I went to the Pacific Coast Machine Tool Expo today, for the first time in a few years.
It was in the usual space... but combined with the Northern California Facilities Expo, which actually took up the majority of the hall. The machine-tool part was just off to the side.
There was a little interesting stuff there, but mostly it was supplies; the machinery on display was big-ticket stuff.
As I was mainly wanting to look at benchtop fab equipment - small, low-budget 3D printers and CNC milling machines - this was disappointing.
And it had been such a big interesting show in past years....
The absence of the benchtop stuff this year may be a sign that the middle has fallen out; the companies that make and distribute such things just don't have the budget for trade shows. I guess, if I had the floor space, I could probably pick up a full-blown CNC machining center, slightly used, for less than a good new benchtop unit. But I don't have the floor space!
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