I only glanced through the responses, but I will tell you this. I love my Zenbot. It is exactly what I needed, which was a learning machine that did what you told it. I am sure I will be able to use it for many years to do many different little things, but I'm already thinking about my next machine.
It does have a lot of limitations, which I'm not sure if not having them made it easier to learn on or harder. For example, no limit switches (I'll get around to adding them someday). I even put it together "backwards" and could not figure out why my movement was going the "wrong direction". Ha ha. I have a rotozip. I think it is underpowered, but the machine is fast enough to make an extra pass.
I really need a good system for holding stuff down, which I can certainly buy and build, but it takes time and cost money. That is why it is cheap. No frills!
I want to get a 4x8 with a vacuum table. If the maker of the Zenbot will build me one I would consider buying it.
I learned to use g-code with Mach 3 on this machine. It would have been a waste for me to spend 10's of thousands of dollars to do that.
Where I am now is "do I purchase Aspire or Vcarve?" Wouldn't that be something if I buy Aspire...I would have more into the software than the cutter (which I would have to correct with a much larger machine quickly). I'm glad my wife does not read this forum.
PM me if you want any additional info on my personal experience.
Garrick D. Crocker
Gainesville, Fl
PowerSharp 16 w/rotary
Corel X3
Zenbot, Mach 3, VCarve
48" ValueJet, 54" Vinyl Cutter