Hello from the South West

[Asdic]

Good evening all,

I have been interested in learning about CNC but as a complete noob I really do not know where to start. To that end I will be reading most of the posts to try and get my head around all the information available so I can as reasonable questions, and I have no doubt a few obvious ones. I am not an engineer but I do have my own woodworking shed; ultimately I am not looking for a huge machine just something around 450mm x 300mm x 150mm ish.

[EddyCurrent]

Asdic, welcome, with a handle like that and Plymouth you must be a seafarer or an ex one ?
Regarding the size of machine, up to a limit the size does not add much more to the cost, for example the electronics are the same it's just the mechanical parts so if you would rather have a machine that's a bit bigger you should go for that instead.

[Neale]

Hello and welcome. I live about 20miles east of Plymouth, and currently using a "quick build" router made of MDF. If you have a couple of hours to spare, I could list just a few of the deficiencies of MDF as a structural material! Currently designing the Mk2 which will also be around 1200x600 cutting area but this time of steel. I don't have the experience of a number of the contributors to this forum but I do have a background in electronics, computing and model engineering (and I can claim to have built both a working CNC router and a 3D printer) and happy to compare notes some time. You aren't a welder, by any chance? Bit of a skills gap that I need to fill for my next machine!