As I've said, I'm trying to get away with a slower machine than what is recommended for tool life and productivity. And I'm hoping I can because my requirements are very different to a cnc shop.

And I wanted this thread to be about minimal requirements for a machine, not about any particular machine I'm looking at.

I'd be happy to hear about what machine design WILL fit my needs though, if anyone wants to make suggestions.

I've got another thread about designing a machine, it's still at the stage of choosing steel frame or aluminium extrusion. I got a bit hung up with straightness of rails I think after reading all Sylvaskis epoxy endeavours. So it hasn't got on to drive system yet.