Hi All,

I have been merrily getting my fill regarding all things CNC, and the fact that these incredible machines can be ran by hobbyists in their garage - I'd always envisaged an engineering degree and 3 phase as a bear minimum!

I am in no way qualified, am an office monkey but am a keen motorcyclist and built my own locost "kit" car a few years back, so I'm not completely ignorant, but do have loads to learn.

After much reading via google, I stumbled across this treasure trove of a forum, so I have registered.

I would love a Tormach CNC Mill, but having done the maths on the $ to £ and import duty/VAT that seems a long way off happening - it would already have been eye watering even if the pound was as strong as it was a few years back, so have been trying to find suitable 2nd hand hobby machines that are accessible to a novice in terms of software and setup whilst having the ability to grow with my skills/ambitions.

I aim to make motorcycle parts from alu mostly, but would also love to be able to build the parts from steel for a largish cnc router (for woodwork able to take large plywood sheets ideally) - though that is by no means a deal breaker.

I have seen a nice Denford Novamill, but I think these use proprietary software which is hard to convert over to more modern packages - I read one conversion thread with wiring diagrams that blew my mind - I'd kill myself even attempting that with anything plugged into the mains!

In terms of requirements, I'd love to sense check them with the collective brains on here:

  1. domestic electric
  2. mach3 ready or similar (plug and play - no conversions etc.)
  3. solid, reliable machine (so probably not one of the cheap chinese machines I am seeing on ebay?)
  4. A common choice so I can benefit from the widest collective experience


So, after reading my intro, and my requirements, can anyone offer more requirements I have missed, give me a helpful steer towards suitable machines and a rough idea on budget to get up and running?

Thanks in advance!