Hi guys,

My name is Franco and I am a CNC machinist/general machinist from Lincoln, East Midlands.

The main machine I program/operate is an Maho Grazino GR400C Lathe. I also operate a Maho milling machine but the model number escapes me at the moment.

I love making and building things and I always have some kind of project on the go. I have a little workshop set up in my garage and I'm often messing around in there.

One of my hobbies is retro arcade gaming and I have a couple of Japanese 'Candy Cab' arcade machines and a small PCB library of games. I have a router table in my garage and I make a lot of plastic parts for Japanese cabinets for members of other forums.

I would love my own CNC router. There are so many things I would like to make and my own CNC machine would be amazing. I cannot build one now as we are currently saving up to buy our first house and I think it will be a couple of years before I can realistically build one.

In that time I plan on doing plenty of research and planning so that I am ready to go as soon as the time is right.

Its very early days of planning and things will most likely change but at the moment I am thinking of building a machine with a cutting area of approx 3000x1000mm. I would like to build a fairly accurate machine and I am prepared to spend a fair amount on building a decent one.

Whilst a CNC router would be great, a CNC laser would be amazing. I do a lot of acrylic work and having a CNC laser would be fantastic. Is is possible/practical to build a hybrid / dual use CNC router/laser?

Well I think that is enough waffle for now. I hope to pick your brains about many things and I hope I can also input some help and advice where I can.