Hi, is it better to source your own parts or just get a kit

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Hi, is it better to source your own parts or just get a kit from inventables? Any other kit suppliers?

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Shapeoko 2 kit ftw

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For me when the ShapeOko 2 was announced I really wanted one, but I didnt want to wait till it was available. So I decided to build my own just going along with pictures, the wiki page and what other people had done. I also wanted mine to be 1000mm x 1000mm. I cant lie it was a challenge, but in the end I am very happy I did it, I know all the ins and outs of my machine. its probably way easier to just buy it, but for me learning about it was what I really wanted. Most of the parts I got from inventables, and openbuilds…since i knew these parts would work. the rest ebay, amazon, home depot and Ace Hardware. In the end I think I paid more for it, but thats just because I didn’t shop around for better prices. Also when I bought something I bought extra…just to have spares.

So after all that, to answer your question…is it better? Depends on what you consider better…i think it was better for me, I loved every moment of it.

Even all the times I was digging around under my worktable reaching for the M5 washer I just dropped.

J

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I found that buying the kit from Inventables was the way to go when I was researching mine about 1.5 yrs ago. Now I would also look at openbuilds. Specifically the OX as it seems like a really solid build (but no kit yet).

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By the time you wait for a mechanical kit (3-4 week lead time) you could self-source and be up and running. And you don’t have to follow the mechanical drawings to a ‘t’ - I’d take a look at the shapeoko forums to see what others have done in terms of construction variants…

Definitely have a look at the OX as well, it’s pretty sweet.

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thanks for the tips