Hello from a lurker...

[Jonathan]

From the images you've posted it's clear that your machine has quite a lot of backlash, so you definitely want to eliminate this by using ballscrews on your next machine.

I agree that £400 is pricey for some bits of plywood, but thought it was reasonable considering the R&D work that had been put into the design.

What R&D! If they'd done any R&D then it wouldn't be made from plywood. If you consider it worth paying for R&D, then just look at the build logs on this forum and you'll find all the information you need. I've recently posted about a machine I made, and I will upload the drawings/plans to the post very soon. No I'm not charging for it as it's all information you can get for nothing if you're prepared to spend a little time reading the forums. Charging for it would be like charging people to read this website...