Hi Martin , Yes, I'm building a kit, well I will be when the new version is released, Its a kit from CNC routerparts, working tabkle size of 48"x48". Iv'e spoken with the Owner Ahren about getting one imported and the best way of doing it avoiding HUGE shipping and her majesties thieving B.. (Ahem Customs) costs.
and he suggested sourcing Extrusion and such over here he even gave me a link to a supplier over in the UK and thats when he mentioned that he intended to release a Euro version of the existing kit using Series 8 extrusion.
thats the kit I'm holding off pulling the trigger on.

I'll be using the DIY electronics kit for CNC routerparts,which uses Gecko 203v's (which I believe are quite good?).
and Hopefully avoiding releasing the magic blue smoke that makes Electrickery not work anymore.

The main reason I'm going for a kit approach is the simple fact I'm pretty much clueless as to what I'd require to build a machine from scratch, granted I'm not that clueless as to what a machine is composed of, IE linear motion system etc.
But I fall down on the details, like, what the hell is an "insert random electronics term here!" and what does it do, which wire goes to that, come to mention it , what size wire should I be using for that?
You know, trivial details like those.

So I chose a kit build for peace of mind, and I'd rather build a machine where I know I've got whats required, I mean, its just like a Meccano kit, albeit a bloody big expensive one.
and I certainly have the confidence to built Kits and attack stuff with powertools.

It's the Dark arts of Electrickery that I'm hoping to Data Mine from you wonderful people on the interwebz.
and Hopefully in return, It may provide some enertainment for all involved.

On another note , ten minutes ago , my latest Ebay purchase just turned up, a HP XW6400 pc base unit, which is destined to be the brain of my machine.
5130 chipset, 2.33ghz dual core x 2 processors 4gb ram, no HD no O/S, £100 inc shipping.
Currently being tested with a spare 250gb drive and Windows 7 64bit OS.

I intend to either dig out my old XP 32bit OS or fork out for a cheap copy of Windows 7 32bit to run MACH on it.
Hopefully the touch screen I've ordered will be OK £30 untested, but worth a punt.
fingers crossed.


I'm building this project as a reward to me for packing in smoking, So far month and a bit of being smoke free, and my wallets not feeling the benefit, I'm just spending the money on shiney machine stuff instead of smoking it.

Ahwell

Rik.