Chris Economides of Radecal Machine Sales & Service (UK)

If you’ve been lucky enough to have my latest book, you’ll find a picture of the Eiffel Tower that Chris cut out on his massive format Aristomat GL 2032-8. He has also become a reseller for my books out in the UK in the process so he was thankfully keen on being interviewed here on CNCKingdom.com as well! You can visit them online at Radecal Machine Sales & Service.

Can you give me a little background about yourself and how you got into the CNC industry?

My “working for someone else background” was in Sales Management at a large computer superstore. I realised after a few years in this environment that even though I had been successful and well promoted and learned a lot I would never be happy dancing to someones tune, so left to start my own business.

I always had a love for creative design and artwork and used Corel Draw etc to design family artwork for printing and such. So in late 2002 alongside my brother who was also disenchanted in his job as a teacher we would start our own sign business. We began working from a small area in our friends unit who was a window tinting specialist. From there we rented our own small industrial space and within 1 year we steadily grew the business. Our enthusiasm and professional working attitude towards our clients meant our customers kept returning becoming our friends and our business grew enough for us to purchase our own 5500 sq ft unit in 2007.

How did Radecal Machine Sales & Service first get started and how much has it grown since it’s humble beginnings?

We realised that in order to move to the next step of getting larger corporate work we would need to invest in some capital equipment like CNC routers and Laser Cutters, however the prices we were getting quoted were well beyond our capabilities. So after further research and a few large deep breaths I found myself on a plane to Shanghai. I visited dozens of factories looking at different equipment related to the sign and print industry. I found 1 or 2 who I thought would be good to work with and we imported a CNC Router and cutter plotter at first. After testing these machines to excess for a period of 4/6 months we started to advertise them for sale.

It didn’t take long to realise that other companies throught the UK and Europe were in the same boat as we had been in.

Hence Radecal Machine & Service was born and formally incorporated in 2008.

You offer a wide variety of CNC machines, from finishing to laser, router to blade… but no 3D printers? Why?

We do offer a wide range of CNC equipment, but currently we are not selling 3D printers. We did however 5 years ago, we were dealers for Z Corp and found the market loved the machines and the idea of what they could do. However the price at that time was very restrictive and we bowed out of the market back then. We are again looking at revisiting the 3D printer market and should be listing them amongst our products within the next 6-12 months.

Why do companies buy CNC blade options over say a CNC laser or router? I know you can’t cut vinyl with a laser nor do thin materials with a router but are there any other reasons?

The question of why to buy a predominantly blade option machine (such as an Aristo) over a specific CNC router depends entirely on the material being processed. We find that customers working in the gasket market, for example, prefer to use oscillating blades as the finish is better. There is far less waste and mess, both cutting tables and CNC routers now come with options for spindles and blade cutting but again depending on your process the right machine for you is a very important decision to make. As we offer all of these options customers can now have demos on all this equipment under one roof and choose which fits their process best.

I know it took me a while to get myself up to speed with CNC lasers and routers and I only design and cut 6mm plywood! How do you manage to keep up to date with so many different machine types, applications and materials?

We keep up to date with different applications and materials through constantly demonstrating our kit to different companies with widely varying processing challenges.

Congrats on recently becoming an official VIVID reseller after becoming a dealer for Techno CNC earlier. How do you choose what machines to service and support? There are A LOT of CNC machine manufacturers both domestically and abroad especially from India and China.

We tend to work with companies who are developing their products regularly and have a liking for creative thinking.

I have to mention the awesome cutting job you did on my CNCKing.com Eiffel Tower a while back, it’s incredibly impressive and you toured the UK with it… what was the general reception? Did it open people’s eyes to what CNC machines are capable of in the right hands using the right operator?

The reception we got when showing off the Eiffel Tower was overwhelming. the number of people who asked, was this cut on a CNC machine or molded? How was it done, how long did the design take, how long for the cutting? How do you go about designing something like this? It definitely opened people’s eyes to the possibilities of what you can manufacture given the right imagination.

Jon: This is what I like most about CNCKing.com btw, opening people’s eyes to the possibilities of these awesome CNC machines!

What advice do you have for people interested in getting into machine sales and service? Do they need any specialized training before you’ll accept their resume?

My advice to anyone wanting to get into the field of machine sales & service, is simply: Love the products and what they do. If you have a genuine passion for CNCs and what you can do on them that’s half the battle. We do offer specialised training to staff on equipment after selecting the correct candidates for specific roles.

Anything else you’d like to add Chris?

Even after a long time in this market place I am still amazed at what can be achieved through creative design and a vivid imagination, I hope we can help develop this market place.

You can find Radecal Machine Sales & Service online at http://www.radecalmachinesales.com