Large CNC routers What brand to convert

So your saying portability may be an issue? LOL.

Unless you have a 20 foot pocket it wont fit... That thing is 19 foot long.

I work with a number of big Komo routers at work. They are some of the best heavy duty industrial routers made. But they aren't all that cheap and almost always have Fanuc controls, so aren't the easiest machines to retrofit to Linuxcnc.

A few years ago we scrapped an old Heian 4ft x 8ft table machine. It was super heavy and with the right spindle would have been heavy enough to mill just about anything. It was still working when we junked it. But it's 4x8 table (we run 5x10 panels mostly) and ancient/slow Fanuc control was just too obsolete.

Some other older heavy routers are Shoda, Northwood, CMS.

A lot of these old heavy machines can be picked up for 3-10k in working condition. The problem is moving them, when they weigh 15-20k lbs.

The problem is the wood working industry moved away from these heavy style machines about 25yrs ago to much cheaper lighter faster ones. No one wants these old dinosaurs anymore. Which is good if you do want one and can find someone selling, the prices are usually pretty low. Most of them cost well over $100k new 30ish years ago.

A quick look on ebay shows this very nice Heian, about 16yrs newer than the one we junked.
www.ebay.com/itm/285401887676
an older Komo
www.ebay.com/itm/134648179611
 

if you are in the US, check HGR frequently. they don't have a lot of wood working, but there are occasionally scm, beisse, etc machines for scrap value. Where i live in Canada biesse machines show up often for $1000-$5000, usually equipped with an HSD atc spindle, sometimes 2 and 2 vacuum pumps worth $10000 by themselves. The are exceptional value if you have space and an extra $2000 to have them delivered.

Rover 3** machines are the cheapest and oldest, but also really huge because the Y moves like a ram. The smaller rover 13/18 etc are nice, but some don't do a full 4 ft cross. Note that the aggregate head also "limits" travel if you want all tools to real all corners of the work. they spec sheets available on holschmann (sp?) will usually outline exactly what you get in stock form. Older Biesse machines use analogue yaskawa servos, so they can often be kept in a retrofit. They do not have the precision and response for high dynamics though as these machines were set up for high speed straight line movement. Some have 50mm pitch ball screws.

SCM machines are one to look for as well, because they use a ball screw for the X, and not a rack and pinion. So potentially they are more precise and easier to work with. They usually cost more though. Also be wary of the toothed hirth coupling on some scm family ISO30 spindles. (morbidelli and busolato usually).