I'm glad to hear that the price of hardware has dropped to about 1/4
of what it was about two years ago when I was looking to do the same
thing.  During my days at Hewlett-Packard I learned that HP (nowadays
likely Agilent) is looking to do for CNC what it did for printing.
Just as the laser printer put the power of a phototypesetting machine
on the desktop to create "desktop publishing", these new cheaper CNC
machines will make "desktop manufacturing" commonplace.

While it would be fine to build such a beast for entertainment and
personal use, but I think it would be much more beneficial to us
"hardcores" if someone tried to do this commercially.  Some of you know
that I sold recut Ampico and Duo-Art rolls for a few years, having the
Malones at Play-Rite do the manufacturing.  The problem was that I
often found it difficult to get quick turnaround and that I had to take
a minimum of 12-15 rolls per run, which is why I still have unsold
inventory in my garage.

If a laser-equipped CNC device could produce smaller batches of rolls
more quickly and cheaper than a mechanical perforator (and I think it
can!), we might find a larger assortment of recuts available in the
marketplace.  Being able to manufacture music rolls to order would be a
boon to us all.

Anyone interested in supplying venture capital?  Maybe an on-line
ordering system, "www.recuts.com," perhaps?  ;-)

Ed Chaban
 [ Agilent Technologies, in Palo Alto CA, is Hewlett-Packard returning
 [ to what the company always did best: high-tech test equipment and
 [ components.  See http://www.agilent.com/  -- Robbie