Hi All,  In MMD 010603 Julie Porter wrote:

> If CNC were so practical then why does it cost so much?  Have you
> considered the setup costs?  There are administrative and maintenance
> costs that companies like HP and Apple do not even see.

For some interesting information on home shop CNC, check the discussion
group CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO
Search the _huge_ archives for EMC and BDI.

EMC is a complete CNC package that runs under Linux with real
time extensions.  It is available for download from
http://www.isd.cme.nist.gov/projects/emc/emcsoft.html

BDI is a CD "Brain Dead Install" of rtlinux and EMC available at a
low cost ($10.00 I think) from someone on the list who put it together
so people without much experience on computers could install EMC and
get it running quickly.

There are a lot of pointers to software (from freeware to shareware
to commercial, some of which are offered at special prices to members
of the discussion group), hardware, kits, etc.  The people on the group
seem to be very helpful (like the great people on MMD).  There may even
be some with their mills, etc., up and running that may be interested
in small lot machining at a better price than a commercial machine
shop.

Mickey Sadler
Dublin, Ohio