First steps, advice needed

[Wobblycogs]

Thanks for the heads up on Zapp, I've been compiling a list of suppliers and somehow they hadn't found their way on to it.

I was thinking about sizes last night and I realized that my target size was basically a 1/4 sheet (X-axis would probably be closer to 1500 than 1000mm). I'd like to try building a full sheet machine but I don't have that much space, perhaps one day we'll actually build the workshop we've got plans for!

A Z-axis travel of 200mm would be preferable. I dropped the Z-axis travel right down in order to maintain stiffness so that aluminium machining remains an option. Does this make sense?

Edit: I seem to have given the impression that I was just going to rush out and buy stuff. That isn't me at all :-). Everything will be designed in SketchUp first down to the last nut and bolt. I was looking for some supplier advice before getting started with the design so that I know what pieces to draw. With some ringing endorsements of LMB2008 I think I'll probably base my design around pieces I can get from there. I'm planning on going through the build logs again tonight to get some ideas, I've read a few builds so I have a bit of an idea of what I'm looking to build.

Out of interest how long does stuff from LMB2008 normally take to get here? I've got a lot of time off over Christmas and I'd like to get started on this if possible.

Cheers