Know I'm probably whacko even thinking of doing this in this way, and my Scot's blood rankles against using hard earned dosh that is rapidly dwindling in the absence of any foreseeable income, but....

I have read enough around this recently to already feel somewhat overwhelmed, so that's a challenge to be won!

I don't currently have access to anything like a proper workspace, as I'm currently living in my touring caravan (long story that I'm not going to explain here).

One corner-ish (1300 x 900) of the caravan will be allocated as workspace to get everything assembled and (ostensibly) working, and I obviously need to invest in a few more tools, and build a small wooden bench thingy.

I don't intend creating any sawdust in the caravan for obvious reasons, but reckon wee amounts of nice clean aluminium swarf can be reasonably contained and won't do too much harm.

This machine will probably only be used in real anger after I hopefully get to emigrate downunder to join my kids in Oz in a couple of years.

So far I have only done tutorial-1 on Sketchup so please excuse lack of plans or level of plan detail initially.

My hope is that the build will help me retain what is left of my sanity, but am also a tad worried that it may actually have the opposite effect, as it's already got my staying awake until morning birdsong!


Requirements:

1. To be used primarily as a hobby machine, but the way worldwide income prospects are looking in my field (IT-technical-mainframe-software-old-fart) who knows, this machine may even help provide some income in future.

2. Mainly to be used for routing/drilling wood, but poly-plastics and smallish pieces of aluminium for making woodworking jig-thingies is bound to follow although less frequently than wood.

3. Needs to allow for machining the top faces of pieces of wood up to around 100mm thick, as might be used for making workbench legs.

4. Tool cutting area, measured tool centre to centre, needs to be 600mm wide but the length is less important... maximum 900mm would be nice... but I still have to define this within my limited workspace, considering rigidity and the cost of available rails and drivescrews, etc..

5. Needs to be able to machine the top edge of boards that are clamped upright at the end of the X-Axis to allow for cutting of matching (M&T / finger / dovetail) joints.

6. Fixed-Bed and Moving-Gantry machine with 3 Axes initially and speed is not that important for the initial build, though it would obviously be a nice to have.


Thanks to the advice already received on this forum I feel my understanding has already advanced in leaps and bounds from where I was 4 days ago thinking of doing a build in MDF with unsupported rails and M8 drivescrews.

Very recent additions to my vocabulary (not to suggesting my understanding is correct) include Profile-Linear-Rails, Supported-Linear-Rails, Ball-Screws, Trapezoidal-Screws, Acme-Screws, Backlash, Whipping, Resonance, Chattering, Breakout-Boards, Stepper-Drivers, Stepper-Motors, Mach3, G-Code, and others.

My next post will hopefully have defined the hardware and components to be used, only after I've spoken to a helpful gent near Wakefield to help guide me in the right direction.

Cheers,
Andy