Hi, Mark. Paul seems a very friendly guy and has already offered of viewing of his machine, and when I get a chance I'll take him up on his offer. He also knows another guy who lives locally, so it seems there are quite a lot of people interested in the local area.

Regarding Chinese components, my gut feeling tells me to avoid buying controllers etc. with possibly poor service, badly written instructions, and little or no support. There seem to be some reasonable deals going from UK suppliers, who although they probably import from China themselves, will be able to give more advice and support if things go wrong. Having said that, I'm not averse to buying stepper motors or linear slides etc. which I'd feel a bit more confident about getting.