Bec you and I are going to have to meet up some time and discuss these things in person. Preferably one of those times when it's too hot to cast and the Tequila is out
A good friend and mentor of mine (an old retired engineer) has a pretty good home workshop where he does a lot of hobby engineering and such (like miniature engines and those trains they run around the park in Nambour). Part of that is a large CNC mill (and he's currently converting a lathe to CNC). He's been giving me some pointers and when I get to the implementation stages I'll be able to go use his gear to machine up some of the components.
I bought a z axis linear screw assembly off this guy which will make things easier: . There are some good bargains in there if you know what you're looking for. I've got a lot of the other parts from an old specialised industrial printer, including some great stepper motors and a perfect power supply.
I want to go for a working area of around 12" x 10" x 6".
I'm not so keen on the look of those blacktoe routers you linked to. They seem quite big so I wonder about their precision. I would be doubling up use of my machine for routing out prototype electronic PCBs, which would require very fine precision.
The style of machine I'm planning is similar to the machine.
The next step is to find some time to draw up some plans and actually construct the machine!