Hey guys new member. advice needed

[Kitwn]

One route you might take is to concentrate your funds on the mechanical hardware to begin with, build a solid frame and use appropriate motors and drivers as jazz suggests, but get started using a cheap controller using Linuxcnc on an old windows XP era compute with a parallel port if you can find one gathering dust and a cheap breakout board. This arangement is cheap enough to consider it expendable and you will be able to test your machine while choosing your preferred controller and saving up the cash.

Linuxcnc can be a bit daunting if you want to add bells and whistles but for a vanilla set-up it's very easy to get going using the included wizards.

[tankproof2]

Yes ok, I can see the logic in that, but just how much £££ do I need to make a good frame? Is 1200£ even enough?

[Clive S]

Yes ok, I can see the logic in that, but just how much £££ do I need to make a good frame? Is 1200£ even enough?

Don't get despondent. This is a good forum and you will get help.

But first try and help yourself by reading some of the great build logs on here, there are plenty on them.

Draw the frame up in CAD and ask for criticism. You will need to lean CAD anyway.

Linuxcnc with a P/port is very doable and is free, the BOB (breakout board) £5-6 on ebay. That alone will save you a chunk on money. For a simple basic machine linuxcnc can be set up in 15 mins.

But don't buy kits of part as they are never matched up. We can point you to the best places to buy the rails ball screws etc.

Start with the frame.