I have had a couple of customized CNC machines custom built for a fraction of the price it would have cost to have it done over here. Even with the shipping costs it came out cheaper. And the people were really helpful, they use machines like mine all the time so they know their stuff. They offered really good advice and were excited to work with me. It's a bit butt clenching to fork over a lot of cash and hope a big ass pallet shows up 4 months later, but they've come through for me every time. YMMV.

Temu on the other hand can fuck off. It's just a scam site like Wish.

[–] LowtierComputer 39 points 1 month ago

I'd argue there's a huge difference from chintzy household tech and industrial machinery on AliExpress.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I mean yeah thats how it works if you outsource your work to low wage, low work safety countries. And the result is that the machine shop near you goes bankrupt and you are now dependent on large corporations that can wipe out whole business segments on a whim. Sometimes you just dont have a choice, but if you do, dont buy cheap stuff from far away or big corpos.