round rails

[JoeHarris]

I know I'm a bit late to add my 2p worth but I started out and more or less completely drew up an mdf machine before I started reading threads on this site and I think the wood bashing is very justified! Even on a tight budget steel Ali and 'proper' bearings make sense. I got change from £30 for 1500mm sbr20 rails from china - by the time you have bought Ali angles and skate bearings you have spent that... For a comparably rubbish set up. To me it's a no brainer!

[martin54]

I know I'm a bit late to add my 2p worth but I started out and more or less completely drew up an mdf machine before I started reading threads on this site and I think the wood bashing is very justified! Even on a tight budget steel Ali and 'proper' bearings make sense. I got change from £30 for 1500mm sbr20 rails from china - by the time you have bought Ali angles and skate bearings you have spent that... For a comparably rubbish set up. To me it's a no brainer!

Not quite sure where you shop Joe but it cost me about 30 squid for the ally & bearings for all 3 axis on a 4' x 2' MDF machine. For what you spent on your rails I bought everything needed to build the machine & had enough change for a fish supper or two. Excluding the electronics of course which pushed the cost of the machine through the roof by comparison.

Depends what you want to do with it really but the total cost of the machine worked out to about £600. I know a guy that has been using one for about 9 months now & thinks it's great, does everything he needs it to without problems. OK it's not used on a regular basis & it's not used for any heavy cutting which would be beyond it's capabilities but it's OK for what he needs.

Only reason I changed my mind was because I wanted to be able to cut materials that the MDF machine wouldn't be able to cope with.