Hi all- been lurking around the forums and have been impressed by the builds people are doing/ have done-!

liking the idea of a vertical space saving machine-!!

My build is an 8x4 cutting area- router at the moment-

looking at a cncusb card, steppers digital drivers, running on hiwin rails (25mm i think) driven via rack and pinion- maybe with a drivebelt reduction- with a decent spindle- maybe with tool changer in the future.

bed-wise- was thinking of a tnut affair with a 25mm mdf sacfrificial bed, routed to create a home made vac table.

on a welded steel frame, with the y maybe being an ali extrusion

main questions are-

are ball screws better than rack and pinion for the motion?

whats the best size steppers to use- was looking at nema 23's? http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/sy57...otor-p-38.html

is there a cheap but good source of hiwin rail?

does anyone have a list of ALL the electronics needed for a build like this- ie limits, tool height etc, or anyone fancy specifying the job?!! coz theres so many differing opinions/ suppliers out there- to be honest ts confusing me-!!!

think thats about it ...for now...!!

George