down
Saying this plainly is cheaper for both of us than finding out at the border, or in an accident report.
- A machine that cannot do the job you described. If your material needs a class above your budget we will say so and decline the order rather than sell you the budget and let the machine disappoint you.
- Compliance we cannot evidence. Where your market requires a machinery or equipment-authorisation file and no supplier in the category holds one, the honest answer is that the order should not happen — not that we will try. We will never imply a file exists that we have not seen.
- Someone else's brand. A machine or a part carrying a third-party logo without the rights holder's permission is seized rather than returned, and the seller is not the one who loses it.
- Goods no route will carry. Some coolants and cutting fluids, and loose lithium cells above certain ratings. We will tell you this before you have spent anything.
Quantities
A machine is an order of one and that is entirely normal here. For tooling and spares the floor comes from the supplier, and on cutters it is usually worth buying a measured sample first and the quantity second — the spread between suppliers on an unbranded end mill is wide, and so is the spread between two batches from the same one.
Not sure what you need?
Describe the part instead of the machine. Working out what will cut it, and telling you honestly if that is more machine than you were planning to buy, costs nothing.
Get a quote