Hi Jazz

Its would have been nice to have even more for my money but I already got a lot for £4.5k.

Commercially I couldn't find a better deal. Even shipping a Chinese machine would have been more expensive after shipping and taxes.

Here's a couple of examples I looked at:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leasing-De...ht_1330wt_1396
Marchant Dice were wanting £5.5k for this desktop model with no base or enclosure, no hiwin on the X, no Dual steppers on the X, smaller alu profiles, smaller cutting area.

http://cnc-step.de/en/products-cnc-r...lling-machines
The closest spec Heiz machine is the S-1400/T at around £8k once you add the base but its still not as well specified. It has awkward bed size that doesn't accept 4x4ft, there's unsupported rails on the Z and Y, no enclosure, and I'd say its generally of a lighter construction.

Did I mention that £4.5k also included delivery on the back of a HGV? That had to have cost around £200-300. The old man is HGV driver and they don't work for nothing. I consider your comments very useful and food for thought. Maybe strike will integrate the suggestions as standard but there's no denying the price would go up.

As for my machine I consider it a starting point. Looking at the Z axis its relatively easy to replace the unsupported rails with hiwin. Its a matter of carefully measuring, marking and then drilling and tapping a few dozen holes. So its not like I'm stuck with this forever. You suggestions to firm up the table are good one's and could be done easily too. For now I'm going to use what I have and as I start to feel the need to upgrade things I've got that option, especially with folks like yourself who have a lot of knowledge in this area.

Would it possible to visit you Jazz? Or someone else near Chesterfield to chat about these things and look at your setup? I know very little and that would be a huge boost for me.

EDIT: Thanks for the comment on the speakers :)