Technically, the standard avid machine isn’t using v-wheels. They use custom linear carriages that each hold several standard radial bearings that ride directly on a piece of steel bolted to the gantry or side rail. The principle is the same. It is a wheel riding on an exposed surface and they tend to build up junk which can cause premature wear, surface finish and accuracy problems. They also are not as strong and have more slop that a linear rail with carriages. Avid’s implementation is probably slightly more rigid than a standard V wheel. Here is a picture I pulled from Avid’s installation instructions for the standard machine:
VS the pro machine that uses linear rail with carriages:
As a general rule, linear rail with carriages are more rigid because of their design. They also can have wipers built in that prevent debris from getting into the bearings. Another notable difference between the standard and the pro is the Z axis. The standard has an exposed lead screw and the pro uses a covered ball screw.
If you are confident in your ability to get a return on your investment and most of your work is larger than 4x4, then I would be even less likely to recommend anything less than the pro 4x8 with nema 34 electronics, 4hp plug and play spindle with the mount, homing sensors and the corner finding block. That comes out to about $13k from Avid. That doesn’t include your machine base, dust collection, control PC, tooling, waste-board and any workholding. We went with a DIY vacuum table for our machine. All in on our 5x10 pro (excluding the ATC spindle and setup) was somewhere between $25-30k after adding all that stuff plus some safety related bits. We have set up ours to do more production than it sounds like you are planning to do right now but I would still plan on spending 25-50% in addition to the cost of the kit in supportive stuff.
Thanks for all the feedback and additional info! Based on everything I’ve heard I feel confident that the kit I’ve got planned will be sufficient to do what I want. I’ve priced out everything except the 4" hose for the dust control system, the materials to build the table I plan to put this on, scrap surface, and minor bits needed to rig up a vacuum hose swing-arm.
So the Standard 4x8 kit, NEMA23, proximity sensors, corner/z kit, Porter 7518 3.25HP router, 7518 mount and tramming assembly, CAM software, AVID software, 1.5HP cannister filter dust system, woodworking bits, and ‘dust shoe’ budget - that puts me right at $10k (before tax & shipping).
The PC and any other bits to manage the system is a trivial thing, my household is tech heavy so I’ve got equipment to spare unless there’s some high-end workstation requirement to run the controller software. If that were true I can still swing that without extra cost, I would just need to shuffle a couple systems around.
It’s not quite what folk have recommended (and believe me I have heard you, any expansion of the shop and I can aim higher/more-beefy), but for the resources I have available to me right now I feel this can get me started and get the work done without putting me in debt.
I have more money invested in ISO30 tool holders than I do the base PRO60120 I purchased back in 2019. That is what an ATC does to you, puts you in the poor house
