ok, first attempt using sketchup 8

[deannos]

Regards that Pic you posted I'm pritty I've seen that before and it was actually built to cut stone.?? . . . . But don't quote on that!!. . . . But I've certainly seen one built the same that was cutting stone and it actually came up for sale on Ebay.

Jazz,
I found this on cnczone and reading his posts i think you are correct and it was used for cutting stone, he was in Indonesia. If i chose the earlier option of 2 box sections sandwiched between plate, would it be ok to use 10mm plate and use 20mm on the Z axis only. Just want to weight up all the options at the moment.

Just out of interest, i'm looking at using 1605 and 2005 ball screws, belts and pulleys if possible. I had a go at the weekend cutting the infamous Aztec/Mayan calendar, approx 12" size, after 3 hours i had cut less than a 1/5th. How much faster roughly would using ball screws make a difference.