New member interested in CNC Router

Hi

I joined a few years back after finding a post by JAZZCNC that finally enabled me to understand the relationship and roles of Motion Controllers, Break out Boards, Stepper Drivers etc. I’d bought at least two books prior to that point and still not found the answer...they contained solutions instead of principles.

Have been thinking about acquiring a small (ish) CNC router for some time (years). I started looking at the Stepcraft stuff, then the Workbee, then Routeout, CNC4YOU and lots of eBay sellers. I finally found the US AVID Benchtop series which seemed to tick all the boxes but is just too expensive to get to the UK.

I’m not totally averse to an element of DIY in building a machine. I have a Lathe and Milling Machine. At the same time I don’t want to spend months and months of sourcing parts and tinkering. A hardware kit to assemble and wire up may be the most I would want to do.

I’m recently retired from 30+ years in IT. Now I need to turn my time to restoring a ‘50s built 2 seat aircraft built from Wood with Fabric covering. It is destined to fly and falls within the category of aircraft administered by the LAA (Light Aircraft Association).

My target uses for CNC are Plywood (parts, jigs, mould construction for composite parts and tooling prototypes). Aluminium (Instrument Panels and sub panels). Foam (hard for composite moulds, soft for tool box inserts). Possibly acrylic plastic too. I think something around 600mm x 1000mm workspace would suit me best. I’m space constrained in a double garage.

The pictures of the new machines being produced by JAZZCNC look very interesting. I would appreciate a PM giving more information/options.

Thanks for reading, sorry it was so long....

Pete