Old Newbie

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Angler, (guess you're into fishing ...Lol)

Plenty of retired builders on here who have built some great machines with plenty of experience to share.
Don't be afraid to ask what you think are dumb questions because we encourage it here as there is only one dumb question, yes the one you don't ask.!

My advice straight away is to start a build thread, doesn't matter that you don't have any plans or designs yet, just set out what you would like to build, usage, size, budget, etc and take it from there.
Ask ALL your questions in that thread rather than starting new threads asking questions on specific things, this way it saves you trawling back thru the forum in weeks or months time to find a suggestion or supplier someone may have suggested.

The best advice at this moment is DONT buy anything, NOT even a bolt or nut. DO lots of research to get an idea of the style of machine you would like then get straight into designing it or better still just straight out copy someone else's machine or parts of a machine that you like, nobody here will mind. If we did or more to the point " I my self" did more than half the machines on here wouldn't exist.

DON'T get bogged down with details like forces and FEA etc because the reality is that it's just not required at this level for a wood machine provided you don't build it out of spaghetti and use sensible materials.
Do try to design it in CAD if you can and to highest detail, you can as it will save you time and will catch potential problems before the build starts, however, it's not required and you can still build a very nice machine using paper n pencil, but the key point being is to have a plan and don't design as you build as it always works out bad or at best takes much longer and costs a lot more because your constantly re-doing things.

Good luck.

[Angler58]

Thank you for the advice Jazzcnc, my background pushes me to research and research before buying, always have done. Nice to know people won't get upset if you 'borrow' their ideas though. 👍