It's been a while, and we've made no physical progress with this project, but we have come up with some ideas.

I've been watching Dave Gatton's CNC project on YouTube and it seems pretty impressive for the cost and ease of build. I've also got hold of his plans which seem pretty straightforward. TBH I think this is a quick project to get us started here, to learn about the process with low costs. I know it's a plywood based project, but given the design I think it would be very stable - the gantry looks like it wouldn't move any. Correct me if I'm wrong. If nothing else we could use it to cut parts for a aluminium-based model, and rebuild it!

He also recommends a company called Xylotex for the drive + psu + 3 motors (and possibly the BOB too), which come all told to $325 all ready to go. Too good to be true?

'Spiral.