Sean, An easy way to go for a first project is to us drawer slides for the guide ways.. Look at http://tinyurl.com/3b6gkf and you may get some ideas. You can usually pick up suitable drawer slides fairly cheaply and all you need to do then is to mount them parallel to each other - you can use hot melt glue for initial positioning before screwing them down.. You do need to be aware that a machine like this will only be capable of cutting foam or wax as it won't have the rigidity for anything harder. If you want to make a more serious machine, you could consider one of the X-Y table vices from Machine Mart or whatever it is called in your part of the world, or you could do as I did and look out for the cross slide/topslide assembly off an old lathe in a scrap yard. This gives the basis for a very rigid and useful machine. If you can build your own driver boards I would suggest using a basic L297/L298 chip design which will give you a rugged and reliable half step drive. I have found Futurelec hard to beat on price for components although they can be a bit sluggish at dispatching them.
-- Best wishes, Ian ____________ Ian W. Wright Sheffield UK "The difference between theory and practice is much smaller in theory than in practice..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
