Hi Lee,

Thanks for the reply, it's good to see that these forums are active and so supportive of newbies like myself. Yes the camera dolly that I have made/ am making, includes a stepper motor that I got off eBay, and a cheap lead screw that I've purchased from a local DIY store. I'm driving it with an Arduino board and cheap driver circuit that I found on eBay. Basically it carries an SLR camera, and I have programmed the Arduino to drive the stepper motor by turning it for x amount of revolutions. Then to pause and take a photo, and repeat until it has travelled the full length of the dolly. I then compile the photos together on my computer, and hey presto a motion timelapse movie. I prototyped the device using wood as a proof of concept, and it worked a charm. I've now started to rebuild it with a more robust frame, and recently purchased some aluminium profile, which is really nice to work with.

So onto the CNC router project that I have started for myself, I thought that I would tackle it in a similar way. So my plan is to use aluminium profile for the frame, and ballscrews or trapezoidal lead screws to drive the linear motion, with supported steel rods and linear bearings. Add some stepper motors and required drivers get some software and hopefully off I go! I was thinking that a good size would be 1000 mm x 600 mm x 300 mm, which would adequately cover all the needs that I currently envisage that I would have for the machine. Do you think this may be a little ambitious for a first project? Additionally any views on buying parts from China? I have seen a lots of relatively cheap kit that is available on eBay that would bring my project price down considerably. Or are the parts inferior quality? Or would they be okay for a first build?

Apologies for the questions but I have a lot going on in my head and feel this is the ideal place to ask them!

Cheers,

Hoppo.