Other Builds - Pandora's Box

[A_Camera]

WoodKnot, just keep on posting pictures and messages. Don't let people kick you in the butt because they feel you are not fine enough for their standards. Let them ride on their high horses, who cares...? Some of these guys are really helpful AND have both experience and knowledge, so reading their posts and the comments they make for others can also be rewarding, but sadly, some just have their noses up in the clouds, but that's their problem.

Of course you should not go to the US site just because some people said so, but of course, feel free to be there as well. It is not just their workshops which are bigger, but also their site, for better or worse, there are many more members and many more subjects to discuss and the forum is livelier than here. So actually, even that forum can be used to gain knowledge and get help, especially if the "help" here is total silence or a bunch of negative, wrongly biased off topic comments, which happens more than once here.

Regarding Open Builds, many of them are not even aluminium extrusion based, but plywood and MDF and I think those guys also have great fun with their machines. As long as we know the limitations of our machines and capabilities... My own is also a "toy" based on extrusions, cheap ball screws and so on, however, it is definitely the most expensive (last time I checked was about 3-4k USD and heaviest (over 130kg now) machine I ever owned, but I know that it is VERY capable to do everything I made it for plus a lot more. So extrusions, cheap ball screws and your linear rails will indeed make up a nice machine in the end, I am sure of that. But buying cheap is still a bit of a gambling, though most of the time they are of good enough quality today, unlike 5-10 years ago.

So, good luck and continue.