The thread seems to have gone a little off topic but here's part 3 for the holiday season to keep you going...

Part 3 Missing you already.

The parts to join the two sections together arrived about a week later.
unfortunately, those four missing specialised nuts were not the only parts that were not sent in the main box: The bracket to attach the spindle was also absent and so were two extra colletts for the Kress.
just to add to the experience the mach3 software was also missing....killed in action maybe! ((Mach3, speed of sound? jet fighter?..ohhh please yourselves Frankie howerd))
It took a while to dawn on me that all these parts were not included, remember there was no packing list. Fortunately the original invoice had the software and Kress colletts listed but they most definately wasn't in the box of packaging, I know I emptied it onto the lounge floor several times!

After hoovering up the mess, I was back in my wife's good books!

I kept my calm and duly emailed a list of the missing parts and they added them to the package containing the specialised nuts.
I can't tell you if there's any more missing parts....'cos there's NO CHECK list! (you can add any expletives between the words NO and CHECK at your discretion!......I did!!

So after a short while, all the parts arrived and we set about joining the two main parts together. It didn't take long and all of a sudden it started to look like a CNC machine.

The most noticeable thing is how heavy it was becoming, which on the one hand is great as the weight provides rigidity essential for precision, the downside is it becomes awkward to move about.
This is not a problem of the design, its the consequence of having a large machine: the bigger they are the heavier they become and this will affect DIY and commercial units.
It really is surprising how much they weigh.:surprised:
Subsequently, adding the bed to the machine increased its weight even more, it was becoming increasingly difficult to move, and I started worrying about my back! I began to wonder if I could leave the bed off and add other bits whilst I could still move it.
In the end I did a number of dry runs, keeping the sequence in my mind, only to conclude that adding the bed now was the most sensible step as it didn't have to be turned on its side anymore.


Neo

Part 4 to follow