Quote Originally Posted by Voicecoil View Post
As no-one else has chipped in, I'll try and help as much as my limited knowledge allows. Regarding work area, you need to read machine specs carefully to find out exactly what the usable cutting area is - some machines seem to get the numbers in their name from something like the total bed size, not the usable cutting area . As most tend to be longer than they are wide it's likely that you'll end up with something like a "60/90" to be able to work at 60 x 60 cm, but it's not definite, there are some machines with a squarer aspect ratio, and some much longer. The only machine I have personal experience of in this size range is an Isel that a good friend of mine in Scotland runs, it's proven to be an excellent bit of kit over a number of years, but wasn't cheap, about £11K IIRC. General comment is to avoid the cheap Chinese things you see all over eBay for £2500 ish, they're poorly designed and often need a lot of fettling to get them to work accurately. Before I decided to embark upon making my own machine, a couple of the outfits I briefly looked at were Rhonmac in Wales and then Stoney CNC who are agents for a number of brands, though I didn't get to actually try out machines from either.
Thanks Voicecoil, that is a very useful pointer, much appreciated. I have of course been seduced by seeing various videos of folk building sub £2k Chinese machines, but suspect possible product endorsement incentives. I'll look into Rhonmac and Stoney CNC, thanks for the steer.

Kicking myself that I missed the Woodworking show at the NEC in October......