Ok, on the advice of Jazz, I've decided to start a Build-Log. And those of you old enough will know why I've called it BIG RAT

Anyway, I hadn't really thought of doing this as construction of anything still seems a long way off, but as Jazz said a BL is a good way of keeping all related content and stupid questions together, 'stupid' is my addition, not jazz's ;-)

Like most people, I've been lurking for quite a while and whilst I feel I'm starting to get an idea of what I want, it seems that my path diverges upon the turn of every corner and I'm left feeling overwhelmed at the complexity of making so many decisions.

I've been following AndyUK's build log with extreme interest and that seems to be the sort of machine I would be happy to end up with. Ideally, I'd like a machine that has a cutting capacity of 1.2m X 0.8m but I'm also looking at the possibility of using it for Aluminium (I'd like to be able to use it to machine any parts and plates for future machines/upgrades) but I'm worried that in trying to make the machine at this particular size, that I'll end up compromising things and that it will do neither well unless I throw a lot of money at it. Whilst money is not too much of an issue, if I can keep the overall spend under £2k that would be good. More than that and it'll start to eat into my other interests.

So, off we go

For a floor standing machine, what sort of height should I be aiming for the main supporting frame/structure. i.e how far from the floor do most people make the actual bed of their machines?

Now I know that no 2 of us are built the same and what's suitable for someone who's 6'6" won't be approprite for Peter Dinklage, but I'm a pretty average 5'10" so what would be a good height to choose? What heights do those of you who are around that height use, and use comfortably?

Cheers