Hello,

I'm an engineering Uni student who has been set a task to either; design, make and build a CNC machine, or buy one and have a use out of it (PCB engraving etc.)

Main problem no. 1 - We have an all in budget of £250.00
Main problem no. 2 - Between the 5 of us we have zero experience of CNC *things*

To date we have got a pre-made cnc machine from here;

http://www.q-gee-graphics.co.uk/MDF_...0_5867758.aspx

For 185 bucks..we managed to blag upgraded rail lengths and the leadscrews parts for free. lol

So we have 65 quid ish to get the machine to a running state.

We have been told that we can use nemas 17 and nemas 23 with the machine and the mounting holes are there. Another problem is how do we mount the motors, they did do motor mounts but they cost 25 quid a set!! So i think we can make them cheaper. Any ideas? We've had a think and after staring at the machine for 20 minutes decided we needed help lol.

From research this is what we think we need;

3 motors for the XYZ moving parts
driver boards for the motors that connect to paralelle port
some kind of power for the motors.

Can anyone help us in getting it running for the cheapest possible way? Can we use an old laptop power supply for the motors, if so what kind of power do we need.

Can we make out own driver boards?

And can we just use normal servo motors, or do they have to be these NEMA type?

Does anybody have any second hand parts that we can buy?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you all.