Heavy Iron

Anybody else following Robert Nansel's "Heavy Iron" project in Nuts &
Volts?

He's planning on using those XY compound tables from Enco. Large one
for XY bolted to a 10" channel iron and the smaller one on a 4" X 6"
X 1/8" Thk box section column for Z. Lashed together with angle iron
brackets.

My thoughts:

It won't be close to square - no problem, you can tram it in. Just
make sure you align your spindle to the Z axis before tramming the
spindle to the table.

Not nearly rigid enough for cutting metal - must be ok, because some
guy sent him pictures of his machine w/ a 1/2" endmill cutting
aluminum. I'd weld up a beefy frame from heavy plate, personally.

Needs ballscrews for CNC - no problem, its small enough for those
cheap 5/8" ones to do fine.

Seems like a good way to make a cheap, light duty machine that is
bigger than a sherline but smaller than a milldrill.

Tom S.