Hi Scjb. Unfortunately as is the way with new toys - life finds other things to throw in and eat up the time - things that SWMBO might describe as "more important than your bloody machines" :-)! I did sneak in to the workshop two weekends ago and turned out an Aztec/Mayan calendar. It's quite an intricate carving which despite the speed of the machine still took about 4 hours. I've also sneaked in a couple more house signs in the oak SWMBO bought me. It's Nice stuff to work with - but for oak is lacking a bit of density which can lead to chipping on raised detail. Still not put any metals in yet but hopefully I'll have more time over the next few months.

I'm pretty sure I did turn off all the power saving features of the laptop - there were certainly no problems on the 4 hour run. My intention is to swap in a 'proper' PC eventually - just need to install windows on one of the old boxes that are lying about but again - it's a time thing. For me this is a hobby so other things tend to scupper my plans to spend endless hours in the workshop with only the machine and a bottle or two of brown ale for company...