I am currently using 2 4x8 Gerber cncs. One is about 17 years old. The second is about 10 years old. I keep with all maintenance and use OEM parts regularly.

I seem to be having all kinds of issues pop up that cut my production down by 50% when one machine is out of service. Very frustrating as it can take up to 4 hours to get a return call from the service tech.

My question, is what is the expected life of these machines? Am I pushing it too far with the ones I have?

What are others experiences concerning the life of the CNC machines?

I started with a Gerber.

Decent enough, but light - primarily for signmaking.

Whats issues are you having? I regularly had to deal with linear bearings and lead screws.

Lead screws, lead screw nuts, drive controls (lately).

It just seems that every time I turn around there is something else going wrong. Of course, all of their parts are exclusive to them, so it is always at least $2,000 each time.

Am looking at replacing them with something else. Just wondering if what I am experiencing is normal.

I would say it is time to move on. Especially with the 17 year old machine. I would hope by now you got your money out of it.

If it costs as much as you say to keep it going, it's down all the time and you have to spend hours and hours trying to get it fixed you are not doing yourself any favors

I bought a Python XR from the cnc factory. It loads and unloads itself, cleans its table between sheets. They provide me awesome customer service and they have a great financing program. You should give them a call if you are shopping around. I have been a new owner of a cnc, so I dont have any advice over older cnc issues, but saw that maybe you were ready to make a change.

You have answered your own question.
You have 2 machines that are down half the time and you regularly spend $2 grand on them.
Buy 1 new machine that is up 99.9% of time with payment of less than $2grand. Use time you worked on machine for more profitable work. Make more money.

We have a couple of of Gerber Sabers a 408 and a 404. They are both about 20 years old. We used to have to replace the Y axis lead screw about every 2 years on our 408. (the 404 gets much better screw life).
I agree they are light duty machines. Reasonably good for what they are. But if you are using them for a lot of heavy plywood milling, I'd recommend getting something heavier duty. (And the Gerber software sucks.)

The single biggest improvement I've made to our 408 was to replace the factory lead screw for the Y axis with a custom ball screw from Hiwin. The ball screw cost me 2/3 what the oe lead screw did, works much better (less load on the servo) and has been trouble free since I installed it 9 years ago.

One other maintenance issue, make sure that the servo cables running under the table are not dragging on ground or rubbing on anything. It will ruin you day when they wear out.

Here is a PDF of what I ordered.
I remembered the cost wrong, it was a little less than $600. about 1/3 the cost of oe.

Things I had to do to install it,
1st make an adapter from the mounting flange of a worn out lead screw nut to bolt the ball screw's nut up.
2nd cut a slot in the cross piece under the bridge for clearance for the grease zerk on the nut to spin.

I grease it every couple of months.

Click the link below to download the file included with this post.

C_PGD_09_01_NC.pdf