Hi all,

My name is Argiris and I am from Athens, Greece. I am a pilot flying for Ryanair but also a hobbyist handy with power tools, computers and arduinos. My cnc experience is a scratch built 3d printer so basically a total newb.

Having my month off in coming January I was all set to build the Joe's cnc evolution machine.

The idea was to build a cnc router for personal use in a small farm in Corfu island that it will be able to cut a full plywood sheet but also be able to do some slow and rough cuttings in aluminum and maybe steel(small parts).

The base was to be welded steel tube and x,y-axis aluminum extrusions with angle iron bolted on them and v bearings
sliding on the angle iron.

Searching for epoxy leveling I run in to your forum and it is like a hard reset pressed. I have to start all over again by reading and learning all the new things in this forum but at the same time I don't want my month off to go by so I would like to build the base .

Can you please clarify few things for me so I will be on the right track?

Do I need to go that big on the y-axis(long axis) to cut a large piece of plywood or can I do it in 2 steps keeping the long axis shorter ? In that case what size of cutting area is recommended? Would I gain benefits by keeping it short as far as rigidness and no need for rack and pinion?

Rough cutting aluminum and steel is it doable or I should forget about it? Even at very slow speeds.

Would I go ahead and build the base based on one of your proven designs thus taking advantage of my month off and think of the rest later when I will have more time reading and learning from you? Meaning step by step from ground up.

Meanwhile I spoke to Vagelis(ba99297) member of your forum and he is already being a great help.

Thank you all for your time and forgive my ignorance.

Argiris