The Do-it-Yourself Thread: A Home for Handymen and Artisans - General

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;47679411]There was a company offering a promo code for theirs that got you $50 off some years ago, so it'd run you $1100 instead of $1150. :v:[/QUOTE] Bargain! Sadly haven't done anything recently I can post photos of, but I had some downtime between roles at work so I took up residence in one of the old machine shops and did some interesting aerospace grade botches (not to anything that flies of course), including fixing a carbon composite NDT scanner and producing some jigs and fixtures for a prototype rotating seal. I sometimes wonder if I did the wrong thing by becoming an engineer - I miss the hands on.

Where I work, one of the themes for the DT exam is based on 'task lighting,' so I made a few models on the laser cutter to help the students understand more about it. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vS3xAM5.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vqADiZw.jpg[/IMG] The fluorescent orange unit is just holding every type of nut, bolt and fixing I could find around my workshop. (wing nut, thumb screw, hex bolts, countersunk bolts, nylon lock nuts, end caps etc...)

Does anyone know the best way to smoothen the edges of a MDF board? (assuming this is MDF) My dad recently put a desk together for me, but I have to do the last pieces of work yet. [T]http://i.imgur.com/PKiDsR0.jpg[/T] The edges of this thing are rough as hell, so I need to find a way to smoothen them, but not sure how.

MDF edges are very porous and need to be filled prior to painting if you're going to paint it. I seal my MDF edges with bondo. Simply apply it, and sand it down, then prime and paint.

Today I created a furnace where I can smelt aluminium in with a friend! Pics: [img]http://puu.sh/hWWzu/87b9b34205.jpg[/img] [img]http://puu.sh/hWWAp/6456279b7e.jpg[/img] And the final product, nicely shaped aluminium muffins: [img]http://puu.sh/hWWAU/532c6de6fc.jpg[/img] Very happy with the results!

Rigged up a solar powered game camera. Our camp is 5 hours away, and I got tired of having to deal with replacing the 8 AA batteries in each camera. [IMG]http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt118/GAG11/0FC8B66E-99A0-48BD-8C08-F2C2765DF393_zps3j2a04aw.jpg[/IMG] This camera is a 6v camera. I bought a 6v battery and a Wildgame Innovations 6v solar panel from Amazon, a 5.0mm x 2.5mm barrel plug, and a dry box to put the battery in. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I soldered the plug leads and solar panel leads to the battery plugs. The panel has the built in diode, so the panel won't drain the battery at night. I have two setups like this, one for this camera, and a 12v setup like this for my 12V camera. They have been working non-stop for over a week and are still at 100%.

[QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;47807186]Rigged up a solar powered game camera. Our camp is 5 hours away, and I got tired of having to deal with replacing the 8 AA batteries in each camera. [IMG]http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt118/GAG11/0FC8B66E-99A0-48BD-8C08-F2C2765DF393_zps3j2a04aw.jpg[/IMG] This camera is a 6v camera. I bought a 6v battery and a Wildgame Innovations 6v solar panel from Amazon, a 5.0mm x 2.5mm barrel plug, and a dry box to put the battery in. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I soldered the plug leads and solar panel leads to the battery plugs. The panel has the built in diode, so the panel won't drain the battery at night. I have two setups like this, one for this camera, and a 12v setup like this for my 12V camera. They have been working non-stop for over a week and are still at 100%.[/QUOTE] I'd do this but when I put up game cams I always buy the smallest and least expensive. Game Cam theft is terrible. [editline]26th May 2015[/editline] I once bought a stealth cam unit around 200$. I liked it. But I can't sleep knowing it's on a tree somewhere easy for someone to steal.

People who don't wear eye protection are idiots. Was using a wire brush and Dremel earlier to clean something and the amount of shit that hit my face was crazy. It would be much worse if I didn't have my safety glasses on.

[QUOTE=Leestons;47809407]People who don't wear eye protection are idiots. Was using a wire brush and Dremel earlier to clean something and the amount of shit that hit my face was crazy. It would be much worse if I didn't have my safety glasses on.[/QUOTE] I've had metal removed from my eye twice. Both times I was wearing safety glasses, once I was wearing pair, and a face shield. Metal really finds a way to move through space in bizarre ways. They just used a magnet to pull it back out, still not a fun thing to happen. I was talking to my uncle who's an engineer who fabricates automated assembly line machines and he was saying how he's unable to be catscaned because of the amount of metal build up in his body over his decades of metal working. Also, wire brushes are terrifying. Especially ones on big 9" angle grinders.

Well the Chris Craft is sanded down for the most part, seems wound up incredibly tight, which I'd expect as they're all custom fit like usual and we pride ourselves on making the seam mostly invisible so the piece of wood is all that tells the others apart. Before sanding I spent about 3 days putting around 4,000 wood plugs in. We drill them out of the same batch of wood so they match pretty good usually, then mix them all up so there's no patches of light plugs, then dark, etc... I used a laser and some sticks to get the scribe lines on for the boot stripe, and had to decide between that and the original factory drawing as to positioning, and then gouge the lines into the side of the boat. This also makes a line for painting the bottom, then you just line it with tape and paint. We always have 3 or 4 factory drawings on hand to give us info about any hardware, how to build the interior, etc... but this boat we've had to reference them a lot since it was in "previously" restored shape, and the previous restoration was basically some plywood with thin stripe of mahogany glued to it, then faked, and a lot of African mahogany pieces on a phillipine mahogany boat, and yes, the color is WAAAAY different. The previous restoration stained the whole thing to look almost painted to hide the color differences, but you can't complain, whoever did it probably did the best they could, just like we do. This boat sank, and was sitting on the bottom of lake tahoe for about a week due to some seams that opened up near the bottom. We also got about 4 coats of epoxy on the bottom, ready for bronze race paint, but everyone appears to be out of the correct color. [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/20150430_142302_zpsc5lldt5o.jpg[/IMG] [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/u-26/20150514_105822_zps3bbohbhi.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/20150514_105822_zps3bbohbhi.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/20150521_091836_zpsghydlsmi.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/20150522_112153_zpsgdyxdmou.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=DPKiller;47808870]I'd do this but when I put up game cams I always buy the smallest and least expensive. Game Cam theft is terrible. [editline]26th May 2015[/editline] I once bought a stealth cam unit around 200$. I liked it. But I can't sleep knowing it's on a tree somewhere easy for someone to steal.[/QUOTE] My new one is a Moultrie M-990i Gen 2. They make steel lock boxes for them, and they are compatible with the Master Lock Pythons.

Absolutely beautiful work on that boat. What kind of fasteners are under the plugs? Brass screws?

So this is probably the place to post this, I fixed a pocket watch, and since I fixed it in early May, it now keeps time for about 36 hours when stationary. It's still not amazingly reliable when out, last time I had it out it lost 40 minutes in 4 hours, but it's also been a few weeks since then, it may have gotten better now. So here's the story of it. The watch was one of several my grandfather owned, and I got it when he passed away. When I got it, it didn't tick, I knew nothing about how watches work, and it was missing a second hand. Here's a picture of it: [t]http://i.imgur.com/8e2RIzX.jpg[/t] Like most people, I took it to a watchsmith to see about getting it fixed. However, first I looked into what it might be and how much it's worth. I found out it was probably a Waltham 1899 and worth about a hundred bucks. The watchsmith, without even looking at the movement, told me minimum $250 to fix it. I wasn't going to pay 2.5X the value of the watch to fix it, so I decided to open it up myself and ask reddit for help. Here's a picture of the movement after I'd took it all down and was trying to put it all back together one night: [t]http://i.imgur.com/9mN4wxN.jpg[/t] I learned that you can actually check the serial number and learn about the movement, so I did, and I learned that it's actually a Waltham Model 1908, 7 jewel, grade 610, made in 1908. It was still worth about $100, as it's the lowest-grade of that watch series. I also learned what was wrong with it. The mainspring was bent, the balance staff was broken, and the escapement wheel's staff was also broken. Knowing this I called another watchsmith for a quote. Knowing the issues, he quoted me over $500. I then further decided that I would fix it myself. In fact, it was as if the watch was challenging me to fix it myself. Some kind redditor linked me an e-bay auction for another movement of the same type but with no broken staffs on anything. It was from, I believe, 1921. I got it for a total of $22.22. Moving the balance over was the most stressful thing I'd dine in a while. Rather than unscrew the balance spring from the old plate and screw it into the new one, I just decided to move the entire balance plate from the donor movement to the watch. I also swapped out the escapement wheel and the second-largest gear. The donor movement also had a somewhat rusty second hand that I used. To fix the main spring that was bent, I simply bent it back into shape. The mainspring from the donor looked a lot better, but as I learned later was too weak, so I just used the bent one and bent it a different way. The issue with it being bent is it needs to catch a hook that it wouldn't in order to be tightened. I bent it so that the hook catches easily. I've been told that you shouldn't do this, as it can fuck up the timekeeping ability of the watch, but I'm cheap, so I did it anyway. Once I'd swapped all the parts over and cleaned them all (except the balance, it's too delicate for me to clean) with isopropanol I put the thing back together, and it still wouldn't tick. Then my mom comes by and says "Maybe you just tightened the plates too much" I loosened the screws on the plates, and then this happened: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LF9jnpZnr8[/media] I got it to tick. I spent hours fucking with this thing, and it was finally ticking. I put it all back together and decided to try and see how accurate it was and how long it would last. At first, it was actually running fast, so I had to adjust it to slow it down. I then got it, surprisingly, keeping absolutely perfect time. The first time I would it, it only ran for 6 hours, 19 minutes before friction stopped it, but it ran accurately the whole time. I wound it back up and it ran for over 18 hours, then the next time over 24 hours. I then tried carrying it with me, and it ran too unreliably to remark about. After that, I decided to let it run in different positions. I left it leaning against some CD cases, standing up. Eventually, after a few winds, it was running between 34-37 hours on a single wind. I then left it standing, but upside-down. Same thing. Then face-down. Same thing. Then I tried face-up again, and it only ran for 28 hours. So I wound it again, and it ran for about 35. The last full wind, it ran for 36:14 face-up, and I have it running again right now just to keep it running. I feel rather proud that I managed to fix a family heirloom, even if I had to swap out about a quarter of the parts on it and the second hand is a bit rusty. I took a watch that is over 100 years old and made it tick for the first time in decades. The last pic I have of it is from shortly after I fixed it, but I've affixed a long, gold chain to the pendant since for when I carry it so I don't drop it and break it again. Here's the last picture of it I took: [t]http://i.imgur.com/MfvkWIh.jpg[/t]

Beautiful. Good job. I've got a Waltham mechanical watch from the 1930's that was my great grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers and now mine. I'll need to service it soon, and like you I got some quotes from a local watch repair place and it was astronomically high. Since then, I've been figuring out what watch tools I need and really look forward to getting them and working on the watch. It's been something I've wanted to do for years now. [IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a345/ajackss/watch_2_zps023c82d9.jpg[/IMG] I also have the WWI Lancet trench watch, same exact model used in Pulp Fiction. Mines in better shape though, with more leaf still intact on the letters, and I need to service it as well. (Not my picture) [IMG]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5178/5496490873_4e23ee5729_z.jpg[/IMG]

Hey guys, I need some electrical tips here. I got this stereo amplifer which doesn't work. It's a Harman/Kardon HK670. [IMG]http://www.grados.com/Harman Kardon HK670 1.JPG[/IMG] Now, I found this out at our summer house and I guess it was put there because it was broken, but I'm keen on learning how to fix these things. I started out by opening it up and blowing all the dust out with compressed air, then replaced 4 of the 5 fuses (they were all in a row, the 5th one was on another circuit board). Since all of them were blown I didn't have much hope in it working. Connected a speaker to it, put my phone into the AUX jack and started it. First a tiny bit of smoke came from what I'm guessing is one of the two amplifier boards, so I turned it off and looked to see if anything looked burnt but I found nothing. Started it up again and turned it to AUX and turned up the volume a bit and the speaker started crackling and popping, it continued to do so for about 10 seconds before there was a pop and it went quiet. I'm guessing something broke. The fuses are all good but the speaker outputs nothing at all, no matter what settings I choose. There are 4 speaker outputs on the rear, 2x2 left and right channels. The speaker makes no noise on any of them except on the right channel on the set marked "system 2". Plugging the speaker in here makes it crackle a tiny bit, the volume is the same no matter what the position of the volume knob. I did a few quick searches to find a wiring diagram but found nothing. I'm not sure what year this is from, but there is a serial on it which reads "09191". [editline]9th June 2015[/editline] After taking a look at it with someone who knows a bit more about stuff like this than me I've decided to let someone who actually knows what they're doing repair it.

[QUOTE=Ajacks;47821612]Absolutely beautiful work on that boat. What kind of fasteners are under the plugs? Brass screws?[/QUOTE] We used stainless on the hullsides, and deck of this boat, and brass for the bottom. Originally they were brass in most boats - brass Reed and Prince Screws which was like Phillips, but not. We go for originality, but sometimes we take the hit on points for using modern fasteners. The shows these go to are Gentleman's shows, and as such, the judge will ask you if you used brass, and you can tell them yes or no. They aren't going to pull a plug and look. They expect you to be truthful and act like a gentleman. A stainless screw just grabs so much better, the head doesn't break off every 5th screw, etc... The Hacker though, is another story, that has brass slot-head screws wherever visible, and oak frames... and if you've never tried to put a 70 year old brass flat head screw in a tapered hole in a piece of white oak... let me tell you. Yes we literally reused screws that we removed from it. This boat also got flipped back over. It's always a scary experience rolling a boat over. Once they go over center, there's not stopping the roll down and they usually swing. This one was no exception. [IMG][URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/20150529_153526_zpsjsgjmf8e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/20150529_153526_zpsjsgjmf8e.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/IMG] [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/20150529_154541_zpspvo4afr5.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/20150529_154541_zpspvo4afr5.jpg[/IMG][/URL] And we started planing and shaping the gunnel cap, which is the thick board that goes around the outside of the deck and matches the deck to the hull with an airplane wing shape. This is hand carved the whole way back with a power plane, smoothing plane, spoke shave, and sandpaper. [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/20150601_112911_zpsnopulsjz.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/20150601_112911_zpsnopulsjz.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/20150601_152805_zpsreflauyt.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/20150601_152805_zpsreflauyt.jpg[/IMG][/URL] And I don't know if you guys ever got to see what it looked like when it came in, but it's come a long way... This particular one sank up at lake tahoe while on a mooring buoy. ALl the seams were far apart and it just leaked till it sank. A previous restoration just dug the seams wider to stuff 5200 in them... this was not successful obviously. [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20140814_131837_zps33fa31fe.jpg[/IMG] [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/u-26/IMG_20140814_131845_zps02737887.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20140814_131845_zps02737887.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/u-26/IMG_20140825_152952_zpsf918e90e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20140825_152952_zpsf918e90e.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Previous seams: [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20140825_100450_zpsbb6c443d.jpg[/IMG] [URL=http://s43.photobucket.com/user/serj22/media/u-26/IMG_20140919_093404_zpse53acc45.jpg.html][IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20140919_093404_zpse53acc45.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20140825_153825_zps24b3e1ff.jpg[/IMG] Ours: [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/20150522_112153_zpsgdyxdmou.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/u-26/IMG_20141024_110410_zpsb9360f39.jpg[/IMG] Obviously you can probably spot the individual pieces of wood... but you get the idea.

Very cool work. If you don't mind could you give some info on your shop? How many square feet, and what kind of tools you've got on hand, like the table-saw, jointed, planer and so on? Also do you go so far as to line up the grain on the plugs as well?

So here's a question: I've done plenty of spray paint work on plastics before for computer case mods, but today I decided to repaint one of my game controllers into a scheme that matches my current build. Now, because I will be handling it daily, should I go the extra step and add a clearcoat to protect the paint from rubbing off? I've never thought of this before because everything I normally paint isn't handled much after it's painted. Additionally, I'd prefer a nice smooth clear coat but I can't sand it very easily due to the contours of the controller (lots of small nooks and crannies) and I've heard that a spray clear coat is very hard to get nice and smooth.

[QUOTE=Ajacks;47922090]Very cool work. If you don't mind could you give some info on your shop? How many square feet, and what kind of tools you've got on hand, like the table-saw, jointed, planer and so on? Also do you go so far as to line up the grain on the plugs as well?[/QUOTE] If I remember right it's 1900 sq feet. Way too small. We do line up all plugs along with the grain for this particular boat. On some models, there was no care taken to line them up so we make it like that. On a Riva though, the whole boat is cold molded and the plugs are all molded out of the same tree. The planking looks like plywood because of that, but they're still pretty boats. [IMG]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/92/21/d4/9221d4f8347a79b264b5c165fc9b3cdc.jpg[/IMG] See how it looks almost like it's painted brown? No, the wood is just reciprocated to itself over and over so it looks like one big piece, but that's how it's made. These are also one of the most valuable makes of boats ever. As for tools, We have a 1899 Crescent Saw, which was used in a belt driven shop, but it's been modified with an electric motor for our uses. It has a 17'4" blade, that is 2" wide, and has 1" tooth spacing. For the small bandsaw, we have a 1960s Delta bandsaw Tablesaw is a 1980s shopmaster Delta For a planer right now we're using a Ryobi 13" bench plane, because we cant find parts anymore for our other planer. I forget the make right now, but they were popular in highschools in the 1940s. For jointer, we have a Ridgid, but I'm not sure on the model # Hand planes we have all Stanleys, that includes block, smooth, spoke, and rabbit Cordless we have two sets of Porter Cables For a corded torque-ier drill, we have a Thor Hammer from the 60s. We hook modified prop shaft to it, measure the spot for the strut, and then are able to drill the angled hole in the bottom of the boat with a forstner on the end of the shaft. Here's how that setup looks. [IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/serj22/20150519_085835_zpsbhyii6hq.jpg[/IMG] For a chopsaw we have a super complex Ridgid with a telescoping boom and all that jazz. There's also a lot of tools floating about that are trade specific so it's hard to name them all. We also have a stock of about 100 pipe clamps, 100 or so C-clamps, etc... We also don't use a jointer to make the joints that tight. That wouldn't work anyway as the planks are all C-shaped, not straight. There's a trick to it, and they come out absolutely dead perfect. It takes about 2 days to fit one plank. That process is a trade secret though. I'd be willing to discuss through PM or something, but not gonna leave it out here in the open internet. [editline]11th June 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=papkee;47927248]So here's a question: I've done plenty of spray paint work on plastics before for computer case mods, but today I decided to repaint one of my game controllers into a scheme that matches my current build. Now, because I will be handling it daily, should I go the extra step and add a clearcoat to protect the paint from rubbing off? I've never thought of this before because everything I normally paint isn't handled much after it's painted. Additionally, I'd prefer a nice smooth clear coat but I can't sand it very easily due to the contours of the controller (lots of small nooks and crannies) and I've heard that a spray clear coat is very hard to get nice and smooth.[/QUOTE] You missed your window for clear if you already sprayed it. The clear for something like Rustoleum or Krylon needs to go on about 50 minutes after the last coat you sprayed. Otherwise you have to wait about 7 days for it to fully cure or you'll have solvent crack. And yes you will need to sand it at that point. You wouldn't have had to if it was done in the same sitting.

anyone know how hard 80/20 is to work with?

So here's a little post about the controller I was painting. Started with this [t]http://i.imgur.com/nid17Dr.jpg[/t] Painting the top white [t]http://i.imgur.com/m1miswI.jpg[/t] Navy on the bottom [t]http://i.imgur.com/4QpoC4p.jpg[/t] Both out drying [t]http://i.imgur.com/igkAzK9.jpg[/t] Final product sans-clear coat which will be applied once the paint finishes curing all the way. [t]http://i.imgur.com/xrfonkT.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/8PkGxzY.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/AKThS91.jpg[/t] I was impatient with the sanding so it's a bit rough in spots but overall it looks nice and I'm happy with it.

So recently I'v put together my own little solar system(40ah, 80w) powering my radio/anything else that uses the same DC connection and a LED strip currently. Got some buck converters that need soldering but I really suck at it, anyone know of any cheap beginner soldering kits?

[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;47959071]So recently I'v put together my own little solar system(40ah, 80w) powering my radio/anything else that uses the same DC connection and a LED strip currently. Got some buck converters that need soldering but I really suck at it, anyone know of any cheap beginner soldering kits?[/QUOTE] If you're feeling a little bold, and you plan on doing alot of soldering. I'd recommend shooting for a Hakko FX-888D, it's a wonderful career soldering station for $90 but its so worth. (Also its got loads of swappable tips from both Hakko and third-party manufactures.) Other than than you can still get a decent Weller iron for around [URL="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009ZD2AG/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687562&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000WT586&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=09PKNVHCZ1W7BFJDKJEX"]$20[/URL] - [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WM120-120v-Pencil-Soldering/dp/B0000WT586"]40[/URL].

I need a little help. I've got a Minolta Hi-Matic 7S that's got a stuck shutter. When I opened it up to clean the shutter, the self-timer clip fell inside the body and lodged itself in something that makes the shutter fire. Anyone know where I can find a maintenance manual for this thing? I've got another roll of film I really want to go through.

I have too much free time and spraypaint. [t]http://i.imgur.com/TIXKnps.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/ga6ZFmt.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/N877AGR.jpg[/t] [editline]4th July 2015[/editline] [URL="http://www.powera.com/Products/Mini-Pro-Elite-Wireless-Controller-for-Wii-U"]What it was originally[/URL]

[t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3798635/2015-07-15%2012.21.26.jpg[/t] Inelegant, ugly and probably not going to last very long, but there's something so satisfying about a quick and cheap botch to keep the exhaust on till next monday

Anyone have an idea if it would be possible to build a CNC router (3-axis) for under 500$ without having access to super expensive fabricating equipment? I've done a lot of searching online but so far the definition of "affordable" seems to be $800-$1500 which is out of my price range.

What size are you looking for? I have a friend who built a 2x4 machine for I believe 600CAD.

[QUOTE=Ajacks;48236961]What size are you looking for? I have a friend who built a 2x4 machine for I believe 600CAD.[/QUOTE] A desktop sized one, maybe just 1 square foot of workspace? I really don't need a whole lot, it's just for some small stuff.

[QUOTE=thefreemann;48237351]A desktop sized one, maybe just 1 square foot of workspace? I really don't need a whole lot, it's just for some small stuff.[/QUOTE] What are you going to make with it? [editline]18th July 2015[/editline] You could buy this, [URL]http://www.ebay.com/itm/3040-CNC-router-milling-machine-mechanical-kit-aluminium-alloy-Frame-ball-screw-/181523619539?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a43a69ed3[/URL] and this, [URL]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nema-23-Stepper-Motor-290oz-in-3-Axis-TB6560-Board-CNC-Kit-Router-FREE-ship-/271340386557?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f2d25b8fd[/URL] And have an aluminum CNC running for under $700, and then just get a trim router. If you want something like desktop sized though, you should look at desktop mini mills. [url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Precision-Mini-CNC-Router-Drilling-Milling-Engraving-Machine-20X15cm-110V-220V-/300914984320?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460fee4580[/url] [url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Mini-Bench-top-CNC-3020T-DJ-3-Axis-Router-Engraver-Machine-Mill-Device-cmq-/200955698206?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec9e49c1e[/url]