Sooo much to learn...

[techcobweb]

Lots of ideas to digest there... thanks to all for the responses.

martin54: I will keep a look-out on eBay as you say in case a MIG welding machine comes up nearbye. Turns out someone at work has one in his shed, so I may be alright on that score after all...

wilfy: There is a pillar drill on eBay which is local too (< 1 mile!), think I'll put a bid in tomorrow...

I got a few sheets of 20mm thick celotex and tried putting it between the rafters. Bloody frustrating that the beams holding the tiles aren't very parallel, or spaced evenly apart. Took the best part of 2 hours to get one "run" in, and the gaps were too big. The joists holding the tiles up are only 7cm deep, so perhaps I should just staple larger/thicker 100mm sheets underneath these and forget doing anything between the joists, leaving a big ventilation gap.

... So I had a go at putting some of the 20mm board in the gaps on the back of one of the up-and-over doors, which seems to have gone pretty well so far. The doors are thin ply stapled to a metal frame, so pretty thin wood as-is, but less conductive than metal for sure even with nothing added.

John S:

crap as much insulation in as possible

Ahh, just only wish I could - the rigid insulation boarding is expensive no ?
Wondering if this place is any good ? Seems way cheaper, but there's no foil on the boards. Is that important ?

Initial foray into sketch-up seems to be pretty quick for sketching something. Witness my feeble attempt (attached), but it gives the basic picture I think. Excuse the mess, a spring clean is overdue... in the spring.

There are 4 x 10W LED floodlights (80W equivalents each) fitted a few weeks back from LED Hut. Amazing to be able to see things clearly in there at last.

[kingcreaky]

my god! your one of the lucky ones! There are loads of people out there that would chop their left leg off for a place half the size of that... people who use garden sheds, people who use bedrooms, under the stairs cupboards.. ive seen it all. You genuinely are very lucky

Atleast its brick!. an d its got an apex roof... its massive!

sounds to me; like your on the right track. Persevere with packing the drafts and get a small economical small heater that can be left on all the time... it will soon warm up.

[Ekfer]

Hello techcobweb: We all have "soo much to learn!" However, you have a lot going for you. It takes a lot of effort to build a cnc machine from scratch but it all starts with a plan. Make it a simple plan. I started with a design of the basic components in Microsoft Powerpoint and dedicated individual slides for the components (now I have BobCad-Cam). Since you'll be working with wood, a consideration for the machine material could be aluminum. I have an old drill press, a 10" mitter saw with a metal cutting disk and a small vise attached to it to hold the plates, drills and taps. There are low temperature aluminum welding rods you could use to weld the parts together using a propane torch (I haven't tried them). But, along the way, you'll find a machine shop that might allow you to use/rent a milling machine for some of the more precise parts (that's what happened to me). That's another thing to learn! In regards to the cold weather, I can only offer to send you a bottle of our hot Southern Florida sun! Good luck