Thanks for the info Lance.

That 'mill' in the close-up pic of making multiple reinforcing wheel struts looks really small - is that some sort of attachment for the main Mill? Or something special you have made?

Either way, a Mill *and* a Lathe for around a grand a pop is darn good shopping mate. I doub't if I can get anything close to that down here in Australia. Most things I have priced so far run around 2 1/2 thousand each. Overseas stuff can start out a reasonable price, but the shipping is the big killer.

Re the CNC gear, there's some interesting 3, 4 & 5 axis controller boards on eBay, stepper motors, and 'shareware' software to run them. A 3 axis board ($200), 3 stepper motors ($90) and software license ($100) makes 400-odd dollars to set up a CNC mill a pretty reasonable ask in my opinion.

But first, I need a Mill (and a Lathe)....

BJ