[jfong]

I haven't started any hard designs yet, but I do have a few ideas kicking around. I was thinking of using 2x3x.187/.250 wall for the framing. I'm not quite sure about the gantry yet, but after posting this I'm having second thoughts about if this machine will be up to the task. I don't do a ton of steel machining, mostly alum parts for my race car, but on occasion I machine stainless flanges or steel flanges.

I might be better off starting out with a grizzly bench top mill or the little machine shop mill and converting it to cnc. It doesn't give me the working area I would ideally need, but I might be able to get creative with multiple setups. I don't have a huge budget for this, and I'm not sure the budget is large enough to get what I want/need out of a machine like this.

I bought a X3 bench mill and converted it to CNC. Used that to machine the aluminum parts for my 80/20 extrusion gantry CNC. Total was around 4k for both but I bought all the THK linear rails, servos, steppers, extrusion and gecko201/320 drivers off eBay for very cheap. I would get a G0704 mill now but it wasn't available back then. I use the x3 to machine all the aluminum and steel parts for my hobbies and the gantry for my woodshop. The occasional aluminum plate on the gantry if it is too big to fit on the mill. I would never attempt to cut steel on the gantry but I suppose it can since I've ran into socket cap screws that I use for hold downs by accident. Seems to cut them just fine.