Mike,
Great to hear you are getting a CNC machine put together. I am in the process of finishing mine after many months of designing and building and am hoping this weekend to cut wood for the first time! When I first started getting everything together I wasn't sure exactly to make everything work and was somewhat concerned about the cost of everything. What I found is that if you have time, there are many great deals to be had on just about everything you need can be found are resonable costs. Some things I purchased new but I would say 80% of everything I used was industrial surplus purchased from Ebay or local industrial surplus warehouses. I also opted to use Linux operating system with EMC2 control software. Both are Linux and EMC2 are free and since my controller PC is dedicated for controlling the router I was able to use a P4 computer with excellent results. The PC was a an extra computer from work that had been retired so the price was right. I am very pleased with how everything works and despite a few challanges it has been a very fun project.
Here is a pic of my machine waiting for the final details to be finished up. It is a 24 x 36 x 8" machine. I am using servo motors and run about 600 ipm rapids.
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Router1.jpg
Good Luck and please keep your progress posted!