That's the thing - I know mass rocks when it comes to machines, and also see the point of having a pre-ballscrewed donor but as you say - I need to be practical if I bother to do this.

It would have to be viewed as what it is - a computer controlled Bridgeport Knee Mill NOT a VMC wannabe. I really can't squeeze anything much bigger than a BP in and have no expansion options as we are residential so have to be careful a bit ;) There is no garden left to build a bigger shop.

In the past I have had bigger stuff - a Colchester Student lathe, a large horizontal mill and a vertical slotting machine - all the stuff i used when building traction engines for fun. Back then I would have killed for a CNC bridgeport but had neither the cash or the knowledge. Using a boring head to machine a 25mm hole out to 100mm and only being able to take small cuts gets old real fast - that job would be seconds with CNC ability.

I'm still not convinced and a bit pissed that the machine I linked to above costs less than the ballscrew kit alone :(