Hi all i have moved so far down the line with my first machine i thought i had better start putting pen to paper before its finished. i probably would have a story with a start and a finish and no middle otherwise. The aim was a machine with at least a 1200 x 600 bed and to utilise my rotozip. I thought i knew exactly why i wanted to build this at the start but the more you read and the more you find out it suddenly becomes an obsession (why?????).Most of the gear i have purchased from Ebay and local trade dealers and what i have so far is:

Controller - 5 axis all in one from china, 2amp per motor (£51)
Steppers - Astrosyn 23 nema single stack at 1.4 amp wired bi polar (4 for £50 ish)
Power supply - 3 x 24v 4.2 amp switch mode to be wired in parallel (£7.99 each)
Linear slides - Gear for all axis bought as job lot from china (£78)
Flange bearings - 2 screw (£18)
Lead - 12 x 3 trapazoidial 2 x 1m lengths(£15) - 1 more to get
20mm and 16mm round bar - local (£20)
Aluminium - Metal salvager (£15) - more about this to come
Cable track - 3 x 36" x 2" (£25)
EMC2 - (Free:dance:)
I meant to do a plan for this thing but after reading over and over again decided to just get on with it. i went to a salvager to see if i could pick up some ali sheet and came away with everything. The base was built with what i believe to be a an old frame from a machine of some sort. It is acentially a window frame blank and was close to my size i wanted. i had some 'T' slot from him as well.

this weekend so far i built up the X and started the Y. I hope to get some pics up soon.

Thanks to everybody that has contributed here as it has been an insperation to me. Keep up the good work.

Paul