John thanks for the information and also Geoff as that clears up a bit. I have some folks back in the US that are using bearings on ground rail (grey iron basically) to do the job of the round rail and they say that they are getting good enough precession for the work they do with it (cabinet and one off pieces for themselves and clients/family/friends). So for some one looking for a basic machine with a reasonable spindle and only need to worry about changing out the driver boards this looks like something to get going with.

Need to set up a design of what they are using and let you folks look at it as it is interesting.

Michael