Hi from Ireland. I am new to CNC.

[Enrico]

Thank you JazzCNC for your words of encouragement! Very much appreciated!

I will certainly follow your advice and try to come up with a design to start the process... sounds like a good plan already! I will try and limit the daft questions to a minimum, but there are bound to be some ;-) ... in fact, I am going to start with one already: should I opt for a steel or aluminium frame? Aluminium would be lighter, but perhaps more expensive? Also, I can weld steel but not aluminium ... what would you suggest? This is a basic question for me, as it will steer my design in a specific initial direction. Thank you again!

[JAZZCNC]

Thank you JazzCNC for your words of encouragement! Very much appreciated!

I will certainly follow your advice and try to come up with a design to start the process... sounds like a good plan already! I will try and limit the daft questions to a minimum, but there are bound to be some ;-) ... in fact, I am going to start with one already: should I opt for a steel or aluminium frame? Aluminium would be lighter, but perhaps more expensive? Also, I can weld steel but not aluminium ... what would you suggest? This is a basic question for me, as it will steer my design in a specific initial direction. Thank you again!

Ok well I'll answer this here but please start thread for further questions because it's not fair to OP.

First only Daft question is the one you don't ask.!!

There's no best really and both work but steel is most common because it's cheaper, stronger and easier to work with.
Most machines are built with a combination of both Steel and Aluminium. Steel for main frame and Aluminium for moving parts like Gantry, Zaxis.

[Enrico]

Great stuff, thank you again, and I will certainly start a new thread for any further questions, you are right ...
Ciao // Enrico