Hi all, I hope this is the right forum for this,

I'm in the initial stages of putting together my first small 3-axis milling machine after 6 months of researching on various web sites what would be involved. I finally took the plunge and have bought on ebay so far:

48cm NTN C1/4mm lead ballscrews for X-Y axis
33cm NSK C3/5mm lead ballscew for Z-axis

THK HSR25 rails

3x400W Yaskawa Sigma-II AC servo motors with 13-bit encoders along with appropiate drivers.

Now on paper it looks nice with with the 13bit encoders giving ~0.0005mm on XY and ~0.0006mm on Z axis. Obviously I am not expecting to get that kind of accuracy in real life, if I can get 0.01m repeatable accuracy I will be happy.

Initially I will be milling aluminium and PCBs with high speed spindle, most likely a Teknomotor and maybe in the future Steel with the appropiate spindle.

My concern now is with a spindle going at 24,000 rpm there is bound to be vibration and much this will reduce accuracy. Anyone have any advice on what to expect and if it worth going for steal versus aluminium for construction?

Thanks in advance.