As the title states i am a noob at this with what i guess is one of the most common Noob questions going
Some background first.
I am a Mech E/Designer with a good engineering background in everything from Military antenna to consumer electronics. Most of my time is on 3D CAE but i often escape back to the Bridgeport and colchester manual machines.
I am looking to build something for home projects and would like open source plans or similar as i cant afford the huge time resource needed to develop the kit from scratch.
I have the plan set for JoeCNC 2006 found on CNCzone but its a little too grand for what i want.
What i am after is the ability to machine aluminium on a bed no larger than 300 x 300 (12" X 12")
Anyone know of a set of plans that would suit, or a set that would easily scale?
I want to build from scratch as A) buying a CNC mill is more expensive and B) half the fun is in the buildinging!
Budget restrictions at the moment (i say at the moment as i know once i start it will go out of the window) is approx £500 ($800) working, i have a laptop (mobile workstation capable of thrashing Solidworks). I am pretty good at scrounging so i would think the dearest parts will be the controller and motors (maybe servo and not stepper?)
First things first is the chassis/bed/framework.
Any help is grately appreciated