About a year ago I built a CNC out of plywood on a very limited budget (£450) It was possible but not easy having a grounding in electronics and computer programming (30 years experience) and a small metal working lathe helped not a small amount. At the time SWMBO would not allow a larger budget, all very political (divorce was mentioned) but that was the budget.

It was based on a plan by sidewinder CNC (see Youtube) but was extensively modified the eventual size was 1600x700mm. I used roller skate bearings for the guide bearings with machined plastic covers for the V bearing, these ran on aluminium angle rails. I did not skimp on the steppers Nema 24 from Zapp Automation and an 8 amp linear PSU. The drivers and BOB were from Luc Degrande these come as kits the drivers use the THB6064AH chip. It's necessary to build the kit from scratch onto the supplied circuit boards.

I used a POF 500 1/4 inch Bosch router for the spindle along with an assortment of connectors and fittings from Zapp and I blew the budget having to buy Mach3 total £500

All in all exceptionally successful or at least it proved it worked and I produced some really good results in wood. Since then this thing has been upgraded using supported rail and a lot of stiffening but it is still basically a wood unit.

Anyway I hope to share a some of my limited experience and hopefully learn a lot.

Cheers

Dave