Maybe you missed the part about being Retired and doing the work for Charity.

Nope. I am retired too.
But neither being retired nor doing something for charity alters the basic fact that a CNC hobby can be quite expensive.

To be sure, you can build and make operational a CNC machine for not too many $$, BUT only if you have all the mechanical, electronic and computer engineering skills you are going to need. If you don't have them, you will need to pay for them - as indeed you have noted yourself  Paid a lot more than eBay

Cheers
Roger

Yup, I have spent a lot of time and money over the past 10-12 years, in spite of being a Master Electrician who enjoys controls and CNC.  This is my first Mach3 system and its not been that big a deal. In fact I find the Mach3 community pretty darn helpful.  Yes I retired 10 years ago, and will turn 75 next year, but I still enjoy a brain challenge.  Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Ha! Well, we are agreed on one thing: brain-strain!

Cheers
Roger

Next stop, RETIREMENT!!!!



Mike