just some more info, enco has acme threaded rod and nuts, and they are on sale. (i have no idea how accurately these are made, but they almost have to be better than all thread, and the threads should be stronger and wear/bend less with use). < http://www.keystonethreaded.com/home.htm> enco also has some very nice drilling/milling tables that aren't too expensive (enco seems to carry both the high end stuff and the low end stuff). they have one in their flier that can move 11" across and 7.5" front to back, with dials and the handles are bolted on, shouldn't be too hard to add steppers. weight is 56 pounds and they say it can be used for milling or drilling so it's probably decent. model cx201-2536 of course they also have calipers with rs-232 output, both long and short though not too cheap. they also have a 7"X10" lathe for about $400, not bad. (doubtless they also have some low end mills on thier site). i have no connection with enco other than having purchased a couple of end mills that i'll hopefully be trying out in the next couple of days. also, the proxxon mf 70 mill is about $300 and probably a better choice than the harbor freight mill for precision though it does have less movement, but it does have a better motor with an external shaft on precision bearings. i'm tempted to try a larger xy table on mine and remount the spindle. also, i wonder if aluminum is a good choice for building a reasonable precision mill as it is much less stiff than steel (much less, i've done hydrostatic testing of compressed gas cylinders, 50+ year old steel cylinders hardly expand at all, brand new aluminum cylinders expand a surprising amount under pressure, i.e. around 200-250 cc volume increase at test pressure compared to 10-30 cc for comparable steel cylinders in the 50# CO2 size). i would think the preloading from the weight of the steel would also help rigidity. Does any one on the list know of any good books on mill/lathe design? mig/tig welders can be rented and i have an itch to build a lathe/mill combination, and there is a scrap metal place nearby with lots of heavy steel (much cheaper than aluminum as well which has become ridiculous, the scrap place had plenty of scrap aluminum in the past, now most of it gets sold of for melting quickly). I'm really glad i saved the motors from an old large (1") instrumentation tape recorder, they should make fine spindle motors (the reels were pretty heavy and it servoed them up to 120"/s and down to about 1"/s and ran very smoothly). -- proof that the U.S. media is now state controlled! Ask your' local tv station why the hell they aren't airing the news any more! Our system of government requires an informed public, with their eyes open. -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body